After the NBA’s opening week of the regular season, where we were all still trying to grasp everything that was new and some immediate surprises, the second week has shown that everything has now started to be more consistent and the good teams have been good, while the least promising teams have had the expected results.
As for the players mentioned in last week’s recap on the “surprises” or “future All-Stars” segments, some have dropped off their productivity considerably, like Jalen Duren, who had a monstrous start to the season, but has slowly decreased his averages and statistics to what it was expected of him before the beginning of the year, while still showing lots of improvement since his rookie season.
Let’s go over the five biggest storylines that happened over the last seven days, while also mentioning the inaugural games of the In-Season Tournament, which has had some polarizing reception on social media ever since its announcement during the summer.
Memphis snaps the losing streak
The Grizzlies have had a very tough start to the year, with star player Ja Morant unavailable due to a 25-game suspension and injured starting center Steven Adams, who suffered a season-ending right knee injury during training camp. With these notable absences, the main areas they struggled with were rebounding and shot-creating.
Jaren Jackson Jr., the reigning Defensive Player of the Year isn’t particularly known for either of the previously mentioned attributes missing, and so the front office decided that it was time to bring someone out of free agency that could help and reduce the rebounding issue, and Bismack Biyombo was their match. Biyombo had previously played with the Phoenix Suns for the past two seasons, as a bench option to do all the gritty work the starters didn’t do, and so that was his role coming into the starting lineup for the Grizzlies.
In his first and only game so far with the team out of Memphis, Biyombo led the game in rebounds, with 11, and led the Grizzlies’ starting lineup in box score plus-minus, a metric that estimates a player’s contribution to the team when they’re on the court. A key addition to that lineup that helped the franchise achieve their first win of the season against the Portland Trail Blazers, and while they still have a lot to figure out, this was definitely a step in the right direction, with Desmond Bane also taking the reins of the team’s offense and scoring above 30 points on consecutive matchups with the Blazers.
The Unicorns continue to shine
The two most promising seven-foot rookies of today’s NBA have a record of three wins and three losses with their respective teams, and they have both been very important pieces, contributing to each and every single one of their franchise’s triumphs. Starting with the Oklahoma City Thunder and the second overall pick in last year’s draft, Chet Holmgren, who had a very consistent and solid first professional week, has now taken his game one step forward and had his first 20 point game against the Golden State Warriors, in a very tight game that went in favor of the San Francisco team. Two weeks in, Holmgren is averaging over 17 points and seven rebounds per game, with an impressive two blocks as well.
As for the seven-foot-four Frenchman in San Antonio, his second week was definitely better than the first one, helping the team to two consecutive victories over Kevin Durant and Devin Booker’s Phoenix Suns, dropping an impressive 38 points and 10 rebounds in the 11-point victory over the Arizona franchise. With these spectacular performances, Wemby now takes his averages to over 20 points, eight rebounds and nearly three blocks in these first six games of the season, being up there with Anthony Davis in the blocking leaders list.
There’s still no telling what these two promising young men’s futures will look like, but with performances like these just six games into their NBA careers, it’s almost guaranteed that they’ll have the keys to the league in just a matter of time.
The league’s unsung heroes
Certain players are known for having ridiculous statistics, like 30 points, 20 rebounds or 10 assist performances, but these individuals aren’t necessarily the box score fillers, but are some of the main reasons why their teams have won their games.
Sitting with the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference, the Brooklyn Nets have quietly been one of the league’s most underrated teams so far, with three wins and three losses. Looking at the box scores of their last few games, you might’ve seen Cam Thomas’ impressive scoring numbers and highlights, averaging over 26 points per game and getting the ball in the basket in ways that haven’t been done before, but if you actually watch the games, the man that’s been helping Thomas achieve those numbers, has been none-other than Ben Simmons. Simmons has been having a very quiet statistical year, compared to what he’s done in the past, but with over seven points, assists and 10 rebounds, he’s been the main playmaker in Brooklyn and the effects have been clear, particularly with Thomas who has benefited the most out of Ben’s great performances.
In the Western Conference, but with the fifth seed and one less game than Brooklyn, the Minnesota Timberwolves have quietly been the league’s best defense two weeks in, containing four out of their five opponents to under 100 points, and much of those efforts have been by both Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns. Gobert is already known as one of the best rim-defenders of the last few years, but Towns hasn’t been a positive defender throughout his career, but this year he sits in at second in the league when it comes to Defensive Rating, right behind Gobert, with this metric measuring an estimate of points allowed by the player per 100 possessions.
New looks for the Clippers and the 76ers
Right as week one finished, a blockbuster trade happened between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Philadelphia 76ers, a deal that sent superstar James Harden and P.J. Tucker to Los Angeles, and Robert Covington, Nicolas Batum, Marcus Morris and KJ Martin the other way to Philadelphia.
Though we’ve already covered the trade and what it implies to both teams, we’ve now seen the direct impact that it caused, with some of the players involved already making their debut with their new team, including Covington, Tucker and Martin, contributing to their team’s results over the week.
For the Clippers, James Harden is expected to make his debut with the squad today, against the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden, as the Los Angeles team expects to bounce back from the overtime loss against the Lakers. Harden is expected to slot in the starting lineup right away, alongside Russell Westbrook, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard and Ivica Zubac.
And only one undefeated team remains
At the end of the first week, three teams were yet to suffer a loss: the reigning champions Denver Nuggets, the Dallas Mavericks and the Boston Celtics.
The champions visited the previously mentioned Minnesota Timberwolves on the 1st of November, revisiting last year’s playoffs first round series that ended up in five games favoring Denver. Until this point, the Nuggets had won four straight games in their start of the season, against solid teams like the Los Angeles Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder, in a very convincing manner. But in Minnesota, the tides completely shifted, as the best defensive team in the NBA made an incredible job containing the star Nikola Jokić to “only” 25 points and Jamal Murray to a season-low 15 points, courtesy of Jaden McDaniels’ excellent defensive work.
The Dallas Mavericks and Luka Dončić had been surprising everyone, considering how last season ended for them, missing out on the Play-In games and the playoffs entirely, but starting the season undefeated through four games was certainly impressive. The defense is still leaving a lot to be desired, but the offense has looked amazing so far, led by Dončić, who has averaged over 32 points per game so far in the season. In the franchise’s first game of the In-Season Tournament, against the Denver Nuggets, the lack of defensive coordination and schematics were too much to save the winning streak against the champions, as Jokić dominated young center Dereck Lively II in what seemed like the first off-game for the rookie, who has been everything the Mavericks have needed.
Regarding the Boston Celtics, as of today, they are yet to lose a game, and all of those five wins have been done in a very convincing way, with the team working in such a cohesive way that’s been very hard for opponents to figure out their weaknesses and break the winning streak. They are ranked as the best offense in the league and the eight best defense, while also being the most efficient team out of all 30 in the NBA, even with All-Defensive guard Derrick White missing the last few games due to the birth of his child.