Week 20 NBA power rankings:

[SlyPokerDog]

17. Portland Trail Blazers (31-37) +4

All-Star point guard Damian Lillard is averaging 29.1 points on 46.5% shooting, 5.3 assists and 4.1 rebounds in nine games this month. He put together one of his best games of the season on Wednesday, willing the Blazers — who suffered a 23-point loss to the Pelicans the night before — to a 110-106 win over the Spurs behind 36 points on 12-of-22 shooting.

"That had to be probably our best win of the year," Blazers coach Terry Stotts told reporters after the win. "To beat a team like San Antonio on the road. Not only that, but how we won. I thought it was one of our better games as far as staying focused throughout the game."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...gs-warriors-spurs-cavaliers-rockets/99379440/

 

[SlyPokerDog]

:MARIS61:

15. Denver Nuggets (33-36) +2

Behind the continued stellar play of second-year big man Nikola Jokic, who's averaging 19.4 points, 11.4 rebounds and six assists this month, the Nuggets are holding on tight to the eighth seed in the West. But can they continue to fend off the ninth-place Trail Blazers, who sit just 1 ½ games behind? Portland owns the season series 2-1. The two teams meet for the fourth and final time on March 28.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

13. Milwaukee Bucks (34-35) +1

The Bucks fell to Memphis by 20 to open the week, but put together a hard-fought 97-96 win over the Clippers on Wednesday, sweeping the season series with L.A. for the first time since the 1999-00 season. Since Jabari Parker (20.1 points, 6.2 rebounds per game) went down with a season-ending ACL injury, Milwaukee is 12-6, looking like a legitimate threat to take one of the bottom three seeds in the East.

 

[illmatic99]

This was before last night's game.

 

[e_blazer]

Stein is in with the ESPN rankings:

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/18959689/nba-power-rankings-marc-stein-week-22-rankings

13. Portland Trail Blazers
2016-17 record: 32-37
Previous ranking: 16

If the Blazers miss the playoffs, it won't be hard to identify one prime culprit: Portland has somehow lost a league-high five one-point games this season. Question for the analytics mavens out there: Aren't close games supposed to be more random than that? Now for the good news: Damian Lillard has averaged 31.1 PPG in March to spark a Portland offense, along with impact newcomer Jusuf Nurkic, who has looked as good as anyone in fueling the Blazers' 8-2 surge this month. The Blazers' unexpected win in San Antonio last week also nudged Terry Stotts' career record against Gregg Popovich to 12-12. Only two other coaches who have faced Pop at least 20 times - Phil Jackson (23-22) and George Karl (26-25) - can claim to possess a .500-or-better record against the five-time ring winner. Back to Lillard: Dame's 26.8 PPG for the season is on course to be the fourth-highest figure in franchise history. Clyde Drexler averaged 27.2 PPG in 1988-89 and 27.0 PPG in 1987-88; Kiki Vandeweghe averaged 26.9 PPG in the Committee's senior year of high school (1986-87).

 

[illmatic99]

Dame better get POW.

http://www.nba.com/powerrankings

• Hero team of the week: Portland (3-1) -- The Blazers' week started with an ugly loss in New Orleans, but they recovered to win in San Antonio on the second night of a back-to-back and then sweep another back-to-back in Atlanta and Miami.

12. Portland Trail Blazers
Last week: 17
Record: 32-37
Pace: 99.5 (12) OffRtg: 107.4 (12) DefRtg: 108.7 (25) NetRtg: -1.3 (19)

The Blazers didn't just survive. They thrived against the much tougher part of their March-April schedule and have the league's best record (8-2) this month. After coming up empty in New Orleans on Tuesday, they scored 116 points per 100 possessions (with Damian Lillard averaging 37.3 points on 58 percent shooting) against three top-six defenses (San Antonio, Atlanta and Miami) as they completed their five-game trip with three wins. Now, 10 of their final 13 games, including their final meeting with the eighth-place Nuggets, are at home, and two of the three road games are against teams with losing records. Of course, they haven't exactly been a dominant home team, holding a 17-14 record at the Moda Center.

This week: vs. MIL, vs. NYK, vs. MIN, @ LAL

 

[PtldPlatypus]

Back to Lillard: Dame's 26.8 PPG for the season is on course to be the fourth-highest figure in franchise history. Clyde Drexler averaged 27.2 PPG in 1988-89 and 27.0 PPG in 1987-88; Kiki Vandeweghe averaged 26.9 PPG in the Committee's senior year of high school (1986-87).

In order to surpass Drexler's 27.2, Dame would have to score 379 points over the next 13 games, an average 29.2 ppg over that stretch. I wonder if that's worth it to him to pursue.

 

[Nikolokolus]

If you're not going to tank, this is the way to do it, but fuck it's annoying that it took them until the "ides of March" to get their shit together.

 

[e_blazer]

In order to surpass Drexler's 27.2, Dame would have to score 379 points over the next 13 games, an average 29.2 ppg over that stretch. I wonder if that's worth it to him to pursue.

I'd say only if it's necessary for the team to secure that 8th playoff spot. And it may be necessary.

 

[BosnianChampion]

In order to surpass Drexler's 27.2, Dame would have to score 379 points over the next 13 games, an average 29.2 ppg over that stretch. I wonder if that's worth it to him to pursue.

He will do it because he has to in order for us to win anyway!

 

[riverman]

Power rankings shmower rankings...once you make the playoffs everybody is zero to zero....you either have home court or not and we're playing good on the road right now.