1
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Cavaliers
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It’s nice to follow up a hard-fought loss to the Celtics with games against the Pelicans and Raptors, and the Cavs showed just how far ahead of those teams they are right now. Early Sixth Man of the Year and Most Improved Player candidate Ty Jerome averaged 27.5 points in 26 minutes in the two wins, knocking down 11 of his 20 3-point attempts.
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—
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17-1
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2
|
Celtics
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Adding Kristaps Porzingis to the 14-3 Celtics didn’t seem fair, and sure enough they’re now 15-3 after the big man posted 16 points and six rebounds in his season debut. Boston is third in offense, eighth in defense, and has won six games in a row.
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—
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15-3
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3
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Thunder
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OKC got the ship headed back in the right direction thanks partly to the arrival of Isaiah Hartenstein, who’s averaged 16 points and 12 rebounds in his first two games with the Thunder on 56% shooting. It seems he’ll fill in admirably for Chet Holmgren, as Hartenstein is a team-best plus-34 during his two games so far.
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1
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13-4
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4
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Rockets
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Despite Fred VanVleet nearly gouging out the eye of an official in Saturday’s loss to the Blazers, it was another great week for the Rockets, who now sit just one game out of the top spot in the Western Conference. Alperen Sengun put up his third triple-double of the year in Tuesday’s overtime win against the Wolves, while Houston is fractions of a point away from being the league’s best defense.
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1
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13-6
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5
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Warriors
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De’Anthony Melton’s season-ending injury clearly hurt the starting lineup, but it might actually affect the closing lineup more. The Warriors blew two very large leads in consecutive losses to the Spurs and Nets, leading to at least some concern about who will finish games on one of the league’s deepest rosters (even without Melton). It doesn’t help that Steph Curry was terrible — by his standards — in the losses, averaging 21 points on 39% shooting.
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2
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12-5
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6
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Grizzlies
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The Grizzlies scored 142 points in a win over the Bulls on Saturday, then got Ja Morant back on Monday. Doesn’t seem fair. Morant put up 22 points and 11 assists in 23 minutes in the blowout win over Portland.
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4
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11-7
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7
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Magic
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What else can we say about our boy Franz Wagner, who buried the Lakers with a game-winning step-back 3-pointer that was about a 54 difficulty on a scale of 1-10. The Magic have now won nine of their last 10 games without their best player, Paolo Banchero, largely thanks to 28 points, seven assists and six rebounds from Wagner over that stretch. Maybe co-best player?
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4
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12-7
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8
|
Knicks
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The Knicks were playing with fire by trying to outscore everyone, and it finally caught up to them when the offense went dry in a loss to the Jazz. It didn’t make much difference, however, because they went right back to outscoring everyone the very next game, putting up 145 in Denver to beat the Nuggets. Overall they’ve won five of six and seven of their last 10 as that offense creeps toward No. 1 in the league.
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1
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10-7
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9
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Mavericks
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The Mavs have now won five of six since an embarrassing loss to the Jazz, and that’s not exactly a coincidence. P.J. Washington said the team got together after the Utah loss and talked about how they couldn’t continue to go down that path. Message received, clearly. Dallas has played it by committee without Luka Doncic, with Washington, Naji Marshall, Spencer Dinwiddie and Jaden Hardy among those stepping up to help out Kyrie Irving.
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—
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10-8
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10
|
Clippers
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If you said the Clippers, without Kawhi Leonard, would be three games above .500, ahead of the Nuggets, Mavs and Wolves at this point in the season, we would have thought that was rather optimistic. It’s all about James Harden offensively and then a top-five defense on the other end. Credit to Ty Lue, as if he doesn’t get enough.
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4
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11-8
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11
|
Suns
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A five-day break couldn’t have come at a better time, as Phoenix reloaded with Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal for Tuesday’s thumping of the Lakers. The Durant/Beal/Devin Booker trio played 10 minutes together in the win, putting up an offensive rating of nearly 130 (that’s good).
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4
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10-7
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12
|
Nuggets
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What a difference 48 hours makes. The Nuggets went from celebrating yet another convincing win over the Lakers on Saturday to having their coach questioning their desire and competitiveness in a blowout loss to the Knicks on their home floor on Monday. Nikola Jokic has been tremendous since returning (mild shock), but Jamal Murray continues to struggle. For the season he’s averaging just under 18 points on ugly 40/34/78 splits.
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4
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9-7
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13
|
Spurs
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The Spurs are on a four-game winning streak, two of which came without Victor Wembanyama, and are now within one game of the No. 4 spot in the West. Wembanyama seems back to full strength, putting up an easy 34 and 7 in Tuesday’s win over the Jazz.
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4
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10-8
|
14
|
Lakers
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There were some signs that the Lakers could stumble a bit once the competition got tougher, but three straight losses — the last two by an average of 26 points — is still hard to swallow. The offense which was so productive during their six-game winning streak has completely stalled, putting up just 106 points per 100 possessions in the three losses.
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8
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10-7
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15
|
Bucks
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Rewind a couple weeks and Doc Rivers kept telling everyone the disappointing Bucks were going to turn things around soon. Now we’re looking at a .500 team riding a five-game winning streak. Going into Miami on Tuesday and getting a win without Giannis Antetokounmpo is the surest sign yet that the vibes in Milwaukee are immaculate. Running the show like he did in Portland, Damian Lillard went for 37 points and 12 assists on 8-for-13 3-point shooting to take down the Heat.
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4
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9-9
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16
|
Timberwolves
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Minnesota has averaged just 107 points over its three-game losing streak, including an ugly one in Toronto. Julius Randle is shooting just 18% from 3-point range during the skid, and Chris Finch said he’s still a step slow on defense a bit too frequently.
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4
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8-9
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17
|
Heat
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If you’re going to be a serious team, you can’t lose at home to the Bucks without Giannis Antetokounmpo. Erik Spoelstra called out his defense for failing to sustain effort for a full 48 minutes, but they’ve been solid in that area of late, allowing just 104 points per 100 possessions over their last three games.
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1
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7-8
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18
|
Kings
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Four straight losses drop the Kings to two games out of the final Play-In spot — not where they hoped to be after acquiring DeMar DeRozan this offseason. The offense has been dreadful, averaging just 104 points per 100 possessions during the losing streak despite having De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis and DeRozan available for three of the four games. Malik Monk returned from injury for Monday’s loss to the Thunder, and he was minus-19 in 26 minutes.
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5
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8-10
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19
|
Nets
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Just when you think the Nets might be sinking toward the bottom of the standings after a rough loss to the depleted 76ers, they head to California and rattle off consecutive wins over the Kings and Warriors. With the roster Brooklyn has on paper, you’d never guess it ranks eighth in the NBA in offensive efficiency. Cam Thomas is up to nearly 25 points per game on 46/39/87 splits, so that helps.
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1
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8-10
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20
|
Pacers
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The Pacers needed a couple of get-right games against the hapless Wizards and hobbled Pelicans, winning both. The entire state of Indiana is breathing a little bit easier as Tyrese Haliburton scored at least 20 points in consecutive games for the first time all season, including a 34-spot in the win over New Orleans. After a horrendous shooting start, he’s gone 18 for his last 39 (46%) from 3-point range.
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1
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8-10
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21
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Pistons
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Jaden Ivey wasn’t about to let the Pistons lose a fourth straight game, beating the Raptors with a smooth floater at the buzzer Monday. As expected, Detroit’s offense has been abysmal without Cade Cunningham, averaging 101 points over the last two games.
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3
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8-11
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22
|
Bulls
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All that pace finally led to some high point totals this week for the Bulls, who averaged 131 points while going 2-1. The defense is still atrocious, but Lonzo Ball is on his way back to try to make a difference there.
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2
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8-11
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23
|
Trail Blazers
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Following a three-game winning streak, Portland has now dropped three of four — though the one win was against a very good Rockets team. Donovan Clingan became the first player since 2012 to pull down at least 19 rebounds while scoring zero points.
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—
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7-11
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24
|
Hawks
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The Hawks have lost three in a row, so how about a Jalen Johnson appreciation blurb? The 22-year-old monster forward is one of four NBA players averaging at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. The other three are Domantas Sabonis, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic. Sheesh.
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2
|
7-11
|
25
|
Hornets
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LaMelo Ball followed up his 50-point effort against the Bucks with 44 more against the Magic — unfortunately that was more than half the entire team’s total in the loss to Orlando. Ball is now up to almost 24.5 field goal attempts per game, the most in the NBA since James Harden in 2018-19.
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—
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6-11
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26
|
Jazz
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Beating the Knicks? No problem. Spurs without Victor Wembanyama? Not so much. To be fair, Utah also lost to the Spurs WITH Victor Wembanyama this week. Defense was the key in the win over New York, as the Jazz held a team under 110 points for just the second time all season.
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2
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4-13
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27
|
Raptors
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The record is what it is, but it’s great to see Scottie Barnes back doing his thing. The Swiss Army Knife forward has averaged 22 points, eight rebounds and seven assists since returning from an orbital fracture last week.
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—
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4-14
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28
|
76ers
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A much-needed win against the Nets was followed by a home shellacking at the hands of the Clippers. Joel Embiid and Paul George are still out and Tyrese Maxey is shooting 41% from the field. If not for Jared McCain, this would literally be a joyless season in Philly.
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1
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3-13
|
29
|
Pelicans
|
Do we really need an update saying someone is NOT CLOSE to returning? When it’s Zion Williamson, unfortunately we do, and the news is a huge bummer. On the plus side, CJ McCollum and Dejounte Murray are both back, making the Pelicans close to whole for the first time since opening night.
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3
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4-14
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30
|
Wizards
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All right, looking ahead here, this thing doesn’t get much better. Washington’s next six games are against teams .500 or better, meaning that the losing streak could be at 18 before we know it. Deep breath, Wizards fans. The good news is rookie Alex Sarr has averaged 14 points and 10 rebounds over his last three games on 46% 3-point shooting.
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—
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2-14
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