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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Russell Westbrook&lt;/strong&gt; might not be Rookie of the Year -- the Bulls' &lt;strong&gt;Derrick Rose&lt;/strong&gt; is still the favorite -- but he's most certainly the Rookie of the Moment. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Oklahoma City point guard, who averaged 15.8 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists in four games over the last week, has edged past Rose to reclaim the top spot in the Rookie Rankings.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;He's also helped the Thunder sustain their best form of the season: They've won six of their last nine games, including Monday's comeback win against Spurs, Oklahoma City's first victory against a first-place team this season. Not too shabby for a team whose 2-24 start put it on an early pace to challenge the 1972-73 Sixers for the worst record in NBA history. Westbrook gets a chance to make his case for ROY honors Wednesday when the Thunder play host to Rose and the Bulls. Meanwhile, &lt;strong&gt;O.J. Mayo&lt;/strong&gt; slides, his Grizzlies teammate &lt;strong&gt;Marc Gasol&lt;/strong&gt; rises and &lt;strong&gt;Brook Lopez&lt;/strong&gt; keeps producing for the Nets.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(All stats and records are through Monday.)\tNBA Rookie Rankings\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t&amp;#160;\t\t\t\t\t1Last Week: 2\t\t\tRussell Westbrook, Oklahoma City ThunderCount Nuggets coach &lt;strong&gt;George Karl&lt;/strong&gt; among those who believe Westbrook has caught up to Rose and warrants serious Rookie of the Year consideration. \"I like his stride, his power, his courage to learn a new position,\" Karl told the &lt;em&gt;Denver Post&lt;/em&gt;. \"I think by March and April, I'm going with Westbrook.\" Westbrook, who is adjusting to playing full time as a point guard, committed a season-high eight turnovers in Saturday's loss to Phoenix. Therein lies the obvious rub with the raw playmaker: His eye-popping 226 giveaways in 67 games (3.4 average) rank second only to &lt;strong&gt;Dwyane Wade&lt;/strong&gt;.\t\t&amp;#160;\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t&amp;#160;\t\t\t\t\t2Last Week: 1\t\t\tDerrick Rose, Chicago BullsRose, once the runaway favorite for the Rookie of the Year award, continues to lead all first-year players in assists while ranking second in points and minutes. But a slight dip in his production has thrust some drama into the race. He's averaging 14.4 points (on 41.6 percent shooting) and 5.6 assists since the All-Star break, down from 17.0 points (on 47.3 percent) and 6.3 assists before the break.\t\t&amp;#160;\t\t\t\t\t3Last Week: 4\t\t\tBrook Lopez, New Jersey NetsThe Nets are fading in their bid to make the playoffs as the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference, but Lopez remains a solid contributor at the center position. He averaged 14.8 points (on 67.6 percent shooting) and 5.8 rebounds in four games over the last week. Earlier this month, Lopez broke the franchise rookie record for blocked shots set by &lt;strong&gt;Kenyon Martin&lt;/strong&gt; in 2000-01. Martin finished that season with 113 blocks, 11 fewer than Lopez has recorded with 15 games to play.\t\t&amp;#160;\t\t\t\t\t4Last Week: 5\t\t\tMarc Gasol, Memphis GrizzliesLast month, the Grizzlies launched a Rookie of the Year campaign for &lt;strong&gt;O.J. Mayo&lt;/strong&gt;. But given the ever-steady Gasol's recent emergence, are we convinced Mayo is even the best rookie on his own team? Gasol is averaging 16.4 points (on 59.7 percent shooting), 9.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocks in eight games this month, with two 20-10 games. He's also averaging 3.5 assists over that span, which equals Mayo's output, despite the latter's more prominent role in directing the Memphis offense.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t&amp;#160;\t\t\t5Last Week: 3\t\t\tO.J. Mayo, Memphis Grizzlies The Grizzlies keep losing -- they are 2-13 in their last 15 games to fall behind Westbrook and the Thunder in the Western Conference -- and Mayo's often-inefficient scoring punch has started to ring hollow. Monday's 9-for-16 performance in a loss to the Trail Blazers marked the first time since Feb. 4 that Mayo made better than 50 percent from the field. He is hitting 43.6 percent for the season. \t\t\t\t\t&amp;#160; \t\t\t\t\t\t\t6Last Week: 7\t\t\tKevin Love, Minnesota TimberwolvesThe top rebounder of the rookie class has impressed Timberwolves coach &lt;strong&gt;Kevin McHale&lt;/strong&gt; with his effort around the basket. \"I tell you what, he's a worker,\" McHale told HoopsWorld.com. \"He's working constantly out there. The ball goes up and now it's getting to the point where if he doesn't get it you're thinking, What's wrong with him? He's just a relentless worker with great, great, great instincts.\" \t\t\t\t\t\t\t&amp;#160;\t\t\t\t\t7Last Week: 8\t\t\tEric Gordon, L.A. ClippersGordon has scored in double figures in 39 of his last 41 games, including all three last week when he averaged 16.0. In 49 starts (he came off the bench the first month of the season), the shooting guard from Indiana has averaged 18.4 points and converted 46 percent from the field and 39 percent from three-point range.\t\t\t\t&amp;#160;\t\t\t\t\t8Last Week: 6\t\t\tMichael Beasley, Miami HeatBeasley scored eight points in each of Miami's three games last week, playing 23 minutes in a win over the Celtics, 20 minutes in a triple-overtime victory against the Jazz and 15 foul-plagued minutes in a loss at Philadelphia. Beasley didn't record a rebound against the 76ers, his first game without a board this season. \t\t\t\t&amp;#160;\t\t\t\t\t9Last Week: 10\t\t\tMario Chalmers, Miami HeatThe point guard played 53 minutes in that triple-OT win against the Jazz on Saturday, matching his career high with 23 points, adding five steals and committing only one turnover. Perhaps he felt the effects of the heavy workload the following day in Philadelphia, where Chalmers shot 2-of-9 from the field in 38 minutes. Chalmers has only six turnovers in his last four games covering 166 minutes of action.\t\t \t\t&amp;#160;\t\t\t\t\t10Last Week: NR\t\t\tD.J. Augustin, Charlotte BobcatsAugustin is playing an important role off the bench as the Bobcats try to make the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. The 6-foot point guard finished with 18 points (on 7-for-10 shooting) in Saturday's loss in Minnesota and followed it up Monday with 15 points and six assists in a victory over the Raptors. He paces all rookies in free-throw percentage (90.2) and ranks second in three-point shooting (41.9).\t\t\t\t\t\t&amp;#160;\t\t\t\t\tHonorable Mention&lt;strong&gt;Rudy Fernandez&lt;/strong&gt;, Trail Blazers (recovering from chest and hip injuries); &lt;strong&gt;Jason Thompson&lt;/strong&gt;, Kings (13.3 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.0 blocks in three games); &lt;strong&gt;Marreese Speights&lt;/strong&gt;, 76ers (10.3 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 17.3 mpg in three games).\t\t\t\t\t\t&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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