NBA Weekly 5's for November 11th, 2010 from the Sports Mac

Five Stories Making News the Past Week

1. There are still two undefeated teams in the league; one, the Lakers, not a surprise; the other, the Hornets, the surprise of the young season.

2. Yao Ming unfortunately gets hurt again, this time straining a tendon in his left leg and Houston is not sure when he will return.

3. John Wall continues to impress at the start of his career as he records a triple-double in his sixth NBA game.

4. Milwaukee, Phoenix, and Houston—playoff teams from last year—continue to suffer from bad starts.

5. An interesting occurrence in the standings has Miami and Cleveland with almost an identical record two weeks into the season.

Best Five Teams Right Now

1. Los Angeles Lakers (8-0): The defending champions keep rolling right along picking up where they left off last year.

2. New Orleans Hornets (7-0): Definitely the surprise of the season so far; led by Chris Paul and David West, this team has a good start to a playoff spot.

3. San Antonio Spurs (6-1): Just when you think they’re too old to be doing this, here they are again at the top of their game.

4. Boston Celtics (6-2): The top team in the East continues to get tremendous production out of Rajon Rondo distributing the basketball.

5. Orlando Magic (5-2): This team looks just as strong as last year and will be challenged in their own division and the Eastern Conference.

Worst Five Teams Right Now

1. Los Angeles Clippers (1-8): At the other end of the spectrum, we have the other team from the Staples Center which has stumbled out of the gate once again.

2. Toronto Raptors (1-7): Losing Chris Bosh to free agency was going to hurt, but it seems to have landed a big blow to this franchise.

3. Houston Rockets (1-6): This has all the makings of a playoff team in the preseason, but a cold start may keep them out of the playoffs in the Western Conference.

4. Minnesota Timberwolves (2-7): There’s Kevin Love and not much more in the upper Midwest right now; this is a major rebuilding project.

5. Philadelphia 76ers (2-6): The return of Doug Collins as coach has seemed to knock Philadelphia down instead of getting a boost from the new staff.

Five League Leaders to Keep Track Of

1. Kevin Durant, Thunder SF: The leader of the Oklahoma City posse has picked up where he left off and is averaging 28.1 points per game to lead the league.

2. Joakim Noah, Bulls PF: The young Bull has played like one, averaging 40 minutes a game and is on top in rebounds with 15 per contest.

3. Rajon Rondo, Celtics PG: The Boston distributor got off to a record start and continues to get the ball to the right people averaging 14.8 assists through eight games this season.

4. John Wall, Wizards PG: The No. 1 pick in last year’s draft is off to a flying start; he already has a triple-double and leads in steals with 3.17 per game.

5. Roy Hibbert, Pacers C: The second year pro has looked go at the start of the season as his 3.33 blocks per contest shows he is making an impact.

Five Games to Watch over the Next Week

1. Trail Blazers at Thunder, Friday, 9:30 PM: The second meeting of the year of two of the game’s young stars in Brandon Roy and Kevin Durant.

2. Celtics at Grizzlies, Saturday, 8:00 PM: Boston continues its long road trip by traveling to Tennessee to take on an up and coming Memphis squad.

3. Hornets at Mavericks, Monday, 8:30 PM: The first meeting of the season between the Southwest Division rivals is also the first game of a home and home series.

4. Knicks at Nuggets, Tuesday, 9:00 PM: Could this be a case of Carmelo Anthony’s new team visiting to play his old team?

5. Bulls at Spurs, Wednesday, 9:30 PM, ESPN: Chicago makes its second stop of a seven game road trip, and the Texas trio as well, when they stop in San Antonio.