It was quite a few days there in Charlotte, with Kevin Durant winning the All-Star Game's MVP award, commissioner Adam Silver acknowledging that some aspects of the last collective bargaining agreement backfired and Anthony Davis trying to dig himself out of a hole by digging deeper.
Good stuff, Charlotte.
NBA All-STAR 2019: Biggest winners and losers
But we’re back into regular action now, with around 25 games to go for most teams. To get reacquainted with where these teams left off, let’s see what had been trending before the break in this week’s NBA Power Rankings.
1. Warriors
Trending: Going back to Jan. 5, Klay Thompson is averaging 23.5 points, shooting 53.6 percent from the field and 49.6 percent from the 3-point line. The Warriors are 16-2 in those games — one loss when Thompson did not play and one just before the All-Star break when he went 2-for-16 from the field.
2. Bucks
Trending: The Bucks have 32 wins of 10 points or more this season, which is tops in the league and nine more than No. 2 on the list, Toronto. The Bucks had 35 double-digit wins in the last two seasons combined.
3. Raptors
Trending: Kyle Lowry’s perimeter shot has been working better lately, but what’s happened to his ability to attack the basket? Before his ankle injury, over 29 games, he shot 68.4 percent in the restricted area on 2.6 attempts per game. In his last 12 games, that’s crumbled: 38.9 percent in the restricted area, on 1.6 attempts per game.
4. Nuggets
Trending: The Nuggets have won eight straight games decided by three points or fewer and have not lost a one-possession game since Nov. 9. They’re 18-6 in games within one possession in the final two minutes.
5. Celtics
Trending: Say this for Jayson Tatum — if the Celtics trade him this offseason, he’s going to make it a difficult decision. Since his name was mentioned in Davis rumors, Tatum has averaged 20.4 points on 47.2 percent shooting (46.7 percent from the 3-point line) in five games.
6. Thunder
Trending: Here’s a trend the Thunder are hoping to dodge in the stretch run. Paul George, before the All-Star break over the course of his career, averages 20.7 points with a true shooting percentage of 57.0. After the break, he drops to 17.6 points and a 55.1 true shooting percentage.
7. Sixers
Trending: The Sixers are only four games into the Tobias Harris experiment, but they’ve posted a league-best 120.7 offensive rating in that span.
8. Pacers
Trending: The Pacers have won six of their last seven, and Bojan Bogdanovic has been leading the way over that stretch. He’s averaged 22.1 points on 55.0 percent shooting, plus 40.9 percent 3-point shooting.
9. Jazz
Trending: Always a bad idea to make a big man cry. Since Rudy Gobert got choked up over his All-Star snub, he’s averaged 17.0 points, 13.4 rebounds and 71.1 percent shooting from the field.
10. Trail Blazers
Trending: Are we already seeing the end of Jusuf Nurkic, playmaker supreme? Over a span of 25 games from mid-December to early February, Nurkic averaged 4.4 assists, including a game in which he notched 10 as part of a triple-double. In three games before the All-Star break, though, Nurkic had just 1.0 per game.
11. Rockets
Trending: The Rockets are 16-13 in clutch situations (games within five points with five minutes to play) this season, but they’ve been badly outplayed. Their offensive rating is 111.5 and their defensive rating is 125.5. That’s a net rating of minus-14.0, 26th in the league.
12. Spurs
Trending: The Spurs are 1-4 on their annual epic rodeo road trip, and though the offense has been clicking, the defense has been awful. The Spurs have a defensive rating of 124.9 thus far, way up from the 111.5 they’ve had on the season. San Antonio has three games remaining on the trip (Raptors, Knicks and Nets).
13. Clippers
Trending: Lou Williams is making a strong case for another Sixth Man of the Year award. He scored 75 points in two games before the All-Star break and is averaging 25.9 points on 47.2 percent shooting (44.4 percent from the arc) in his last nine games.
14. Kings
Trending: Marvin Bagley is averaging 14.2 points and 8.1 assists since coming back from a knee injury in early January. But he’s lost any semblance of his 3-point shot — he’s making 17.2 percent from the arc in his last 17 games.
15. Timberwolves
Trending: Dario Saric struggled initially in Minnesota, and his name even surfaced as a player the Wolves might be willing to move in a trade. Instead, in his last five games, Saric averaged 16.4 points, 6.8 rebounds and shot 66.7 percent from the 3-point line.
16. Nets
Trending: Over the last 10 games, the Nets are No. 2 in the league in pace, with 104.39 possessions. Before that, the Nets ranked 19th with a pace factor of 100.05.
17. Lakers
Trending: The return of LeBron James, as well as the flood of Davis rumors, has done little to boost the Lakers’ defense lately. Over the last six games with James back, LA’s defensive rating was 119.7, 28th in the league in that span. Before his return, the Lakers were seventh in the league in defensive rating, at 107.0.
18. Magic
Trending: Since Jan. 31, the Magic have the top-ranked defense in the league, at 98.8 points per 100 possessions. They’ve gone 6-1 in that span. Until Jan. 30, the Magic had a defensive rating of 116.2, 25th in the NBA.
19. Mavericks
Trending: Luka Doncic was a pro in Europe before coming to the U.S., but the NBA schedule is much more intense than it was in his previous seasons. Still, he has increased his scoring every month: 17.7 points per game in November, 21.1 in December, 22.4 in January and 23.5 in February.
20. Pistons
Trending: The Pistons have picked up three players since the trade deadline: Wayne Ellington, Thon Maker and Svi Mikhailyuk. They’ve combined to play six games and are shooting a cumulative 6-for-35 from the field (17.1 percent).
21. Heat
Trending: The Heat had a brutal stretch heading into the break, in which they played 11 of 15 on the road. They were 5-6 on their road trips but lost all four home games. They’re 25th at home, with a record of 11-16, and seventh on the road at 15-14.
22. Hornets
Trending: The Hornets rank 28th in the NBA in 3-point shooting on the road. That’s been especially bad lately — just 27.1 percent over their last six games, last in the league.
23. Wizards
Trending: When star point guard John Wall was healthy, the Wizards had an assist percentage of 60.4, 12th in the NBA, and a record of 13-21. Since then, the Wizards rank third in the league with an assist percentage of 66.8. They’re 11-13 in that stretch.
24. Pelicans
Trending: Pelicans forward Julius Randle has been chipping in major production since he returned from an ankle injury five games ago. In that stretch, he’s averaged 22.4 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists, shooting 51.4 percent from the field and 45.0 percent from the 3-point line. He’s made nine 3-pointers in those five games — he had made just 28 in his first 47 games.
25. Grizzlies
Trending: The Grizzlies are trying to give forward Bruno Caboclo another chance. Some advice: Keep him out of the corners. Caboclo has made just 8.3 percent of his shots from the left corner and 16.7 percent from the right corner. He attempts nearly 18 percent of his 3s from the corners.
26. Hawks
Trending: The Hawks’ three first-rounders from last year’s draft — Trae Young, Kevin Huerter and Omari Spellman — are averaging more than 36 points and shooting 39.7 percent from the 3-point line in their last nine games.
27. Bulls
Trending: Perhaps Otto Porter Jr. was a hidden gem all along. If a four-game sample size matters (it doesn’t, really), Porter is averaging 22.5 points on 62.1 percent shooting and 57.9 percent 3-point shooting.
28. Suns
Trending: The Suns have held opponents below 100 points only five times this season and only once since Dec. 15. They’ve given up 119.7 points per game in their last 29 games.
29. Cavaliers
Trending: Ante Zizic needs a lot of work offensively, but he has been one of the few highlights of a woebegone Cavaliers defense. The Cavs have a 119.7 defensive rating when Zizic is not on the court and a 112.0 rating when he is on. The defense is 7.7 points better when he is playing.
30. Knicks
Trending: Dennis Smith Jr. has played seven games with the Knicks and is averaging 6.0 assists per game. New York is dead last in assist percentage, at 51.6, but in the team’s last seven games, the Knicks rank 26th with a 58.1 assist percentage.