Believe it or not, we have reached the eighth-way point (the one-eighth point?) of the NBA season, since the league-leading Oklahoma City Thunder — and others — have played more than 12.5% of their games.
Those Thunder, man. They keep winning, even in the absence of All-Star forward Jalen Williams.
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Credit the should-be Coach of the Year, Mark Daigneault. Credit the reigning MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Together they have created a culture in Oklahoma City that is to be admired. Dare we suggest it brings to mind the synergy between Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan or Steve Kerr and Stephen Curry?
You have to win multiple championships to enter their chat, but let’s just say they’re on their way.
(Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports Illustration)
Who can compete with them? The Denver Nuggets, San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons are holding strong as two-loss teams. The New York Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers, despite some early bumps in the road, have held themselves to three losses, as have the mighty Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers.
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Every night is a slugfest in this NBA. Monday’s slate alone brought us Desmond Bane’s buzzer-beating game-winner, Cade Cunningham’s 46-point effort in an overtime win and a Miami Heat upset of the Cavs.
Water is finding its level. The Chicago Bulls have fallen back to Earth, where only a handful more teams are hovering above .500. That water finding its level includes a rather sad bottom five. There are the Brooklyn Nets, Washington Wizards and Utah Jazz, the teams we expected to tank to the depths of the standings. Then there are the injury-riddled Indiana Pacers. Thankfully they own their own draft pick, too. Unlike the New Orleans Pelicans, who traded theirs (unprotected) for the right to be this bad this quickly.
Seats are getting hot on a lot of coach’s benches. Speaking of heat: This week’s power rankings.
Previous rank: 30
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Jordi Fernandez was the first of many coaches to take blame for his teamâ€s poor play. “Just not good enough. We want more, and we want better. Iâ€ll be the first one to demand that. If we donâ€t get it, Iâ€m the first one thatâ€s got to take the blame. And Iâ€ve got to look at myself in the mirror.”
Previous rank: 29
Likewise, Wizards coach Brian Keefe, accepting responsibility: “It’s on me to get us to play to a better standard. We’ve got to find consistency at a higher level. It’s just about stacking good habits. That’s the most important thing for us going forward. Stacking good days, good habits.”
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Previous rank: 27
Rick Carlisle, trying to hold his team together: “We have to find positives, to show positives. We’ve got to stay in the fight. This is a very difficult stretch of games, a lot of travel. Every excuse in the world. But this is a time we can really become closer together, if we fight together.”
Previous rank: 28
Willie Green, taking blame: “When you take these positions, this is what comes with it. Thereâ€s no way around that. When the team doesnâ€t do well or doesnâ€t start the way you want it to, Iâ€m up front and center, and it is my responsibility to try to continue to help these guys get on track.”
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Previous rank: 24
One of the great running gags in the game: How honest Will Hardy is about his struggling Jazz. “Itâ€s another night where the game was lost in a short period of time. Tonight, it was the first six minutes. … Itâ€s a tough game to play when youâ€re down 28 at the end of the first quarter.â€
Previous rank: 23
A scoutâ€s brutal take on LaMelo Ball, to ESPNâ€s Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst: “Yes, he’s talented, but he doesn’t take basketball seriously enough. It’s hard to build a winner with him because of how he plays and the liberties he takes for himself when he plays.†Yikes, man.
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Previous rank: 22
Whatâ€s wrong with the Kings? “I think thereâ€s a ton of things,†said rookie Maxime Raynaud. Or, as coach Doug Christie will tell you, “Just unacceptable. Weâ€ve got to make sure we can contain the basketball. Sixty points in the paint is just way too many. We must be better, and we will.â€
Previous rank: 20
“I feel bad for my Mavs fans,†said Dirk Nowitzki. “This has been a disastrous start. Obviously, thereâ€s a hole at the point guard and playmaking position … at shot creating, at shot making. … They canâ€t shoot, they canâ€t make plays … nobody can make shots. Itâ€s been tough to watch.â€
Previous rank: 14
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How does Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo feel about his team, now that Ja Morant has returned from his one-game suspension for insubordination? He will tell you, plainly: “Our offense right now — both player and ball movement — is very stagnant, and that’s something we need to fix.â€
Previous rank: 8
The veteran Clippers canâ€t seem to find their footing. Or, as Derrick Jones Jr. said without mincing his words, “We got to work on everything. Passing, dribbling, shooting, finishing at the rim. We got to work on everything just to get better at things so we can win the games.â€
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Previous rank: 18
Jamahl Mosleyâ€s Magic are staying confident. “Lulls happen,†he said. “They happen throughout a season. Ours just happened to be happening at this moment. As we move forward, you get it out of the way now, so as we get through the season we know how things can be corrected.â€
Previous rank: 21
Meanwhile, in Boston, coach Joe Mazzulla is playing machine gun sounds as background to his practices. “The soundtrack was insane,†said Derrick White. “And heâ€s like, ‘Play the music,†and next thing you know, youâ€re in a war zone, for real. It was unbelievable.†One way to describe it.
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Previous rank: 25
Darko Rajaković: “We showed flashes of how we can be aggressive offensively and score in transition. … All of those are good and positive things. Everything else, from playmaking, organization, spacing and making shots and all of that, is something thatâ€s part of the process.â€
Previous rank: 17
Luke Kennard on the Hawks, who are 4-2 in Trae Youngâ€s absence: “Just moving the ball, moving bodies. … With his presence out, we just got to continue to play together, play fast, be ourselves, not overthink anything, but just continue to play the right way and play together.â€
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Previous rank: 19
Deni Avdija: “They can’t play with us, they can’t play around. We’re tough. We’re aggressive. We’re talented. We’re young. We’re fast, and we’re on an uprise. There’s something special in Portland, and we’re getting better and better and better. I think the future is going to be great.”
Previous rank: 26
Jalen Green is hurt again, but Jordan Ott wonâ€t let his Suns buy into it: “Itâ€s hard to be healthy for 82 games. We’ll get tested again, but there’s no excuses. This team will have no excuses. We lace ’em up, go out and play. The goal is to find a way to beat the other team by one point.”
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Previous rank: 12
Paul George remains out, and Joel Embiid remains limited, but, “We are a good team,†said Andre Drummond. “I just think weâ€ve got to keep figuring it out. We got guys coming back who are out right now. So I think once weâ€re full force, I think we will be a good team to reckon with.â€
Previous rank: 16
“We donâ€t have that go-to guy, where weâ€re throwing him the ball and letting him go iso,†said Josh Giddey, whose Bulls have lost three straight. “Itâ€s just the way weâ€re built,†said Billy Donovan. “They are not going to run at us to get the ball out of certain guys†hands. Weâ€re going to have to create our own kind of help.â€
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Previous rank: 13
Miamiâ€s unique, fast-paced style was inspired by their first-round playoff loss to the Cavaliers last season. “It was embarrassing,†said Erik Spoelstra. “And you had to credit Cleveland with that. That sparked a lot of thought that we needed to do some things better, and differently.â€
Previous rank: 4
The Warriors have lost four of their last six, and, “Weâ€re not playing very well, clearly,†said coach Steve Kerr. “But Iâ€m very confident in this team. Weâ€re gonna get there. … I can picture the team, I can see what kind of team weâ€re gonna be, but we donâ€t really have our identity yet.â€
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Previous rank: 11
Ant Edwards is back, and “Weâ€re only going as far as he takes us,†said Julius Randle. “We gotta help him get back in … the flow with everything.†Likewise, Chris Finch added, “Heâ€s our leading light, and heâ€s got to be aggressive, and heâ€s got to be himself. Thatâ€s what we need.â€
Previous rank: 15
Giannis Antetokounmpoâ€s mental game: “We gave them the game. We have another one. This is why the NBA is great. It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, tomorrow you have another one, you have another chance to redeem yourself. But it is a must win. We cannot lose two in a row.”
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Previous rank: 6
Even after a blowout win over the Wizards, Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson understood, “We’re not at the level we were last year; I just feel that we’re still trying to find ourselves.†Part of that is the health of Darius Garland, “and Evan [Mobley] is still trying to find his niche, quite honestly.â€
Previous rank: 5
Mike Brown: “Yeah, weâ€re talented. No matter what we do on the floor, weâ€re going to have the ability to score. But you take the regular season and you prepare yourself for the postseason. If you just go out there and play the wrong way and win … itâ€s not going to help us later on.â€
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Previous rank: 10
There are some questions about how LeBron James will blend with the Lakers†success, but Luka DonÄić is not concerned: “[The offense] can be way better. We got LeBron coming back, obviously, I donâ€t know when, but I feel like we have a lot of improvement left in the offense.â€
Previous rank: 7
As Amen Thompson is also breaking out, Rockets center Alperen Åžengün smartly said, “Kevin [Durant] can have some off night, I can have some off night, and we always know someone is gonna show up. We have so much talent on the team. Everybody comes to win every night.â€
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Previous rank: 9
Cade Cunningham: “Itâ€s been a helluva ride, man. It’s been a lot of ups and downs. It’s still early. … I’m not above myself because we’re 8-2. I think this is something that we all want, but we want something bigger than this. So we just want to keep our heads down and keep working.”
Previous rank: 3
As Deâ€Aaron Fox said, “Iâ€m good at basketball,†and he is back in San Antonio, where Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said of his impressive debut, “Heâ€s dynamic. He’s done it plenty of times in his career. It’s good to have him back on the court, and hopefully we can just continue to build.â€
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Previous rank: 2
“Heâ€s the most efficient basketball player Iâ€ve ever seen,†Nuggets coach David Adelman said of Nikola Jokić, rightfully. “And I know thereâ€s guys way back in the past I didnâ€t get to see play, but … please show me who else is out there that plays like this at this efficient level offensively.â€
Previous rank: 1
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, frighteningly: “It feels like weâ€re a better team. … Weâ€ve had a year to get better, learn each other on and off the court, and it feels like weâ€ve had a headstart in that this season. And, honestly, weâ€re dealing with some injuries. … Weâ€re definitely a better team.â€
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