Welcome to the roundball roundup. The NBA season is now one week old, and this year we'll be running a weekly column on basketball here on the blog, taking a look at each division in the NBA, as well as a few other assorted items. We hope you enjoy.
Atlantic Division:
Though they haven't done much of it in the first week of the season, the Brooklyn Nets are very obviously built to win now. And while they've suffered a couple of early letdowns – a 98-94 loss to Cleveland in their opener, and a 107-86 smackdown from Orlando on Sunday – they did show at least in one game what they're capable of.
Friday's win over the Heat, which saw Paul Pierce and Joe Johnson each score 19, shows that if the old guys can hold up, they can compete with the best. Of course, the two losses – in which Brook Lopez led the team in scoring both times – show the flipside: when Kevin Garnett is largely absent (about just seven points and seven rebounds a game so far) or Deron WIlliams ineffective (36.0 FG percentage) or some other combination of the veteran core is off, the Nets can be downright bad.
Shoutout to: Boston, who, with four losses by an average of 7.5 points per game (PPG), look every bit as bad as most though they'd be. Their highlight might be a Friday loss to Milwaukee in which Brazilian rookie Vitor Faverani had 18 rebounds.
Central Division:
The team with the NBA's second-best point differential in the league's first week? That would be the Indiana Pacers, who won their last three pre-season games (after losing their first five) and have extended it into the regular season with a 3-0 start. Indiana are scoring 10 PPG more than their opponents, with wins over Orlando, Cleveland and Detroit. Which feels like a set of opponents that will prove to be either sneaky strong or not good at all. Either way, they have the NBA's best defence so far, with 83.7 points allowed per game.
Amusingly, Indiana have been pretty much all the Paul George show:
Shoutout to: Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe. A combined 43 years old and 12-feet-9-inches tall (3.88 metres), the young frontcourt duo is averaging 31.3 points and 23.3 rebounds per game. They may not necessarily be Robinson/Duncan, but they will make Detroit very, very tough.
Southeast Division:
One of the most frustrating realities about the LeBron James-era Heat has been accepting that LeBron can't simply win a game just because he feels like it. You take a once-in-a-lifetime talent like James, and you convince yourself Miami should never, ever lose. They should be the 95/96 Bulls, you think, when you look at James/Wade/Bosh and co. But the 95/96 Bulls had two more Hall of Fame talents – Pippen and Rodman – in addition to quality players like Toni Kukoc and specialists like Steve Kerr.
The Heat have one other Hall of Fame talent – Wade – and when he's out, or off, Miami are simply gonna lose a couple games, as they did in starting 2-2. LeBron is but one man – one of his most underappreciated aspects has been his ability to appear as more at times.
Shoutout to: The Wizards. On paper, they've got something real nice going with a starting five of John Wall, Bradley Beal, Trevor Ariza, Nene and Marcin Gortat, but so far that hasn't actually led to a win, with Washington off to an 0-3 start.
Northwest Division:
Welcome back, Kevin Love. In four games he has Minnesota out to a 3-1 start, with two real nice-looking wins over New York (109-100) and Oklahoma City (100-81). The 25 year old power forward, who missed almost all of last season, is tied for second in the NBA in PPG, with 26.5, and shooting 47.1 per cent. Both Love and Derrick Rose returned from long absences this week: The NBA is a more fun NBA with them on the court, so let's hope their health holds up.
Shoutout to: Damian Lillard, averaging 25.0 PPG in Portland's 2-1 start, including exactly 25 on Saturday in a very impressive 115-105 win over San Antonio. The Blazers and Timberwolves could form a very interesting race behind the Thunder in this division.
Pacific Division:
Golden State might play a more appealing style and be turning into the more en vogue team, but Los Angeles – not the Kobe Bryant-less Lakers, but the Clippers – are the true contender out of this division.
They may have been shocked by their building-sharing rivals on opening night, but since then they've dispatched the Warriors 126-115 and beaten the Rockets 137-118, two head-to-head wins over presumed conference title challengers. Chris Paul, second in the league in PPG, leads the NBA in assists with 13.3 per game, an absurd 3.5 per game margin over No 2 Stephen Curry. The 28 year old is establishing an early MVP candidacy.
Shoutout to: Eric Bledsoe, who has 22 PPG, 8.7 assists per game and 2.0 steals per game, is forming a pleasantly surprising backcourt combination with Goran Dragic and looking like he can make good on much of the promise he showed backing up Paul his first few years in the league with the Clippers.
Southwest Division:
The "change-of-scenery" trope has always felt a little hollow. After all, how much can a different situation really change the fundamental abilities of an athlete?
Still, it's remarkable to see Dwight Howard look so revitalised with Houston. It's probably that he's just healthier than he's been in some time, but maybe, with a personality such as Howard's, the Los Angeles/Kobe environment suppressed his production a little too. The NBA's leading rebounder so far with 15.0 a game, an elite Howard would make Houston a serious threat for a title.
Shoutout to: Anthony Davis. As with Washington, a young, quality starting five meant to lead a franchise turnaround didn't materialise in the first week, but the second-year power forward held up his end of the bargain, scoring 23.7 points, pulling down 12.3 rebounds and blocking 4.0 shots per game, all top-10 figures.
The All-NBA first team, right now:
Guard: Chris Paul, LAC; Guard: Klay Thompson, GSW; Forward: LeBron James, MIA; Forward: Anthony Davis, NOP; Center: DeMarcus Cousins, SAC
The All-NBA second team, right now:
Guard: Stephen Curry, GSW; Guard: Damian Lillard, POR; Forward: Kevin Love, MIN; Forward: Paul George, IND; Center: Dwight Howard, HOU
The All-NBA third team, right now:
Guard: Michael-Carter Williams, PHI; Guard: James Harden, HOU; Forward: Carlos Boozer, CHI; Forward: Kevin Durant, OKC; Center: Nikola Vucevic, ORL
Standings screenshot:
Thought I was gonna go the whole post without mentioning the 76ers, huh?
It may not be quite so, but this start by Philadelphia feels like one of the most outlandish slaps to the face of pre-season conventional wisdom in some time. Not only did they win their first three games, they won them playing the Heat, the Bulls and the Wizards, which is simply incredible. People were talking about this team like they would challenge the record for most losses in a season, and it took all of three games to shoot that idea down.
Michael Carter-Williams might as well be given the Rookie of the Year trophy right now, Spencer Hawes might be a top-five center, and Evan Turner might not be a flailing disappointment. At least for one week, the 76ers were awesome. We'll see how long it lasts.
Coolant Contenders
The Miami Heat are the presumptive favourite to win their third straight NBA title, but here are the five teams that look like their most serious threat to achieving that so far.
1. LA Clippers
2. Houston Rockets
3. Indiana Pacers
4. Golden State Warriors
5. Philadelphia 76ers (for at least one week)
Around the world in 30 words (give or take a hundred)
Each week, we'll take a brief glance at the quality basketball happening outside the confines of the NBA:
The Euroleague is the most prominent non-NBA league on the planet, and last week it completed Round 3 of Group play.
Real Madrid's Nikola Mirotic was the league's player of the month for October after the 22 year old Montenegrin (a 2011 first round pick of the Bulls) shot 85.7 per cent from three and 91.7 per cent from the free throw line while scoring 16.3 PPG for the Spanish side. Real, naturally, lead Group B with a 3-0 record.
The other perfect teams include Fenerbahce Ulker, atop Group A and Olympiacos, leading Group B. The league's leading scorer is former Maverick and Raptor Alexis Ajinca, with 19.3 PPG for Strasbourg. Fans of the University of Tennessee in America will also be pleased to learn Scotty Hopson, a UT alum, is fourth in scoring with 18.7 PPG for Turkish club Anadolu Efes.
Joffrey Lauvergne, a French center whose rights are owned by Denver (and presumably a more likeable Joffrey than Baratheon), leads the league with 12.3 rebounds a game for Partizan Belgrade.
There are other domestic leagues kicking off around Europe as well. Here's a brief rundown:
French LNB Pro A – Top team: Nanterre, 6-0. Top scorer: Edwin Jackson, Lyon-Villeurbann, 23.0 PPG
German Basketball Bundesliga – Top Team: Bayern, 7-0. Top scorer: Andy Rautins, Fraport Skyliners, 19.3 PPG
Greek Basket League – Top team: PAOK, 3-0. Top scorer: DeMarius Bolds, Apollon Patras, 18.5 PPG
Italian Lega Basket Serie A – Top team: Six tied at 3-1 (Siena, Brindisi, Milan, Cantu, Varese, Virtus Bologna). Top scorer: Drake Diener, Banco di Sardegna Sassari, 23.0 PPG
Spanish Liga ACB – Top team: Three tied at 4-0 (Real Madrid, Gran Canaria, Barcelona). Top scorer: Blagota Sekulic, Canaria, 20.3 PPG
Turkish Basketball League – Top team: Fenerbahce Ulker and Banvitspor tied at 4-0. Top scorer: Sean Marshall, Aliaga, 22.3 PPG
Lithuanian Basketball League – Top team: Tonybet, 5-1. Top scorer: Sarunas Vingelis, LSU-Atletas, 19.3 PPG
