WEEK 11 of the 2019-2020 NBA season solidified the “changing of the guards” in terms of team rankings and the MVP race.
Here are the top five teams from week eleven:
1. Milwaukee Bucks (32-5)
2. Boston Celtics (25-8)
3. Los Angeles Lakers (29-7)
4. Dallas Mavericks (22-13)
5. Los Angeles Clippers (26-12)
These five teams have been dominating the league, thus, far, and some have faced each other to exciting conclusions. The battle for Los Angeles has seen the Clippers edging the Lakers in the last two games with two more games scheduled in January and March. The Mavs and Clippers are tied in their head to head match up though the Bucks have the Clippers numbers in their two wins.
The Mavericks dropped two games to the Lakers and the Celtics and split it with the Bucks.
The Bucks have already defeated the Lakers once and look to sweep them in the season match up, and if successful, they would have swept both LA teams.
The storied rivalry of the Celtics and the Lakers is yet to happen this season — the first meeting set to happen on January 21.
Nowhere in the top five were last year’s NBA finals contenders, Toronto Raptors (24-12) and Golden State Warriors (9-28), though the Raptors are still hanging around in the top 10 teams in the league. The Warriors are in an altogether different realm now and is probably heading for the lottery.
The MVP race is somehow similar to the top five teams. Here are the top five contenders for the 2019-2020 MVP:
1. Giannis Antetokounmpo-Bucks (30.4 pts., 13.0 rebs., 5.6 assists.,1.2 blocks., 1.2 steals.)
2. Luka Doncic-Mavericks (29.1 pts., 9.6 rebs., 8.9 assists., 1.2.steals.)
3. James Harden-Rockets (38.2 pts., 5.8 rebs., 7.5 assists., 1.8 steals.)
4. Anthony Davis-Lakers (27.3 pts., 9.3 rebs., 3.3 assists., 2.5 blocks., 1.4 steals.)
5. Lebron James-Lakers (25.3 pts, 7.7 rebs., 10.9 assists., 1.3 steals.)
Among the contenders, only James Harden of the Rockets is not in the top five teams while there is no player from the Clippers and Celtics who made it. If Giannis and the Bucks continue their stellar play until season’s end, he may be poised to winning his second MVP plum and will succeed Steph Curry as the most recent back to back MVP awardee. Curry won the award in 2014 and 2015. (Sources: hoopshabit.com & nba.com)