People LOVE Power Rankings in sports. It’s pretty stupid. So, of course, I have MY Stupid Power Rankings. I take 10 things from the NBA and WNBA (or not) in the past week and rank them accordingly. You don’t like them? Make your own rankings!
We have one week left in the regular season. Let’s check out what’s hot and what’s not in the league.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Kim Klement/USA Today.)
1) Russell Westbrook Tied Oscar Robertson
So as of this writing, Russell Westbrook is attempting to have the most career triple-doubles in NBA history. On Saturday, he tied Oscar Robertson with 181 career triple-doubles, a record once thought impossible to break.
Remember that Oscar Robertson getting a triple-double season was thought of as improbable. Now Westbrook is on the verge of getting his FOURTH triple-double season.
There may be more triple-doubles now than ever before but what Russ is doing is just another level.
(VIDEO CREDIT: NBA.)
2) A Hotly Contested Scoring Title Battle
The last time we talked about a scoring title battle was back in 2013 when Carmelo Anthony stopped Kevin Durant‘s streak of scoring titles after Durant anticlimactically sat out the last game of the season to give Melo the title.
Bradley Beal scored 50 points against Indiana in an attempt to keep pace with one-time scoring champion Stephen Curry. Curry admitted he knew Beal scored 50 before going out to score 49 points in three quarters to keep his lead at 31.9 to 31.1. Beal is sitting out Monday’s game and we might be seeing Curry get his second scoring title if Beal doesn’t get back on the court for the last week of the regular season.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Scott G. Winterton/Deseret News.)
3) Jazz Doing This Without Donovan
The Jazz have a firm grip at the #1 seed after four straight wins this week. They beat San Antonio in back-to-back games, got a huge win over Denver, and took care of Houston. This is all without Donovan Mitchell as Bojan Bogdanovic scored 48 big points against the Nuggets.
When Mitchell gets back, the Jazz are gonna be even more deadly.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Mitchell Leff/Getty Images.)
4) Philadelphia is Silently Hot
It might be a bit of a softer schedule but the 76ers rang off four more wins in the last week, bringing their overall streak to 8 straight wins. They’re almost assured of the #1 spot in the East and that’s quite a turnaround from last year’s disappointing campaign.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP.)
5) So What About Anthony Davis and the Lakers?
I don’t know what to make of the Lakers. I like their chances when they’re healthy but we saw Anthony Davis tweak his back against the Clippers. Then again, he came back to score 36 against Portland (in a loss) and then 42 against Phoenix in a win. We know LeBron James is coming back very soon.
Which Laker team are we getting in the last week of the regular season and possibly the play-in or/and the playoffs?
Brook Lopez’s reaction after this Kenyon Martin Jr. dunk 😂 pic.twitter.com/E1o5UbTOw3
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 8, 2021
6) Brook Lopez Reaction After Getting Faced
KJ Martin blasted Brook Lopez with this jam. But you gotta love Brook’s reaction to all of this.
7) Marvel: Arena of Heroes
People frown on cross-promotion but, to me, if it gets more people watching basketball, I’m all good with that. I’m fine with all the goofy graphics and the hero points metric they did during that telecast. I can’t wait for Basketball Reference to put in hero points in all the players’ stats.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Sue Ogrocki/AP.)
8) The Kings Are Frustrating
The Kings went 3-1 in the last week and have won 5 of their last 6 overall. They showed how good they were earlier in the season and we even thought they’d have a good shot at the playoffs when they were 12-11. But as they’ve done many times, they had big losing streaks that killed their season. And then we’re going to hear stuff about how Sacramento has a bright future and that they have potential.
It’s the kind of thing you get sick of hearing when your team hasn’t made the playoffs since 2006.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Michael Dwyer/AP.)
9) As If The Celtics Needed Another Punch to the Face
Jaylen Brown will be okay but he had wrist surgery that will knock him out for the next few months. Which means that he’ll be out for the rest of the season. We kept waiting for Boston to turn it around all season long and they are not going to do it with Brown sitting on the sidelines. This just sucks for Boston.
10) Chaos In Indiana
As you see in the photo, assistant coach Greg Foster (who was quite fiery as a player) and Goga Bitadze got into it on the sidelines. Also, reports of head coach Nate Bjorkgren have leaked into the media about how the players allegedly do not like him and that his style has allegedly worn on them. The Pacers, who have made the postseason 9 of the last 10 years, took pride on being a stable organization ever since they left behind the Malice at the Palace incident in 2004. Now there is just chaos within the head coaching staff as well as the players and it’s very foreign to the Pacers.
I don’t like the chances of Bjorkgren lasting past this season.
Everyone, please take care of yourselves during this pandemic. And that goes for everyone involved with the NBA as well.
You can find Rey-Rey on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
You can also check out Rey-Rey’s podcast, Rey-Rey Is Fundamental, for more basketball content and, really, whatever else.
R.I.P. Nala.