Whether it’s the lack of fans, a new draft class, or a rapidly shifting NBA, the beginning of this season has shown teams leading the league that were expected to be mediocre, and other great teams playing below our expectations, but this is what keeps the NBA interesting and unpredictable.
For example a team like the Philadelphia 76er’s are 12-6 to start the season when no one had them at the top of the East. They were however shorthanded going into Monday night’s game against the Detroit Pistons, lacking their super star Joel Embiid, and his absence hurt with the 76er’s losing 119-104
The Charlotte Hornets faced the Orlando Magic and while three of the starters for Charlotte had 20+ points, Orlando had a more balanced game taking the W by 9 points. Hornets Rookie Lamelo Ball also seems to be struggling to be effective especially from behind the 3 points line going 0-5 from behind the arc.
It was a tight game through 3 quarters in the rematch of the Brooklyn Nets and the Miami Heat, and while the Heat looked quite capable to handle themselves even with the absence of their super star Jimmy Butler, the Nets tightened up on defense in this game holding Miami to 85 points, and they pulled away in the 4th quarter to win the game by 13 points.
LeBron James made his return to Cleveland to face the Cavaliers and he has not played a single game in that city since he departed 2 years ago. For his first game back LeBron dumped 46 points and completely outscored the entire Cavs team by himself in the 4th quarter, 21 points for LeBron and 19 for the Cavaliers as well as a big L.
The Denver Nuggets are looking scary. After their spectacular performance in the bubble last year they started this season with a 10-7 record looking like their eyes are on the prize. They faced off against the Dallas Mavericks and even though Luka Donćic had a 36 point triple double, the Nuggets took the game 117-114.
Jason Tatum is back and boy is he looking good. While the Celtics held their own in his absence, its no secret that he is the present and future of the franchise and going up against an athletic Chicago Bulls, his 24 points on 48% shooting was most definitely welcome as Boston won the game by 6 points.
Andrew Wiggins and the Golden State Warriors faced off against his former team the Minnesota Timberwolves and it was a blowout. The Warriors won by 22 points, with Stephen Curry having 36 points with 7 three pointers. In the Timberwolves defense there two best players DiAngelo Russell and Karl Anthony Towns were absent.
Going into this season with the loss of Chris Paul nobody was expecting much from Oklahoma City but boy have they been surprising. Going head to head with the Portland Trail-Blazers who are missing CJ McCollum his absence seem to be detrimental because even with Damian Lillard having 26 points and 10 assists as well a good performances from Envois Kanter and Carmelo Anthony the Blazers lost the game 125-122.
On Tuesday night the Los Angeles Clippers played the Atlanta Hawks and the Clips were missing Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. This is relevant because Atlanta won by 9 points ending the Clippers 9 game winning streak.
The Washington Wizards and the Houston Rockets faced off against each other and this game was highly charged because former Wizards player John Wall was Traded to Houston for former Rockets player Russel Westbrook. Houston came out victorious which made it the 3rd time John Wall has beaten Russel Westbrook in his career.
The Utah Jazz are 3rd in the West with a record of 13-5. There were not high hopes for them this season. Due the fact that they got eliminated in the first round in the bubble just months ago. But this season they have been dominant to say the least and well balanced, so when they faced the New York Knicks last night it was no surprise when the Jazz took the game by 14 points 1008-94.
This has been the Mid-Week Edition for Briefly In Depth
Check back on Friday to see how the week closed out
Yaakov Pliner
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