We’re about a month into the NBA season that has had plenty of surprises, as well as plenty of things that were bound to happen.
The obvious: the Oklahoma City Thunder are 14-1 and poised to make another title run this postseason. It effectively has the same team from last season with the young superstars getting more experience with each win.
A surprise: the Los Angeles Lakers are 10-4 without Lebron James. The aging face of the NBA has been out due to a back injury and could make a return as early as this week, but Luka Doncic is putting up MVP numbers in his absence. Some are even suggesting moving James and making this “Luka’s Lakers.”
Another obvious: the Boston Celtics and the Indiana Pacers are having down years after superstars Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton each went down in last season’s playoffs with ACL tears. While the Celtics are managing to remain a play-in tournament caliber team, the Pacers have collapsed. This is also partially due to Myles Turner leaving in free agency for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Another surprise: the New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers are not running away with the Eastern Conference. We’ll dive more into the Knicks later, but the Cavs are only in second place behind a resilient Detroit Pistons team. With the Pistons, it should not be a surprise that the team is in this position following a playoff run that nearly saw them oust the Knicks. Detroit is a great defensive team with stars like Cade Cunningham leading the way offensively.
Let’s go in-depth on how the local teams have fared through another week of basketball.
Brooklyn Nets (2-11)
Results this week: 119-109 loss vs. Toronto, 105-98 loss at Orlando, 129-106 win at Washington.
One word: Time
It’s just a matter of time before this team will start winning games consistently again. This team needs time to figure out a lot of things out.
We knew the team was not going to be fun to watch. The ever-rebuilding Brooklyn Nets are tanking again and will move soon-to-be unrestricted free agents for role players to help a young squad improve over time. The Nets will try to get a top pick in next season’s draft and even get a chance at the first pick overall.
The Nets drafted five players heading into this season with Egor Demin, Nolan Traoré, Drake Powell, Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf all fighting for time to play. Demin and Powell have been seeing the most time out of the five, but Saraf has come off the bench and even had starting time.
It’s helped, for them, that Cam Thomas has been out so more of the youngsters can shine. The Nets technically have a better record without Thomas, but he’s obviously one of the stars and main sources of scoring.
It’ll take time for Thomas to come back and time for the Nets to get better.
New York Knicks (8-5)
Results this week: 133-120 win vs. Memphis, 124-107 loss vs. Orlando, 140-132 win vs. Miami, 115-113 loss at Miami.
One word: Resilient
The Knicks enter the fourth week of the season down Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby but have proven that New York can win with others in their place.
Brunson sounds like he will miss a few games with an ankle sprain while Anunoby will miss at least two weeks with a calf strain. In the meantime, the Knicks are showing that its other stars and bench players can facilitate in the meantime.
Look at the win against Miami at home. Karl-Anthony Towns and Landry Shamet combined for 75 points and kept the Knicks afloat after Anunoby exited.
The Knicks did suffer their first loss at home after a record start to the season with its loss to Orlando and have yet to win a road game this season but came close with a down-to-the-wire loss at Miami. Aside from the loss to Orlando, the Knicks are surviving and pushing through the first injury spell of the season.
Philadelphia 76ers (8-5)
Results this week: 102-100 win vs. Boston, 114-105 loss at Detroit, 110-108 win vs. Los Angeles Clippers.
One word: Striving
The Philadelphia 76ers are getting healthier after Paul George made his return after offseason surgery sidelined him to start the season.
Is the answer to this season George? Probably not, but it certainly helps having a veteran presence with younger players carrying the team to an 8-5 record.
You also can’t forget the hot start Philly had to start the season, which at this point has simmered down. The 76ers are right along with the Knicks in the divisional standings and tied for second place.
The team will be good and have stretches where the 76ers will be great, its rebounding when the team inevitably gets hurt as the season goes along.
