Sixers are the lone unblemished team in the East.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images.)
Welcome to the B-Ball Brunch. Enjoy reading about my NBA musings about last night during your brunch hours.
We just wrapped up a week in the National Basketball Association. After all the shootyhoops happening on the courts in front of large amounts of people, only four teams are left undefeated. This isn’t exactly the best indication of how they’re going to do the rest of the season but this will be fun to look at.
Let’s look at each team and what made them winners of all their games so far.
PHILADELPHIA 76ERS (3-0)
WINS: v BOSTON, @ DETROIT, @ ATLANTA
Those are actually pretty good wins. I’ll reiterate once again that when a friend asked who has the current best starting five in the league, I said the Sixers. THESE GUYS ARE BIG. Good luck scoring against them. They are currently 2nd in defensive rating, which means points allowed per possession. The Sixers are only letting teams score 95.5 points per 100 possessions.
Their perimeter shooting isn’t all there (27th in three-point percentage at a rotten .298). But again, that starting line-up is big and they will beat you up inside on both ends (currently 6th in points in the paint and 5th in free throw attempts).
And when it comes down to it, those five guys are very capable of putting up points on the board. Say what you will about Ben Simmons lacking a three-pointer but he’s great around the paint (he scored 22 of his 24 points inside the area against the Celtics). While Tobias Harris led the team in scoring against the Pistons with 29, it was Al Horford who broke the game open by scoring 11 straight Sixers points in a crucial 17-5 run in the closing minutes. Joel Embiid sat out that game against Detroit so he made it up by scoring 36 points against a very game Atlanta team. I didn’t want to leave out Josh Richardson but he’s averaging a very cool 13.8 points per game himself despite not shooting that well.
Once their perimeter shooting comes around (they were 8th in three-point percentage last season), this will be an extremely tough squad to beat.
DENVER NUGGETS (3-0)
WINS: @ PORTLAND, v PHOENIX, @ SACRAMENTO
Denver is really picking up where they left off as they recover from a crushing seven-game series loss to Portland. They got some measure of revenge by defeating the Blazers in Portland. They beat the Suns in overtime, who don’t seem like doormats anymore. Finally, they got by the Sacramento Kings, who have YET to win a game.
The Nuggets like to play on a turtle’s pace as the offense is centered around the bulky Nikola Jokic. They’ve played it close in all three of their games but that’s because they’re not exactly converting on the shots inside the arc (last in two-pointers at .403). At least, they’ve played some good defense (7th in defensive rating, allowing 99.6 points per 100 possessions).
The scoring will get there; Jokic is shooting a shockingly mediocre .426 from the field. Will Barton is awful right now at .321 while Jamal Murray is obviously much better than his .383 clip. It is a long season, though, and they got a bit battle-tested after last season’s run.
But, hey, they’re 3-0. Whether they win ugly or handsome, a win is a win.
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES (3-0)
WINS: @ BROOKLYN, @ CHARLOTTE, v MIAMI
Well, the Wolves are 2nd in offensive rating at 111.6 points per 100 possessions. They don’t have anything that pops out offensively but they are 3rd in second chance points at 17.3.
But they do have a player that stands out at Karl-Anthony Towns. The Western Conference Player of the Week is rock solid at 32 points, 13.3 boards, 5 dimes, 2 blocks, and 3 steals per game. He is doing EVERYTHING. The only thing he’s doing poorly is free throw shooting (.630) but we all know that’ll go back up.
The big change for the Wolves is that they really are having KAT start the offense from the top instead of setting up on the block. And when everything goes awry, you could do worse than having Towns go one-on-one. He’s pretty much the main reason why they’re 3-0. Witness him give the Hornets a 17-point third quarter shellacking.
Towns still needs a second scorer and Andrew Wiggins is doing that. He went on a personal 11-0 run to close out the Heat. Like I said before, all Wiggins can do is score at the moment and against Miami, he did a very good job at that.
Nobody really believes the Wolves are contenders. But one Karl-Anthony Towns is giving some hope. They will be really tested when they go against the unbeaten Sixers tomorrow.
SAN ANTONIO SPURS (3-0)
WINS: v NEW YORK, v WASHINGTON, v PORTLAND
Man. These guys will NEVER go away.
The Spurs, the team with 22 straight playoff seasons, know a thing or two about winning. Even if they are all about the archaic midrange shooting (most in the league at 22 shots per game in the midrange), they can put balls through hoops. They are 7th in points at 119 per game and 4th in offensive rating at 111.3 points per 100 possessions. Unlike the author, the San Antonio Spurs are really good at scoring.
I will never “blame the schedule” because all teams can do is play who’s right in front of you. But I’m not THAT dumb and say that it didn’t help them, either. All three games they have played are in San Antonio. They had to use a late 18-0 run to beat the lowly Knicks. It took a DeMar DeRozan lay-up in the closing seconds to beat the John Wall-less Wizards. And Damian Lillard‘s attempt at a game-tying three popped out at the buzzer to give the Spurs a 3-0 slate.
The Spurs haven’t been an easy win since the 1996-97 season (the year David Robinson was hurt and the year before they drafted Tim Duncan). They’re not the championship team that they used to be (thank Kawhi Leonard for leaving Texas). But with Gregg Popovich coaching and having all-stars like LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan, all the teams know what the Spurs are capable of. Rings aren’t in the horizon but they’ll still win games more often than not.
Bullet Passes
*I said earlier that KAT won Player of the Week for the West. Who got the honors for the East? Trae Young. I’m pretty sure I talked about them very recently.
*Speaking of Trae, he put up 19 points in the first half against the Sixers. Philly knew what he had done so they really zeroed in on him in the second half. Young only got six points the rest of the game, which totalled 25 for the game. But I think teams are starting to realize what Trae Young is capable of.
*Unlike most people on this Earth, I happen to think that the refs do a very good job officiating the game. You try reffing a basketball game filled with the strongest and fastest athletes in the world for about two hours. I think it’s amazing what they can call in the blink of an eye.
So when they make a mistake, it’s magnified. Such is the case at the end of the Jazz/Suns game. Donovan Mitchell was fouled in the closing seconds of the game. It seems like the whistle was blown with more than a second left in the game. But instead, the clock was at 0.4 seconds. The officials didn’t even bother to check the replay and adjust the clock. When Mitchell missed his second foul shot, there was not enough time to call a timeout. Game over. Suns lose under arguable circumstances.
You can judge for yourself if you like. Too bad, this will end up becoming a slap on the wrist.
*Speaking of the refs, look at this hip check by Mike Scott:
No layups when Mike Scott is around… pic.twitter.com/8GTJV5UgHq
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) October 29, 2019
By the way, Mike Scott was called for a Flagrant Two and was tossed out of the contest.
I will say that I highly disagree with the call. Flagrant One and move on, in my opinion. But I will also say that Scott shouldn’t have put himself in that situation where he leaves it in the officials’ hands. Sometimes, they’ll get afraid of the game escalating so they’ll toss a player out to keep the competition in control. Sometimes, they’ll just let it go because tossing out a player like that is weaksauce. Unfortunately, the refs went with the ejection. Whoops.
*I just don’t buy it when players say about games against their former teams that “it’s just another game.” Bobby Portis seemed all about it, though, as the Knicks forward gave the Bulls 28 points in New York’s first win. He had 11 points in that fourth quarter, including back-to-back threes in the Knicks’ 13-0 run that closed the contest. At least, the Knicks don’t have to press anymore about wins.
*What Fred VanVleet did to Markelle Fultz was callous.
Ankles, snatched @FredVanVleet | #WeTheNorth pic.twitter.com/6m0YtGmg2Z
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) October 29, 2019
At least, Fultz is still functional.
*Despite the loss, Richaun Holmes of the Kings was a behemoth. He went for 24 points and 13 boards. Oh, and he had this highlight reel:
(VIDEO CREDIT: Sacramento Kings.)
*The Rockets and Thunder played each other, which meant that it was the first time Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul were facing their old teams since they were traded for each other. Paul didn’t have an eye-popping line; he finished with 15 points. Russ had his usual, finishing one dime shy of a trip-dub (21-12-9). James Harden did score 40 but it was because he shot like a million free throws (21/22 but what’s the difference?). In the end, it was a P.J. Tucker three that put the game out of reach.
Don’t think this match-up will have as much juice as when Harden was first traded to Houston.
*So about the Warriors vs Pelicans game? One team had to get their first win and it was the five-time finalists that won going away. Their tweak was to put first round pick Jordan Poole with the starters, replacing Marquese Chriss. Poole came through with 13 points. But Damion Lee did some real damage, scoring 23 points and grabbing 11 boards. Stephen Curry (26 points, 11 assists, 3 steals) and Draymond Green (16-17-10) were back to their old selves and the Warriors got the blowout win. So they don’t suck that badly, after all!
*Brandon Ingram continues to shine outside of L.A. (27-10-6). He’s currently averaging 27.3 points, 9.5 boards, and 4.8 assists in four games. But again, a lot of us have said that he was really good before getting that blood clot in his arm last season. Now he’s healthy and showing what he can do.
Watch This Play
Joel Embiid put John Collins in a poster. I mean, if posters are still a thing.
(VIDEO CREDIT: House of Highlights.)
At least, Collins tried?
Rey-Rey is on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
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