Another week of basketball, another week of observations! It feels like some teams and players look at these articles because once an observation makes it on here, the complete OPPOSITE happens. Time to see if the streak continues. Here are 10 things I saw in the NBA this week!
*as of the morning of November 17th
Week 4 in the NBA
LeBron Defies Father Time and Lakers Rise
It seemed like the Lakers were starting to settle after their hot start, but then LeBron James reminded everyone who the real King is. The Lakers have won five games in a row, improving to 9-4 and the fourth seed in the Western Conference. The motor for this five-game win streak? King James himself. LeBron has continued to defeat Father Time by having four consecutive triple-doubles during this five-game win streak in which he averaged 22/12/13. He is also the oldest player to ever have back-to-back triple-doubles since he himself set the record in 2019.
Wemby’s First 50
Here’s an example of these articles being a positive jinx. Last week, Victor Wembanyama found himself in this article for his slow offensive start to the season. Not three days later, he becomes the 4th youngest to ever drop 50 points or more in a 139-130 win against the Washington Wizards. When you earn your flowers, you get them.
Magic, Pistons, and the Hawks in First Place
In the wacky world of the Emirates NBA Cup, the Orlando Magic, Detroit Pistons, and Atlanta Hawks are in first place of each of their respective groups AND undefeated. While it is not a guarantee, if they win one more group play game then it is a great opportunity for each of these teams to advance to the knockout round of the NBA Cup as group winners. This NBA cup group play success has helped the Orlando Magic in regular season standings as well as they have gone on a *magical* run to improve to 8-6 and the three seed in the Eastern Conference.
Boston Celtics to Miss Knockout Round?
The Boston Celtics started off their Emirate NBA Cup group play by being upset by a Trae Young-less Atlanta Hawks. This is concerning because the teams only play each other once and the Hawks have already won another game in group play to move to 2-0. Another reason for concern? The Cleveland Cavaliers are also in the same group and have won their only group play game. These two teams play each other on Tuesday, November 19th. If the Celtics lose this game, it is very unlikely they advance to the knockout round. Is it possible that the defending champs don’t even make it to the second round of the Emirates NBA Cup? Will Joe Mazzulla, Jaylen Brown, and Jayson Tatum then claim they don’t care about the NBA Cup and are only focused on a repeat season? Even after their rival Los Angeles Lakers won the first-ever Emirates NBA Cup Championship?
Have the Houston Rockets Arrived?
A young team that is having some early is the Houston Rockets. They have improved to 9-4 and are the three seed in the Western Conference. Two of their losses are against the one and two seeds in the Western Conference in Oklahoma City and Golden State, but they are looking very competitive. It will be interesting to see if they can keep it up for 70 more games.
Ankles, Hamstrings, Injuries; Oh My!
The amount of injuries to not only regular players, but star players this early in the year is startling. Injuries are a part of the game, but this seems to be the result of an underlying issue. There was an article recently published on here that goes over it all, but it is concerning how many injuries, how serious the injuries are, and how early the injuries are happening. Doesn’t help the Emirates NBA Cup either as the league is trying to build momentum for this new concept, but is missing a lot of star players now.
New All-Star Game Format?
Shams Charania reported that Adam Silver is looking into changing the format of the NBA All-Star game as early as this season. Silver has been discussing with league officials and current players, such as Stephen Curry, about changing the format. The current idea is a four-team tournament format. Is this format going to work? No idea. Is this format even going to be the final version of the All-Star game? Probably not. Is it a great sign that they are discussing changing the format and being aggressive to the point of changing it for this current season? Absolutely.
Western Conference In-Fighting
It is obvious that the Western Conference is the best overall conference of the two, but it seems like there are a bunch of .500 teams in the West at the moment. Why? They are just beating each other up right now. Most of the games have been in-conference games and apart from Golden State and Oklahoma City, the rest of the conference have just been throwing rights and lefts at each other. It will be interesting to see the dust settles and who is still standing as we progress through the season. Iron sharpens iron.
Ten Things Jinx…Please
In hopes that the Ten Things Jinx is real…the Dallas Mavericks are struggling in the clutch this season. They are 1-6 in clutch games this year and can’t seem to figure it out. Lots of injuries and a lot of new players, but they still can’t seem to put it together. Going to make it tough for them to succeed in the NBA Emirates Cup and their desire to return to the NBA Finals. If they want to compete with the best in the league, they are going to need to figure this out.
So what do you think? Agree? Disagree? Miss something? Comment below!!
Main Image: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images
