Community Picks: Phoenix Suns 0% vs Charlotte Hornets 0%

After three weeks of travel, the Charlotte Hornets want to use a home-heavy stretch to recharge their playoff push. The Hornets finished 4-2 on a six-game road swing in which they had a season-high five-game winning streak at one point, but they dropped two of the last three. Charlotte shot a season-worst 33.3 percent in an 87-76 loss to Atlanta on Sunday. Continue to Article

February 29, 2016 2:45:pm EST

  Let's face it — the best and most powerful teams in the NBA don't really change from week to week. A handful of results in the middle of winter can only mean so much to a franchise's championship hopes. What does shift regularly, though, is how much interest a squad can hold over the course of a season. Every week, BDL's Most Interesting Power Rankings track the teams most worthy of your attention. THE TOP 15 1. Golden State Warriors (52-5, last week: 11): Holy hell, did you guys watch that thriller against the Thunder on Saturday night? I admittedly missed it live, but I decided that it was the best game of the season just off the box score. Stephen Curry's 12 three-pointers and incredible game-winner were the highlights, obviously, but Draymond Green's line — two points on 0-of-8 FG, 14 rebounds, 14 assists, six steals, and four blocks — is something like my Platonic ideal of a basketball player. And that doesn't even take into account what the Thunder did. If it sounds like I'm rambling here, that's only because it's becoming increasingly difficult to discuss the Warriors as if they were any other basketball team. How should we talk about a team that's on pace to break the single-season wins record behind regularly unreal performances from a certain back-to-back MVP capable of making 35-foot buzzer-beaters as if they were normal shots? The only conversation to have pertains to their place in the history books, but that issue won't be settled until the postseason. It looks increasingly likely that the only sensible reaction is to watch as many games as possible and enjoy a uniquely satisfying and mind-expanding basketball experience. Sometimes it's enough to have fun and conceive of new limits for the sport. We can figure out what it all means later. 2. Oklahoma City Thunder (41-18, LW: not ranked): On paper, the Thunder have had a rough go lately — Saturday's tough loss was their fourth of a five-game run against four playoff teams and the Pelicans. Nevertheless, it was hard to come out of the Warriors game without thinking that they've given the Warriors their toughest tests of the year against any potential title-winner. If Curry had not gone supernova in key moments, we'd likely be talking about how the Warriors would struggle to guard both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook effectively over seven games. OKC looks like the only team that can even contemplate beating Golden State in a high-possession game. A shiny runner-up medal won't be enough to placate the Thunder or their fans, of course, and it's easy enough to look at Saturday's result as a win surrendered rather than a loss issued solely by Curry. The Thunder made several mistakes in crunch time, including Kevin Durant's turnover that allowed Andre Iguodala's free throws at the end of regulation and Russell Westbrook foul on Klay Thompson's and-one lay-up with 29 ticks left in overtime. OKC has plenty of talented but seems especially prone to these kinds of lapses. That question is which tendency wins out in the playoffs. We'll spend the next few weeks trying to figure it out. 3. Cleveland Cavaliers (41-17, LW: 6): The Cavs have seemed a little too concerned with winning a title this season, to the point where they've often appeared more anxious than focused. That certainly looked to be the case in the wake of Sunday’s LeBron-less loss to the Washington Wizards, after which J.R. Smith, of all people, felt confident enough in the opinion to proclaim that the Cavaliers are not playing at a championship level . Michael Lee of The Vertical made the same observation in his post-game column, and it’s hard to deny that it’s a very accurate take. Lacking LeBron is an excuse for losing one game, but Cleveland has looked well below the other top-level contenders for some time now. A two-game lead on a Raptors team that still needs to win a single playoff series should inspire optimism that the Cavs can make it out of the East without much problem, but that won’t be enough to consider this season a success. Cleveland has put itself in a bind by virtue of their own expectations — continually talking about the importance of winning a title means that every misstep looms even larger. The truth is that the Cavaliers have time to get into championship form, just as they did last season, when they didn’t hit their stride until the postseason. It remains to be seen if they’ll get out of their own way long enough to find it. Continue to Article

February 29, 2016 7:06:am EST

Feb 28 (The Sports Xchange) - Ten days after Kris Humphries was acquired by the Suns in a trade with the Washington Wizards, Phoenix waived the veteran forward. The Suns picked up Humphries, forward DeJuan Blair and a protected 2016 first-round pick from the Wizards in exchange for forward Markieff Morris. Humphries, 31, played in four games for the Suns, starting three times. He averaged 7.3 points and eight rebounds. Humphries might be best known for his short-lived marriage to reality-TV star Kim Kardashian. ... Continue to Article

February 28, 2016 8:08:pm EST

The Memphis Grizzlies have a winning record since Marc Gasol's season-ending injury, taking advantage of matchups against lowly teams. Memphis (34-24) is 4-2 since losing Gasol to a broken right foot, earning all of those wins against teams that are well out of the playoff picture. The Grizzlies opened a three-game trip by completing a home-and-home sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday but fell 111-106 to Phoenix the next night. Continue to Article

February 28, 2016 6:21:pm EST

Riding a scoring surge even after losing their star center, the Memphis Grizzlies hardly resemble the offensively challenged club that last faced the Phoenix Suns in December. The Suns are also far from where they stood at that time. Seeking their fifth win in six games, the visiting Grizzlies look to keep putting up big numbers Saturday night against a Phoenix team trying to avoid a team-record 14th straight defeat. Continue to Article

February 27, 2016 2:26:am EST