A tough week for Trail Blazers in regards to their standings on the NBA.com Race To The MVP rankings. After being named to the Western Conference All-Stars last Thursday, LaMarcus Aldridge drops two spots and Damian Lillard drops completely out of this week's rankings.
After over a month at No. 3 behind only Kevin Durant and LeBron James, Aldridge is overtaken Indiana's Paul George and L.A.'s Blake Griffin to end up at No. 5 in this week's rankings ...
Hard to argue with much of that. One thing worth pointing out is the Clippers have also lost three of their last five games, though Griffin has been quiet good even in losses.
As for Lillard, he is replaced in the Top 10 by Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki after being ranked No. 10 last week. The second-year point guard is still averaging a respectable 18.0 points, 5.2 assists, 4.2 rebounds on 41 percent shooting in his last five games, but those numbers don't rise to the level needed to be considering a fringe MVP candidate (inasmuch as any player aside from Durant and James are actual candidates). He's also shooting just 24 percent from three in his last five games, which is a full 16 percentage points lower than his season average. Get that number back up, and maybe win a couple events on All-Star Saturday night, and he'll likely find his way back in the Top 10 soon after.