The first week of the NBA season is in the books. Who won the week? What are we overreacting to? Our writers break down the best and worst of the season so far.
1. Name a big winner from the first week of the season.
Vincent Goodwill: The Oklahoma City Thunder (beat teams by almost 20 points a night). They want to break the trend of a new team at the top of the West every year. Granted, the schedule wasn’t tough, but 3-0 is 3-0, including that demolition of the Denver Nuggets in Denver. It looked like JV vs. the varsity team, especially now that Chet Holmgren (23.7 points, 13 rebounds, 4 blocks!) seems to be in full bloom. The Thunder appear to have the best defense in the league, and this is without Isaiah Hartenstein. We have a problem here, folks.
Kevin O’Connor: JJ Redick. The Lakers are 3-0 and seem like a night and day difference from last season. The offense plays with so much more movement and has different layers to their actions. And Anthony Davis is unlocked: AD is averaging 34 points while racking up 11 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.3 blocks and 1.7 steals. The team has a fairly similar roster, but has an entirely new process and dramatically better results. Redick is the difference.
Dan Devine: Ivica Zubac. A Clippers team that will be without Kawhi Leonard for the foreseeable future will need someone besides James Harden and the ever-ready Norman Powell to build more offensive slack. Through three games, Zubac was the biggest beneficiary of the redistribution, averaging 5.6 more field goal attempts per 36 minutes than last season, posting by far the highest usage rate of his career and ranking second in the entire NBA in field goal offense. frontcourt. , post-ups and points in the paint per game, and a mile ahead of the league in touches at the elbow and in the paint.
Zu also gets something out of all those extra chances and scores almost 22.7 points per game double last season’s goal – shooting 59.2% to go along with a league-leading 14 rebounds and 4.3 assists while serving as the back-line eraser for a Clipper defense that ranks fourth in concerns points allowed per possession. LA finishes the first week 2-1, with road wins over Denver and Golden State, thanks in large part to a very large Croatian relishing the chance to stretch out and explore.
Morten Stig Jensen: The Orlando magic. Young teams are often good at one thing to start, like defense, as we saw from them last season, but struggle to find a secondary skill. The Magic asked us all to hold their beers as they have started the season firing 3-pointers more than 42 times per game. The highest number of attempts for them last year was 46. They have already surpassed that twice in three games.
Rohrbach: Evan Mobley. The Cleveland Cavaliers are off to a 3-0 start, and wouldn’t you know it, Mobley has the second-highest usage rate on the team, behind Donovan Mitchell. We’ve been clamoring for this for years and it appears new head coach Kenny Atkinson has unlocked Mobley in a way that maximizes the offense. (Their 125.5 points per 100 possessions are second only to the Boston Celtics.) We already knew his impact on defense, but if Mobley can continue to shoot — and make — 3s, the Cavs might just be able to solve their spacing problems .
2. Name a big loser from the first week of the season.
O’Connor: Nikola Jokic. Ah, so you thought you could make it work with Russell Westbrook, huh? Unfortunately, through two games, Westbrook is shooting 11.1 percent from the floor. The Nuggets have an offensive rating of 54.9 in the 24 minutes Jokić has sat, and Russ has spent 22 of those minutes throwing up rocks. But it would be foolish to blame Westbrook entirely. Jamal Murray continues to show signs of decline. And the departure of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (after losing Bruce Brown the year before) is being sorely felt. Jokić is still great individually. But Denver doesn’t look like a contender yet.
Goodwill: The entire Denver Nuggets outfit. Michael Porter Jr. and Jamal Murray, your presence is required at the front of the line. They’re two games worth repeating, but MPJ is shooting 30 percent and Murray hopefully shakes himself out of a sluggish postseason and summer. Jokić (41-9-4) had an adequate outing against the proven Clippers and it still wasn’t enough. The Nuggets defend the 3 well, but they don’t make any (28.8 percent), meaning the lack of space around Jokić will quickly make him claustrophobic.
Rohrbach: Tyrese Maxey. The Philadelphia 76ers generated a lot of excitement this offseason, with the addition of Paul George and a revamped supporting cast around Joel Embiid and Maxey. They were serious championship contenders. Only for Maxey to find himself at the helm of the same old situation. George is injured. And Maxey isn’t equipped to handle the pressure that comes his way when his co-stars can’t carry their load. His 31.3 points required 28.7 shots per game. This is not a sustainable model.
Morten Stig Jensen: Surprised it took so long to get to Wisconsin. The Bucks just lost back to back to Chicago and Brooklyn, which necessitates a stunned sigh of disappointment at the very least. This is top Giannis Antetokounmpo, and a presumably healthy Damian Lillard. Even if the rest of the roster is random guys named Doug and Chris from the local YMCA, you have to win it.
Divine: The Pacers. After needing a big fourth-quarter run to avoid an opening night loss to the (admittedly more competitive under J.B. Bickerstaff) Pistons, Indiana was then blown off the doors by the Knicks, dropping an overtime decision at home to a 76ers team. Joel Embiid is missing And Paul George. Not ideal!
The Pacers reached the Eastern Conference Finals thanks to one of the most potent offenses in NBA history; Through three games, they are just 24th in points scored per possession. They are turning the ball over more than last season, scoring less in transition and taking a smaller share of their shots from the rim or beyond the three-point line. Tyrese Haliburton has missed 30 of his first 44 shots, including 20 of his first 25 three-pointers, and hasn’t quite looked like himself so far; Making matters worse, when he arrived on Sunday, his teammates were shooting just 28.1% off his passes. This Indiana offense is nothing like the one that set the league on fire last season. Until this is the case, you can expect more losses than gains.
3. What’s the biggest overreaction from the first week of the season?
Divine: … Will Cam Thomas lead the NBA in scoring? I mean:
I mean:
I mean:
Through three games, Thomas is averaging 30.7 points in 34.6 minutes per game on 48/46/90 shooting, coolly and comfortably carving up opposing defenses. He ranks just outside the top 10 in usage rates and takes almost eight more shots per game than the next most ambitious Net (Dennis Schröder) on a Brooklyn team that many expect to be a sellout as the season progresses held. theory, should even be open more assets shoot before him, an even wider canvas on which he can paint great, true masterpieces.
How many games the Nets will win, how hard they will actually try to win them now that they have their own 2025 first-round pick, how complete a player Thomas can be: these all remain largely open questions. But when it comes to the way he puts the ball in the basket, it seems like the only thing we still have to learn is whether Jordi Fernandez will give him the ball enough to do that more often than anyone else in the league . Because if Jordi does that, Cam will definitely try.
Rohrbach: Are the Los Angeles Lakers really real? They are 3-0 against three good teams – Minnesota, Phoenix and Sacramento – and owners of a top-five offense. A recipe for success, especially if Anthony Davis starts playing like an MVP candidate (34-11-3-2-2 on 57/40/80 shooting splits). But they are +35 in Davis’ 31 minutes on the bench, which seems unusual. What if another number — the 8.9 points per 100 possessions they’re outscored by when Davis and LeBron James are on the floor together — is closer to the real-life version of these Lakers?
O’Connor: The Bucks are in trouble. The score is 1-2, the defense is in shambles and the offense is still disjointed, despite Damian Lillard looking healthy and Giannis still doing Giannis things. Doc Rivers seems to be struggling, but he also doesn’t have much depth to work with. This couch stinks. Khris Middleton is also still on the sidelines. But next on their schedule: Boston, Memphis, Cleveland twice, Utah, New York and then Boston again. It’s about to get ugly.
Jensen: Are the Nuggets in trouble too? Denver’s loss to the Clippers wasn’t a big one, but you can justify the L against Oklahoma City, and you also have to take into account that this team will take some time to thrive due to the personnel changes. Not to sound too simplistic, but Russell Westbrook isn’t going to shoot 11% from the field all season — and if he does, removing him from the lineup entirely should solve some of their problems. Also, Michael Porter Jr. not just achieve 30%. The sample size is too small to cause panic. If they’re still below .500 by mid-November, we’ll have another conversation.
Goodwill: Do we know exactly when Joel Embiid will play? You’d think if you competed in the Olympics not too long ago, that would keep him in shape and get him ready for the season. But it doesn’t even feel like he’s playing five against five with his own team. The announcement that he won’t play back-to-back games was bold enough considering the league is launching an investigation into it and wanting to be fresh for the playoffs is admirable.
But the plain cause has to matter, and they can’t leave all the responsibilities to Tyrese Maxey – you don’t want to run him over for vouching for Embiid and Paul George. He plays 43 minutes a night and shoots 35 percent. He woke up in fourth and OT against Indiana, but the 76ers could be playing with fire if this continues.
