Memphis and Denver Lose Ugly, Oklahoma's Future Continues To Look Bright

As stated in my weekly power rankings, just as the Memphis Grizzlies looked all set to blow out the LA Clippers, Memphis falls apart. They scored just seven points in the fourth quarter and gave up a 22-point lead to the Clips.

If it was the Lakers, Celtics, Suns or Magic that Memphis had fallen to, then it could have been explained as a young team melting down against an experienced playoff contender, but the Clippers? Seriously, the Clippers? No one ever collapses like that against LA's other team.

I really like Rudy Gay and O.J. Mayo but the one guy who is underrated on that team is Marc Gasol. He's not sexy by any means, but Gasol gets the job done. The Grizzlies have a decent young core, but they can't afford these types of mental slip ups if they want to be taken seriously.

Understandably, Clipsnation was all smiles today. There's a lot of love for Eric Gordon who was playing his third game back. He led the Clippers with 29 points. I think Gordon is a player in the Vinnie Johnson mould. He's lots of energy and scores in bunches.

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Pretty disgusting effort by the Denver Nuggets to lose to the Timberwolves. Here's an interesting look at the Nuggets season from Denverstiffs blogger.

The Nuggets have had a fairly easy schedule so far and haven't quiet capitalized on it.

Still, it's not the end of the world that they lost to Minnesota. Eventually, the Wolves were going to win again and they will probably end up with 15-20 wins.

The message should be clear for the Nuggets that they aren't quite as good as they thought they were early into this season.

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While the Nuggets have had a light schedule so far, that isn't the case for the Oklahoma City Thunder who are only 9-8. But as pointed out here, OKC hasn't yet faced most of the leagues bad teams.

Also, four of their wins have been against Orlando, Miami, Utah and San Antonio.

It is fun watching the Thunder grow and develop together. Kevin Durant is the superstar and he has a very strong supporting cast around him.

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Milwaukee Bucks guard Carlos Delfino is not noted for his defense, but check him out here.