Category: NBA

Simply looking at the Lakers 11-2 record tells you they’ve been playing really well to start the season. Irrespective of the competition, you simply don’t win at this rate — including seven games in a row after Wednesday’s victory in Milwaukee — without doing way more things right than wrong.

That said, one of the benefits of watching a team on a day-to-day basis is that you gain perspective on what you’re watching, are better able to contextualize the results and can speak to the differences between, say, an 11-point win against the Bucks vs. a 10-point win against the Hawks against a six-point win over the Raptors.

The details from any one of those games matter and help provide the arc and narrative of where the team has been and, maybe more importantly, where they could be going. You can also find the themes that help you, even this early in the year, establish what the team actually is.

For example, the numbers tell you the Lakers are the best offense in the league and that Luka Dončić is on the sort of start to the season that forgest MVP campaigns. These things are related and are easily the top data point for why the Lakers have the record that they do.

Again, though, watching this team every day gives you access to more than what a visit to the NBA Stats page or Cleaning the Glass would tell you about the team. Those tools help contextualize what you watch, but they cannot replace what you observe with your own eyes. They also cannot prove the nuance of and aforementioned details that go into the progression — or in some cases, regression — that comprises the march through what is a marathon of an 82-game campaign.

Which leads me back to why I’m here in the first place.

While the Lakers are 11-2, I’d argue they are just now starting to find their way of what they are and who they can as a team. Because their record is what it is, I think it would be easy to conflate their success with them hitting the ground running, but that would be a mistake. It’s not that the team isn’t playing well — of course they are, look at their record! — but it’s more that the version of well they’re playing is just now beginning to become more well-rounded.

For example, when the Lakers’ winning streak started seven games ago, Luka was in full destroyer of worlds mode, scoring 45, 42, 40, and 53 points in consecutive games. If we’re being honest, the Lakers wouldn’t have needed much beyond Luka playing to that level for them to win, but they were still getting complementary performances from Austin Reaves and Walker Kessler — both of whom scored in double digits in all those games too — as well as other role players stepping up on any given night.

Over the last three games, however, things have started to diversify more, with Luka and Austin taking turns sitting out in the Sunday and Monday back-to-back games in Detroit and Atlanta. Add in Quentin Grimes missing the contests against the Hawks and Bucks, and the rotation has been stress-tested with different players needing to absorb usage while stepping into larger roles.

And, with those opportunities for others to step up, we have seen the Lakers begin to better establish the team they can actually become rather than simply rely on Luka going nuclear while fueling the NBA’s best offense.

Sandro Mamukelashvili’s uptick in production the past two games is a perfect example of this. Mamu was not necessarily playing poorly before these past two games against the Hawks and Bucks, but he was most helping the team by being a connective passer whose ability to drive and attack closeouts was helping grease the wheels of the team’s offense.

Against the Hawks and the Bucks, however, Mamu showed an uptick in offensive aggression, looking for his own shot more often and paying off those attempts with made baskets. After scoring a total of 16 points in wins over the Kings, Blazers, and Pistons, Mamu erupted for 23 points in both Atlanta and Milwaukee, bested by only Luka on both nights.

Following the win in Milwaukee, Mamu spoke about playing with more confidence and how it’s taken time to grow into believing in himself to the same degree the coaches and organization have believed in him by signing and putting him into the role he’s occupied.

Beyond Mamu, we’ve also seen a better play from Collin Sexton, both individually and in reestablishing his connection and chemistry with Walker Kessler. After missing all of training camp, Sexton has been up and down to begin the year, but the recent uptick in touches and playing as the lone lead guard on the court with Luka and Austin both missing games has not only given him more chances to lead the team’s offensive attack, but his placement into more units where he’s gotten to play with his former Jazz teammate, Kessler, has given him a familiar partner who he clearly has a feel for playing with.

In the last three games, the 42 minutes Sexton has played with Kessler is the most he’s been paired with any teammate. While their plus-minus together is only plus-six in those minutes, when you consider Sexton’s season-long plus-minus is a -22, this recent trend upwards is a huge shift from how his year began.

Much of this is fueled by them flashing an understanding of how to play off of each other, with Sexton seeking out and feeding Kessler for easy baskets on one end of the court and Kessler helping to insulate Sexton defensively by patrolling the paint and protecting the back line on the other.

When you add in that on any given night the team is also getting strong performances from Ziaire Williams offensively, well-rounded floor games from Jake LaRavia, defensive playmaking and shot making from Matisse Thybulle, hard-nosed defense and rebounding from Jarred Vanderbilt and mostly mistake-free minutes boosted by elite athleticism from Adou Thiero, the Lakers are looking more and more like a full team that is complementing each other instead of a one- or two-man show of Luka and Reaves that just so happens to be supported by a mostly anonymous group of role players.

To what degree the Lakers’ record can keep up with their great start remains to be seen. I absolutely do not think nor believe they’ll maintain an .800+ winning percentage all season. But that’s sort of the point here.

The Lakers may not ultimately be as good as their record through 13 games, but they’ve also been winning without playing nearly their best basketball. They’ve only very recently started to resemble a group that understands how to play together and what to do in the various scenarios different opponents offer with their specific game plans tailored to their own personnel.

And that, in and of itself, is exciting.

You can follow Darius on BlueSky at @forumbluegoldand find more of his Lakers coverage on the Laker Film Room Podcast.

The Houston Rockets have the third-best offense in the NBA.

Ostensibly speaking. We know that numbers can speak in half-truths. It’s undeniable that the Rockets have been the third-most efficient offense at this stage of the season. Whether they’re actually the third-best team in the NBA is something we won’t know until later in the year.

Pedanticism aside, this team looks good. It looks different.

Why?

The Rockets are playing a different game

Let’s start here: Alperen Sengun is having a career season.

Side note: I’ve grown tired of the discussion around “conserving energy” for one side of the floor or another. I know the modern game is different. It’s faster-paced. Injuries have become more common, etc.

You need to play both sides. That’s basketball. First it was Sengun, and now it’s Amen Thompson. It’s a flimsy excuse for poor play on either side. Unless you’re Nikola Jokic or maybe Luka Doncic, you don’t get to make up for one end on the other.

In 2026-27, Sengun is playing both sides of the ball. He’s defending well, but more relevantly here, he’s having a career-best playmaking season. Sengun is averaging 7.9 assists per game.

And I think that’s directly causally linked to the team’s improved approach.

Running actions through Sengun in the high post, out of dribble handoffs, and as a short roll passer just lends itself to motion offense. It’s partly a numbers game: When you’re getting assists from the five, you’re getting more assists. More broadly, it leads to extra passes, unpredictability, and overall good NBA offense.

It’s showing in the team-wide numbers. The Rockets are making 296.8 passes per game – 10th in the NBA. Last season, their 279.5 a night landed 23rd. That’s a stylistic overhaul.

They’re also reducing their isolation slightly, from 9.5% frequency last year to 8.1% this year. That’s likely part of why Kevin Durant, as the team’s best isolation scorer, has seen his load reduced.

It’s not that Alperen Sengun has become a better offensive player than Kevin Durant. More so, this is a more appropriate alignment in terms of playing to each other’s strengths. Sengun is a playmaker. Durant, at this stage in his career, should be a play finisher whose gravity is as important as his actual output.

A more cynical view may hold that the Rockets are just shooting better. So often, basketball reduces itself to a game of make or miss. So far, the Rockets have increased their three-point volume (34.3 from 31.5) and accuracy (37.4% from 36.4%). Plenty of Rockets – Alperen Sengun (47.6% on 2.1 attempts per game), Jabari Smith Jr. (42.1% on 6.3), and Marcus Smart (40.0%, 4.4) are having career seasons from beyond the arc.

For those of you getting deja vu, you’re not alone. The Rockets came out of the gates last year with hot shooting, and then cooled off. That could happen again, but as long as they maintain their revamped approach to offense, they maximize the odds that their offense stays strong.

Even if they slip a bit from third.

Every season comes with its own unique twists and turns. If it wasn’t that way, all of our offseason prediction pieces would be perfect and there would be no point in playing any games.

Fortunately, this year has been no different. Chief among all the unexpected outcomes are the Memphis Grizzlies, who, in what was supposed to be the first year of a rebuild, sit at 7-4 with the 10th-best net-rating in the entire association. 

With teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves enduring significant injuries, and others like the Denver Nuggets looking too old for their own good, it is plausible that the West is more wide-open than we initially believed. But is it possible for the Grizzlies to be this ahead of schedule? Or is this just a flash of what they will eventually become?

How the Grizzlies keep winning

It feels cliche to say this given how much this team has permeated the NBA zeitgeist since they won it all, but this Grizzlies group really does resemble the 2013-14 Beautiful Game San Antonio Spurs. 

The Spurs were an incredibly deep team that reached the Platonic ideals for decision-making speed, spacing, and ball movement. Head coach Tuomas Iisalo has the Grizzlies on this current trajectory. 

Iisalo basically load manages his team to ensure that they are as fresh as possible. This year, 13 Grizzlies have played at least 70 total minutes. The only other teams that can say that are the Indiana Pacers, Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Utah Jazz  – all of whom have had to deal with their fair share of injuries. So, their digging deep into their bench is more out of necessity than it is a tactical decision.

Under this new regime, the Grizzlies are deploying a multi-layered, ball-screen continuity attack predicated around the pick-and-roll and side-to-side ball movement. Iisalo quite literally refers to the concept as “flow,” which is poetic considering the way the offense softly cascades from action to action. The intricacies of their futuristic style are outside of the scope of the current discussion, but if you want to learn more, be sure to check out this deep dive from Coach Gibson Pyper:

As any coach will tell you, strategy will only take you so far. You need the players who can execute your vision or else it doesn’t matter how smart you are. This offense requires skilled operates (Ty Jerome and Cam Spencer), strong screeners (Zach Edey, Cam Boozer, and Isaiah Stewart), shooters/closeout attackers (Cedric Coward, Jaylen Wells, Jerami Grant, and Quentin Post), and speedy court mappers (Boozer may be better than any rookie at this in all of NBA history).

The bottom line is that this team has a litany of legit players. This also shows on the defensive side of the ball, where the Grizzlies currently rank fifth (just like on offense). It starts in the middle. Prior to the start of the season, I called Stewart one of the best defensive bigs in the league, and the only thing stopping me from doing the same with Edey were his lingering injury concerns. Edey, in particular, is looking like a fringe Defensive Player of the Year candidate. When he’s out there, the Grizzlies are in the 99th percentile in defensive rating (per Cleaning the Glass). That’s in a league that features Victor Wembanyama. Between him and Stewart, that’s an excellent defensive foundation. 

Wells and Coward are a pair of rangy wings, with powers that perfectly compliment each other (Wells is better at defending the ball, Coward has more of a presence off-ball). Grant and GG Jackson have size and length. Boozer moves better than anyone with his muscle mass should reasonably be expected to. Kris Murray would get more buzz for his defensive prowess if his offense wasn’t so damaging. 

Iisalo’s theory about keeping bodies fresh has come to fruition. While many teams are operating at half-speed, conserving themselves for the 82-game grind, the Grizzlies are moving like it’s the first round of the postseason. An abundance of youthful vigor (the Grizzlies are the third-youngest team in the league) certainly helps, too. Look at the way Wells and Boozer are sliding their feet in this first clip, or the diligence from Spencer to x-out and kill the advantage created by Braden Smith:

Why the Grizzlies aren’t THAT good (yet) 

If you’re a fan of the team or in any way affiliated with the organization, you should feel very excited about what you are building. Boozer, Coward, Edey, Wells, Jackson, and Stewart are all 25 years old and younger. The future is bright in Memphis, but for right now, there are some indicators that tell us negative regression is coming.

The Grizzlies are second in 3-point percentage and eighth opponent 3-point percentage. Opponent 3-point percentage is almost exclusively contingent on variables outside of a defense’s control, and, on the flip side, I doubt this group will remain the second-best shooting team in the association for the entirety of the marathon. 

Dunks & Threes has a metric which ranks a team’s strength of schedule from the games they’ve already played (SOS). According to that, the Grizzlies have had the second-easiest schedule this year, with their best win coming against a Warriors team that had yet to hit its stride. 

In their recent loss against the Indiana Pacers, we got front row seats at their biggest shortfall: guard play/ball handling. Outside of Ty Jerome, Cam Spencer, and Scottie Pippen Jr. (who is hurt right now), the Grizzlies don’t have much in terms of pressure breakers, and none of those three gentlemen is a black belt in this art form. The Pacers’ token fullcourt pressure hounded the Grizzlies all night, to the tune of 20 turnovers and their lowest offensive rating output of the season.

This could be remedied if Iisalo started playing two of these three together more frequently, but in that case, it would weaken their formidability on the other side of the ball. Patching up one whole leads to another. A telltale sign of a flawed unit.

If I was a prospective general manager, who could pick a ten-year gig with any team in the league, it would take one hand to count off the places I’d pick over the Grizzlies. What they have here is real, and it seems more bulletproof than the last generation (no pun intended, I swear). But right now, in 2026-27, I find it difficult to see the Grizzlies as anything more than a fringe playoff team. 

The Sixers losing two out of three games wasn’t necessarily cause for much concern, but the way they lost those games raised some alarm bells. Particularly with Joel Embiid, who has yet to find his shot this season. His defense also began to deteriorate over the past couple of games as he dealt with plantar fasciitis in his right foot.

Through his first 10 games of the season, Embiid shot just 37% from the field and a career-low 55% from the rim. That included a game where he went 0-for-9 from the field in Cleveland against the Cavaliers, one of the worst performances of his career.

After being blown out by the Boston Celtics, Embiid admitted that he might be in his own head.

“[I’m] probably overthinking it too much,“ he said, ”and then I think the rhythm of the game is different. I’m so used to having to create for myself, so it’s a little bit different.“

The Toronto Raptors coming to town provided a good opportunity for a get-right game. Not only were they down multiple key starters and on the second night of a back-to-back, but their starting center, Jakob Poeltl, has struggled mightily all season.

Embiid didn’t completely snap out of his funk. His 20 points came on 7-of-17 shooting. Toronto was able to get into the lane with relative ease all night, but anyone watching the game could tell that Embiid was moving around the floor much better than he had in recent outings as the Sixers got back in the win column. That fact was capped off by Embiid dunking not once but twice.

“I think it’s a really, really big positive,” said head coach Nick Nurse. “I think that he’s just moving better, and I’m not sure that was the case for a couple games here recently.”

Embiid was able to do all of this after scaring every Sixers fan at the beginning of the game. Early in the first quarter he bumped knees with Ja’Kobe Walter as he was setting a screen and went down in a heap of pain. He went back to the locker room but was able to return three minutes later of game time.

Nurse said that Embiid was “very, very motivated” to play once he had returned to the locker room — so much so that Nurse had trouble subbing him out for his scheduled rests. Nurse did say that’s a good problem, sometimes.

Embiid didn’t talk after the game, but he told reporters at shootaround before the game that he needed to be more aggressive. While he still didn’t hit as many midrange jumpers as he’s used to, that aggression was visible in his shot selection — 10 of his 17 attempts came from the paint and it looked like he really started to hunt dunks. He nearly had another self-lob off the backboard, but Collin Murray-Boyles got in the way, forcing Embiid to kick the ball out to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for a three.

“It’s nice to see the kind of movement spark come back,” Nurse said. “You’ve heard me say this a lot too. When he’s driving the ball, he’s feeling pretty good.”

There’s still a ways to go for Embiid getting back on track. That lethal jumper he’s so famous for still has to come around. At the same time, the aggression he showed in attacking the basket was a welcome sight for every Sixer.

“I always tell him, ‘Bro, like you’re the MVP of this league,‘” VJ Edgecombe said, “you’re that good, you’re that good.‘ I always tell him, ‘No one can stop you. There’s not one person in the NBA than can guard you.‘”

If this is the start of Embiid putting it together, the Sixers’ offense can finally start to look as dangerous as it was advertised over the summer. The fact that they’ve started the season 10-3 in the mean time is one hell of a cushion.

The winds of change. The transformation of the Dallas Mavericks from last year to this is astounding. Everyone watching can feel it – something major has changed. It’s not just the leadership, a lot of staff and some of the roster. There’s more to it. 

It is, however, all those new people, and what they brought along with them, that started the winds of change. 

The palpable energy shift. The intangible vibe change and the excitement around the team, on the team, for the team. Even through the screen. In the AAC, I bet it’s even more evident. 

Everything has changed in Dallas. How the basketball looks on the court, how the players move (most of the time when they don’t revert back to bad habits), how they communicate, how the bench acts, even how the admin works and how the fans respond to it. But most importantly, how the coaches act, react and interact. 

Dusty May has, along with his staff and new GM’s Masai Ujiri and Mike Schmitz, brought a culture change to Dallas that everyone is talking about. 

From what I see, it’s a culture change founded on one of the most important aspects of leadership and sports: trust. 

The power of trust and all it entails and doesn’t entail. Building trust on a sports team means a higher rate of passing, which creates a more dynamic offense and easier scoring, which we see in the increased number of assists this season, among other things. It means trusting that the ball will come back to you if you move well off-ball, and it means trusting your teammates to score, as well. That is healthy for a team as a whole, and wouldn’t ya know – it helps create a winning mindset and a winning team.  

Trust also means that you don’t fear making mistakes as much, because you trust your coach and teammates won’t punish you for it, and they trust you will make up for it (perhaps on defense). Being fearful of making mistakes is the number one killer of creativity and joy. And what happens when you don’t have that? Last season happens. 

And trust means that you know that your coach will make the right decisions for the team and yourself, you trust that they’re not out to get you and you trust that you are liked on our team. On Dusty May’s team, the players know he has their best interests at heart. 

Dusty May is a relationship-led or based coach. He coaches his players so well, because he knows them and they trust him. I wrote more about my early impression of his coaching recently in this piece. 

Dusty May has talked about trust a lot. Recently, he showed us how to talk a team up, and how he puts an emphasis on trust:

“What a problem, where you’re in a pickle, where two guys like that (Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving) just got it going and you just gotta rotate between putting the ball in each other’s hands and knowing that they’re going to make the plays. So obviously, what a luxury for us.”

“And once again, they both trust their teammates. When Houston put two on the ball and they were determined to take it out of their hands. They continue to trust and trust and trust, and then those reps and that experience, those guys handled it better… and that’s a sign of the trust factor that Coop and Kyrie have with their teammates.”

It’s not a stretch to say that the Mavs have had more exciting and promising wins already than the entirety of last season, while the vibes have been all the way up to 2024 Finals run levels at times. 

Oh, the 2024 playoffs energy, do you remember? The power of trust and the power of a winning culture is back in Dallas. Back then, a lot of it was based on Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving leading and establishing a culture, where everyone trusted them and each other. Now, Kyrie Irving being back has helped tremendously – and Dusty May, his coaching staff and the new leadership has done the rest, while the players came in with all the right intentions and energy. 

To put in perspective how well the Dallas Mavericks actually are looking when it comes to creating this culture needed for winning, let’s take a look at what is happening on another NBA team right now. NBA teams are all full of good players. The best in the world. So why do some collapse on themselves or crash and burn, despite often having stars, superstars and so-called good coaching?

In Cleveland, we have an example of what happens when trust is lacking. Here, things are looking quite differently compared to Dallas. And it’s not just about who has the best players. The opposite, actually. 

In this first example from a couple weeks ago, Mario Hezonja, an actual superstar from the EuroLeague, who’s also a leader and very high-IQ player, was open for a corner three, which would have been the best look in this possession. A great look actually, considering the fact that he’s an elite threepoint shooter. 

Donovan Mitchell, however, the guy who’s supposed to be the leader of this team, looks like he decides that it’s his shot now, and cuts it off to take – or steal – the shot. Which he misses. 

Do you see any trust here? I don’t think so. But this is worse than that. It’s obstruction. It’s about your own ego over the team. 

This is not just a show of bad vision and basketball IQ, it’s also poor leadership and probably a way to try and dominate Hezonja in the hierarchy. 

Because what happened just a few days earlier exposed Mitchell in a way he is clearly not used to. To explain the background a little, Hezonja is accustomed to being the leader and superstar, it is something he has earned through the years. On top of that, he understands basketball at a high level, which becomes clear after this game. So back to the play: he waves Mitchell away to punish a mismatch a few days before. Whether this “steal” was retaliation for that, we will never know. But it was not a good look for anyone. 

Hezonja showed his intelligence and basketball knowledge with this and explained matter-of-factly afterward that Mitchell should not bring the ball up, a humble stance to take from a European superstar – who is also more direct (as we are wont to be). 

“I told him you’re not supposed to bring the ball up under pressure. I waived JT out to go 1-on-1 against my mismatch. I spoke to James and Donovan, there’s five of us on the court and you need to read those mismatch situations.”

This completely exposed the lack of awareness on this team, however. And it may explain some animosity. But by media and especially fans in the comments, though, it was widely heralded as something that needed to be done to address the issues on that team. A winning mindset on a team with no trust can be disruptive. But sometimes that’s what’s needed. 

Back to Dallas, where we see a stark contrast in play style. Good energy and vibes bring trust (and the other way around), and that translates to better looks and eventually – winning basketball. 

“There’s a lot of trust there knowing, if I give it up to you, you’re going to give it back,” Devin Harris of the Mavs broadcast crew said in this clip, hitting the nail on the head. 

And it was this possession in particular that had me excited about what the Mavs can do this season. Ya, there are superstars and they can all iso and score at turn. But can they play together? Can they trust each other to make the right read? 

When a team trusts each other, special things start happening. That’s where the magic shows up. We know what it looks like, and we know what it feels like, because we saw it in the 2024 Finals run. The Dallas Mavericks had something special brewing then, something that made them better as a whole than their individual parts. 

That feeling seems to slowly return to Dallas these days. Sometimes we need a reminder of what not to do, before we realize what to do instead. And maybe that’s what happened in Dallas last season. The struggles of Mario Hezonja and the Cleveland Cavaliers as a contrast is a great reminder of how well things are going. 

The winds of change. Trust in Dallas is back.  

Find more Beyond Basketball pieces here.

Here we are again. We here at SLC Dunk can whisper to you sweet dreams that each game is an encouraging sign that the team is trending in the right direction, but the harsh reality is the Jazz are 1-11. Games are more about keeping your dignity and pride as an organisation, steering clear of the team’s worst start in franchise history (1-17), when you’re trying to win games. The musty odor the Jazz emit with each fourth-quarter meltdown escalates.

Hopes of a late-blooming win streak were swatted yet again on Wednesday, when the middling Orlando Magic forced a 21-5 run at the Delta Center without a single Jazz timeout. Will Hardy had the young fella’s play through their mistakes, which blew up right in their faces. This was a common culprit in how the Jazz lost games during their tanking years, but it simply cannot carry over in a supposed ‘winning’ season.

The lucky opponent that gets to face the Jazz is the 9-3 Houston Rockets; both teams will play their second game of the inaugural NBA Cup, where Utah has already fallen 0-1 in their first match against the Dallas Mavericks. The Rockets, on the other hand, are also 0-1. To claim one of the NBA Cup’s ‘wildcard’ spots, both teams will essentially need to be undefeated the rest of their games while also tallying up a high point differential to beat out the others.

Houston has followed the NBA’s trend of moving past dying minimalism, rebranding with a new uniform set featuring ketchup and mustard to honor the Hakeem Olajuwon era. Their on-court play has transformed them into a formidable Western Conference contender by focusing on a two-way balance. They post a top-five offensive rating (119.3) and allow 106.5 points a game (4th in the NBA). The Jazz will need to play better than perfect to avoid being locked in the doghouse. It can’t be too hard, right? After all, they won’t have to be hand-checked by former DPOY Marcus Smart; he’s suspended for throwing a mean right hook at the face of Charles Bassey.

Injury Report

It’s up to Utah to defend inside the arc

Wednesday night saw Franz Wagner be the man of the hour by scoring 12 of his career-high 38 points in the fourth quarter, blowing a kiss to the Utah crowd in his finishing act. The Jazz were vulnerable defending the pick-and-roll, leaving driving lanes open that allowed Wagner to viciously attack the paint.

The Rockets’ brand of basketball generares a massive share on physical size and high-volume two-point scoring. Houston averages 12.9 offensive rebounds per game, led by 6’7” Amen Thompson grabbing 3.1 offensive boards a game.

All-Star Alperen Şengün dictates the team’s gravity out of the post and elbows, pacing the squad with 21.1 points, 9.4 rebounds and 7.9 assists. He experienced some inefficiency early on in the season, but his footwork and passing vision are something to be cautious about; Utah can’t be caught slipping on backdoor cuts.

The clearest path to exploiting Houston is to attack their secondary. Early-season injuries have left Steven Adams and Clint Capela sidelined, forcing them to play deep on their bench, where we’ll likely see our old pal Oscar Tshiebwe weather the storm. Utah’s second unit is as unpredictable as ever. They can blow a double-digit lead in minutes, or they can also hold down the fort and score 41 bench points against the Orlando Magic. The key is to wear down the non-Şengun minutes by punishing smaller lineups, putting Utah in a strong position to stealan NBA Cup Group Stage matchup.

Win or lose, we’re watching Darryn Peterson

Truly, the last week has seen some ridiculous stuff from 19-year-old Darryn Peterson.

The Jazz rookie broke out in his latest scoring surge, averaging 23.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists on 47/38/92 shooting splits over his last three games. I mean, a near 50-40-90 from a 19-year-old rookie is pretty good, right?

Peterson also set a new NBA career high with 26 points against the Timberwolves on November 9, scoring in all four quarters without attempting a single free throw. Alongside his efficient shooting (39.4% from three over the four games), he chipped in on defense with five steals and four blocks total, highlighted by a three-block effort in Dallas.

Utah leaned more on Peterson as its No. 1 option this week after Keyonte’s injury, unlocking higher scoring volume while maintaining his playmaking ability. His season scoring average jumped to 16.3 points per game, moving him to No. 4 on the latest NBA.com Kia Rookie Ladder, up from 6th.

Win or lose, Darryn Peterson playing a good brand of basketball is what brings in tickets. If all else fails, the one thing the Utah Jazz do have is their faith in their #2 pick. As long as he’s on the court, there’s at least one Jazz fan smiling at their TV, because the future has never been this bright for a kid from Canton.

The next man up

All we’ve heard about Peterson. Before that, Keyonte George had to carry scoring duties on his back in the midst of Utah’s injuries to their frontcourt. It was only recently that Ace Bailey finally began to regain his stride. But the issue is that Utah needs one more guy to step up — someone who makes just enough of a contribution so it doesn’t feel like Utah has to fight tooth and nail with .500 teams every single night.

Is it Isaiah Collier? Was it really all it took- a banged-up shoulder for him to have his Thunderstruck moment? I should remind you he hadn’t hit a single triple all season before his perfect 4-for-4 night over Miami. That was then followed by another made three-ball against the Magic. In all honesty, all that’s needed is for Collier to shoot an amount that at least has his opponent respect his three-point range. The dream is for him to learn how to play more off-ball, while simultaneously addressing his weaknesses in navigating ball screens and managing overall defensive rating metrics

Brice Sensabaugh’s role has continually fluctuated through this twelve-game opening stretch. His 23 minutes against the Magic were the most he’s played all season. Sure, Brice can shoot the rock. But the harsh truth is he’s been unproductive in every other facet of the game. He can’t swing the ball; his defense negatively impacts the team, and has shown some really discouraging off-ball lapses. If his shot isn’t falling, then that really hurts the Jazz. Having Brice be the ‘next man up’ means he should be hunting quick-trigger catch-and-shoot threes that could hopefully have a butterfly effect in swinging the game’s momentum.

Svi Mykhailiuk has been through an otherworldly shooting funk. I consider myself a Svi truther more than others, but he’s had a longer leash compared to other years, despite his 28/21/50 scoring splits—no, that’s not a typo. Averaging an honest 16.1 minutes per game, really, shooting above 50% from the field should be the realistic goal.

When is Will Hardy finally going to acknowledge his two-way guys? The expectation was that Kobe Bufkin and Harrison Ingram were going to get their shine after Lauri Markkanen was sidelined, but that moment has yet to come. Instead, Will Hardy opts to reduce his already short-handed rotation, staggering Darryn Peterson and Ace Bailey with the second unit. But when you’re 1-11, you really just have to try anything in your arsenal. You don’t have time to see if the guys on a cold streak can ‘work through their struggles’. Now, it’s about who can contribute right this second.

Utah Jazz vs. Houston Rockets—How to Watch:

Who: Utah Jazz at Houston Rockets

Where: Toyota Center, Houston, TX

When: 6:30 pm Mountain Daylight Time

How to Watch: KJZZ, Jazz+ (in market) or NBA League Pass (out of market)

The Milwaukee Bucks play the Orlando Magic tonight in a game they at least have a puncher’s chance in, and that is a wonderful thing. As we all know, the Bucks have lost eight in a row and, if you remove the garbage-time comeback against the Lakers, have been blown out in four straight games. As a result, they rank in the bottom three in both offensive and defensive efficiency for the season, making tonight’s game against the Magic even more crucial.

The Task Ahead

After a horrid start to the season in which they went 2-7, the Magic are playing better of late, winning their last two. Granted, those wins came against the Kings and Jazz, but with the way Orlando was playing, they’d have taken a win wherever they could get one. It should be noted that a major reason for the Magic not being at their best is that, yet again, they are struggling with injuires. Namely, Paolo Banchero has been out for virtually the whole year with a severe ankle sprain, while Jalen Suggs is only just working his way back from a scary knee injury. Franz Wagner, on the other hand, has been playing, and he’s been producing; Wagner has dropped a combined 71 points in their last two games, so the Bucks better be ready for him.

Injury Report

Bucks:

• Clean injury report.

Magic:

• Paolo Banchero: Out (ankle)
• Jonathan Isaac: Out (knee)
• Noah Penda: Out (hamstring)
• Izaiyah Nelson: Out (ankle)
• Jalen Suggs: Questionable (knee)
• Tristan da Silva: Questionable (calf)
• Jamal Cain: Questionable (shoulder)

Player to Watch

Wendell Carter Jr. has been a rebounding menace this year, pulling down 2.7 O-boards per contest. The Bucks, who rank dead last in rebound percentage over the last three games, need to be hyper-vigilant about Carter in that regard. Of course, noted elite rebounder Myles Turner is back, so he should help!

Projected Starters

Game Details

Who: Milwaukee Bucks (1-11) vs. Orlando Magic (4-7).

When: 6:00 p.m. CST.

Where: Kia Center—Orlando, FL.

Watch: MY24.

Listen: Check local listings.

Prescient Prediction

The Bucks get off their shooting snide and hit at above 40% from three. Just a vibe about it.

I found this on X:

The Chicago Bulls mascot Benny invited Spurs players to join him in a pregame activity featuring a miniature hoop and basketball. Both De’Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle took a moment out of their warm up to participate. The results…were not good. Fortunately the hoops in the United Center were larger and more fitting for the Spurs star guards.

As it turned out, the Bulls were feeling themselves in the first half, shooting over 80% from beyond the arc giving the Spurs a 21-point deficit. Chicago did regress to the mean for the remaining minutes losing their lead and allowing the Spurs to complete a their road trip with four wins. The Spurs winning streak is now at ten games as they head home to host the Golden State Warriors in Emirates Cup competition.

As the Spurs continue to accumulate accolades this season, Victor Wembanyama’s statistics reveal a dominant force and early favorite MVP candidate. This graphic determined his “statistical twin” using 14 metrics.

As a Spurs geek and a math geek, I found this post most interesting. I watched it multiple times and now I am dissecting the math to see if I can teach this in my statistics class. If anything, it will make an interesting presentation.

What do you think? Statistically Hakeem Olajuwon is the closest to Wemby, but is he the most similar when the numbers are stipped away?

Welcome to the Thread. Join in the conversation, start your own discussion, and share your thoughts. This is the Spurs community, your Spurs community. Thanks for being here.

Our community guidelines apply which should remind everyone to be cool, avoid personal attacks, not to troll and to watch the language.

You know what I like? When the Phoenix Suns win basketball games. Sometimes it’s not pretty, and sometimes the journey to the final buzzer is far more stressful than it needs to be. But as long as the Suns walk away with a victory, there’s reason to feel positive. Following Thursday night’s win over the Charlotte Hornets, that’s exactly how I’m feeling.

Phoenix has now won two consecutive games and sits one victory shy of the .500 mark. Once again, the bench unit provided the spark, serving as the catalyst that helped propel the Suns to a 17-point advantage. For a stretch, it appeared Phoenix was on its way to a relatively comfortable victory, the kind where you could sit back, relax, and enjoy the basketball without wondering how the team might find a way to complicate things.

But this is the Phoenix Suns we’re talking about. That 17-point lead? Evaporated.

The Suns were outrebounded 52-31, continuing a troubling trend that has plagued them throughout the early portion of the season. And quite honestly, had Charlotte been even remotely competent at taking care of the basketball, Phoenix might have messed around and lost this one. The Hornets committed a staggering 27 turnovers, and while it’s tempting to look at that number and credit the Suns’ defensive pressure, the reality is a little more complicated. Phoenix finished with 11 steals, certainly demonstrating its ability to disrupt passing lanes and create opportunities in transition. But a significant portion of Charlotte’s turnovers came from careless passes and poor decision-making, the kind of mistakes that reveal a team struggling with connectivity and offensive cohesion.

Still, Phoenix deserves credit for capitalizing on those mistakes. The Suns generated 38 points off turnovers, a massive contribution that ultimately played a significant role in securing the victory. They also took care of the basketball themselves, committing only eight turnovers, which provided a welcome example of offensive discipline.

There were other positives as well. Despite being thoroughly dominated on the glass, Phoenix matched Charlotte with 38 points in the paint. And while the Hornets held a 16-7 advantage in second-chance points, the damage could have been considerably worse given the disparity in rebounding. That doesn’t excuse the ongoing problems on the boards, but it does provide some perspective on how the Suns managed to survive another evening in which securing missed shots appeared to be an optional activity.

The rebounding remains a major concern, and there are certainly other issues worth examining over the next couple of days before the Suns welcome the Los Angeles Lakers to town on Sunday. We’ll have plenty of time to dissect what went wrong, what needs to improve, and why this team continues to make certain aspects of the game far more difficult than necessary.

But there were encouraging moments, too. The bench continues to produce, the Suns are generating points off turnovers, and they’re beginning to string together victories despite their imperfections. And ultimately, the most important statistic is the one that matters more than anything else. The Phoenix Suns won the basketball game. I’ll take it.

Bright Side Baller Standings

Goodie sparked the offense against the Clippers, and his 18 points in 13 minutes made him the easiest Bright Side Baller selection of the season.

Bright Side Baller Nominees

Game 11 against the Hornets. Here are your nominees:

Devin Booker
30 points (12-of-20, 4-of-8 3PT), 1 rebound, 7 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers, -9 +/-

Dillon Brooks
15 points (6-of-13, 3-of-6 3PT), 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 0 turnovers, -13 +/-

Collin Gillespie
13 points (5-of-13, 3-of-9 3PT), 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2 turnovers, +12 +/-

Miles Bridges
11 points (3-of-9, 0-of-4 3PT), 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 0 turnovers, +1 +/-

Oso Ighodaro
2 points (1-of-2, 0-of-0 3PT), 3 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 block, 0 turnovers, +14 +/-

Jordan Goodwin
6 points (2-of-11, 2-of-6 3PT), 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 0 turnovers, +18 +/-

Who deserves it?

Thirty-two points on 14 shots in a much-neededCleveland Cavalierswin over the New York Knicks was a good reminder of who James Harden is. And in case there was still any confusion, the former MVP made sure to clear everything up afterward.

“My name is James Harden. I used to score a lot of points,” Harden told reporters Wednesday evening.

That clarification was needed based on how Harden’s first 11 outings had gone. He entered Wednesday’s game in New York averaging an uncharacteristic 15.3 points per game, shooting a dreadful 36.4% from the field. Harden has been a step slow and unable to create space off the dribble.

There’s a downstream effect to Harden not being able to score. The passing lanes dry up when defenders don’t have to help cut off his drives. This has left him as an inefficient scorer and inept playmaker at the start of the season.

Yet, he doesn’t have to be that player.

Wednesday, Harden showed that he still has the talent to be a dynamic scoring guard. He got the outside shot working in the second quarter, and then expanded his game from there. Defenders had to overplay him on the perimeter, which allowed him to attack inside. He used that to his advantage to score nine points in the fourth quarter, which included two finishes inside the paint.

In short, he was the Harden we’ve seen wreck defenses for over a decade and a half, not the one that we saw in the first 11 games this season.

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The Cavs would be a championship contender if they could guarantee performances like this from Harden in the playoffs.

Being able to score and playmake at this level would mean teams couldn’t load up to stop Donovan Mitchell, and it would create easy scoring opportunities for Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley inside. But you can’t ensure this version of Harden on a nightly basis, or even for big games he gets up for. Age catches up to every player, especially a 37-year-old like Harden who has played nearly 50,000 minutes in his 18-year career.

Instead of counting on Harden to play as he did in his prime, he’s trying to find other ways to adapt his game to his current situation.

“I just focus on myself, things I need to do, and try to get in really good shape and learn my teammates and learn how to play a different brand of basketball, because I’m not the same fast person that I was like five or six years ago,” Harden said.

Harden is still playing his way into shape, admitting that he wasn’t as young as he used to be, so he “can’t just be ready” at the start of the season. It takes a “bit of time to get adjusted to the speed, the pace, all of the above.” But even when he does get back up to speed, the explosiveness isn’t there for him to be the guy he was with the Houston Rockets.

Instead, Harden will need to find different ways to impact winning in this new reality he finds himself in. If someone can make that adjustment, it’s a player as skilled and as smart as Harden. That adjustment won’t happen overnight. There will undoubtedly be more lows like we saw in the embarrassing loss to the Charlotte Hornets earlier this week, but the Cavs are more than willing to endure those games if it means Harden can eventually find his way. Because in the end, the Cavaliers’ hopes and dreams for this season and the next two depend on Harden putting the pieces together.

“Now I still score points, but I’m finding other ways to impact the game as well,” Harden said. “And I think that’s what people probably don’t understand.”

Marcus Smart of the Houston Rockets was suspended yesterday for three games without pay for throwing a punch at Charles Bassey in Wednesday night’s victory over the the Golden State Warriors. The incident happened in the third quarter of the Rockets’ win, and Smart was ejected and given a flagrant 2.

Smart and Bassey begun arguing after an Amen Thompson drive, and then a Smart right hand connected with Bassey. Houston’s head coach Ime Udoka blamed Bassey for running his mouth, however, Bassey claims it was Smart who initiated the incident by “playing dirty the whole game.”

He said:

“I remember the first half, I was trying to set a screen. He grabbed my knee. He was playing dirty. I think I was trying to get a rebound. He was grabbing my hand, and I was trying to run back on defense. Then, he got up on me and just swung. Obviously, that was weak. I just think that was, honestly, fake toughness.

“It didn’t surprise me. I knew he was going to do something. I don’t think he was trying to play. I think he was trying to get himself out of the game. I think he was trying to chill. He wasn’t trying to hoop. That was fake toughness.”

Smart will miss tonight’s game against the Utah Jazz, Sunday’s game against the Washington Wizards, and Monday’s game against the Miami Heat. Reed Sheppard likely picks up extra minutes in Smart’s place. He responded on Wednesday with the some clutch play down the stretch. Let’s see if that continues.

Smart is averaging 8.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal per game for the Rockets while shooting 43.9 percent from the field and 40 percent from deep. Houston is currently at 9-3 and in third place in the Western Conference.

The Rockets will miss Smart, who has somewhat taken on the old Dillon Brooks agitator role, but if any team has the depth to suck it up, it’s the Rockets.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are trying to advance out of the group stage of the NBA Cup for the first time. For them to do so, they’ll likely need to take advantage of a Miami Heat team that still hasn’t found its stride.

Miami has struggled to create any kind of positive momentum since trading for Giannis Antetokounmpo. Their offense hasn’t found a correct balance, as they’ve struggled to get consistent contributions from players outside of Giannis.

Things are worse defensively. They’re giving up the fifth-most threes in the league, and opponents are hitting 40% of their outside looks against them (28th). You’re just not going to have a good defense if you’re struggling to contain the outside shot to that degree.

Cleveland picked up arguably their most impressive win of the season with a strong showing against the New York Knicks. We’ll see if they can back up that performance in Miami, even though they’ll be without the services of Evan Mobley (toe).

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Who: Cleveland Cavaliers (6-6) at Miami Heat (5-6)

Where: Kaseya Center – Miami, FL

When: Friday, Nov. 13 at 8 PM

TV: DAZN, NBA League Pass

Point spread: Heat -2.5

Cavs injury report: Evan Mobley – OUT (toe), Sam Merrill – OUT (elbow), Nae’Qwan Tomlin – OUT (back), Khalifa Diop – OUT (G League), Ernest Udeh, Jr. – OUT (G League)

Heat injury report: Giannis Antetokounmpo – PROBABLE (wrist), Pele Larsson – QUESTIONABLE (illness), Klay Thompson – QUESTIONABLE (ankle)

Cavs expectedstarting lineup: James Harden, Donovan Mitchell, Peyton Watson, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen

Heat expected starting lineup: Davion Mitchell, Klay Thompson, Pelle Larsson, Gianis Antetokounmpo, Bam Adebayo

Cavs jersey:White Association Edition uniform

Previous matchup: The Cavs split the season series last year. Cleveland won the last meeting 149-128 on March 27.

Here’s a look at both teams’ regular-season impact stats via Cleaning the Glass.

Lendeborg, Podziemski set to give Warriors a glimpse at post-Steph Curry era originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

For those curious about where the Warriors will stand once Stephen Curry hangs up his sneakers, the preview has arrived.

With Curry out for several weeks, the only two players already identified as members of the post-Steph era will be front and center. The extended auditions of Yaxel Lendeborg and Brandin Podziemski begin Friday night in San Antonio against the imposing Spurs.

Lendeborg, 24, and Podziemski, 23, have done well with Curry looking over their respective shoulders, but they’re now on their own. If the Warriors are to avoid a disastrous slide, they will need sufficient contributions across the roster, beginning with veterans Draymond Green and De’Anthony Melton, assuming he replaces Curry in the starting lineup.

But the main characters are Lendeborg and Podziemski. They will have the ball in their hands as much or more than Green, but they produce much more scoring. Lendeborg is second on the team in scoring behind Curry, and Podziemski is third. Podziemski is second in assists behind Green, and Lendeborg is fourth. Lendeborg is first in rebounding, and Podziemski is third.

The most telling statistical category is minutes per game, because it implies an inherent trust from the coaching staff and value within the franchise. Podziemski leads all Warriors, averaging 33.4 per game, and Lendeborg is second at 32.3.

Podziemski’s $110 million contract extension suggests the franchise considers him a keeper. This lavish commitment is no guarantee – see Poole, Jordan – that Podziemski will be a Warrior in 2028, much less 2031. Yet his is only the second large long-term rookie extension from Golden State since Klay Thompson received a four-year commitment in 2014.

So, yes, the Warriors believe Podziemski is as a keeper. At least for now.

“We think Brandin is a hell of a young player, a big part of our future, and he secures his future financially,” coach Steve Kerr said last month after the extension was official. “And it’s a deal that makes a lot of sense based on our numbers.”

Those numbers relate mostly to Podziemski’s positive impact on the court. He led the team with a plus-264 plus/minus as a rookie in 2023-24, ranked third on the team in his second season, dipped to eighth last season but this season ranks behind only Curry.

When Curry was sidelined for two months last season, Podziemski’s scoring ticked up 2.2 points per game, but his efficiency tumbled, as he posted splits of 44.8/34.8 percent. He’s at 48.1/39.7 percent this season.

The question before Podziemski now is whether he is better equipped to maintain similar scoring efficiency without the space afforded by Curry’s famous gravity. And can the fourth-year guard improve his 69-percent free-throw shooting?

The question before Lendeborg is whether he can handle the burden that comes with rising from No. 2 on the scouting report to No. 1. It’s a lot for anyone unaccustomed to it, perhaps even more for a rookie. The spotlight now is much brighter than any he has seen. He felt it after Curry left the game Wednesday night in Houston and responded with a game-high 25 points and team-high 10 rebounds.

“He really took a lot of the offense on his shoulders, and he’s obviously very capable,” Kerr told reporters at Toyota Center.

Lendeborg in his first 12 NBA games has passed, if not aced, every offensive test thrown his way so far. It’s a thin resumé, but it already is delighting the Warriors and their fans, who are falling in love with his potential.

Kerr was quick to place the ultimate faith in Lendeborg’s ability, elevating him to primary offensive engine when Curry is off the floor. Lendeborg’s response has been 21.7 points per game on 51.8/42.6 shooting splits, while adding 7.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists. His Rookie of the Year candidacy is strong.

A lot must happen for the Warriors to win at least half their games without Curry. Green must take and make more shots. Melton, shooting 42.9 percent from deep, must stay close to that level. Georges Niang and Al Horford must produce off the bench. Charles Bassey must remain a force in the paint. Brandon Williams must return soon.

“We have to keep working on our offensive execution,” Kerr said in Houston. “… Without Steph, we have to be organized in our concepts and with our spacing so that we can attack and create shots for each other.”

Much of that task will fall on Lendeborg and Podziemski. If they handle it well, the Warriors can be respectable without their superstar.

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Lendeborg, Podziemski set to give Warriors a glimpse at post-Steph Curry era originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

For those curious about where the Warriors will stand once Stephen Curry hangs up his sneakers, the preview has arrived.

With Curry out for several weeks, the only two players already identified as members of the post-Steph era will be front and center. The extended auditions of Yaxel Lendeborg and Brandin Podziemski begin Friday night in San Antonio against the imposing Spurs.

Lendeborg, 24, and Podziemski, 23, have done well with Curry looking over their respective shoulders, but they’re now on their own. If the Warriors are to avoid a disastrous slide, they will need sufficient contributions across the roster, beginning with veterans Draymond Green and De’Anthony Melton, assuming he replaces Curry in the starting lineup.

But the main characters are Lendeborg and Podziemski. They will have the ball in their hands as much or more than Green, but they produce much more scoring. Lendeborg is second on the team in scoring behind Curry, and Podziemski is third. Podziemski is second in assists behind Green, and Lendeborg is fourth. Lendeborg is first in rebounding, and Podziemski is third.

The most telling statistical category is minutes per game, because it implies an inherent trust from the coaching staff and value within the franchise. Podziemski leads all Warriors, averaging 33.4 per game, and Lendeborg is second at 32.3.

Podziemski’s $110 million contract extension suggests the franchise considers him a keeper. This lavish commitment is no guarantee – see Poole, Jordan – that Podziemski will be a Warrior in 2028, much less 2031. Yet his is only the second large long-term rookie extension from Golden State since Klay Thompson received a four-year commitment in 2014.

So, yes, the Warriors believe Podziemski is as a keeper. At least for now.

“We think Brandin is a hell of a young player, a big part of our future, and he secures his future financially,” coach Steve Kerr said last month after the extension was official. “And it’s a deal that makes a lot of sense based on our numbers.”

Those numbers relate mostly to Podziemski’s positive impact on the court. He led the team with a plus-264 plus/minus as a rookie in 2023-24, ranked third on the team in his second season, dipped to eighth last season but this season ranks behind only Curry.

When Curry was sidelined for two months last season, Podziemski’s scoring ticked up 2.2 points per game, but his efficiency tumbled, as he posted splits of 44.8/34.8 percent. He’s at 48.1/39.7 percent this season.

The question before Podziemski now is whether he is better equipped to maintain similar scoring efficiency without the space afforded by Curry’s famous gravity. And can the fourth-year guard improve his 69-percent free-throw shooting?

The question before Lendeborg is whether he can handle the burden that comes with rising from No. 2 on the scouting report to No. 1. It’s a lot for anyone unaccustomed to it, perhaps even more for a rookie. The spotlight now is much brighter than any he has seen. He felt it after Curry left the game Wednesday night in Houston and responded with a game-high 25 points and team-high 10 rebounds.

“He really took a lot of the offense on his shoulders, and he’s obviously very capable,” Kerr told reporters at Toyota Center.

Lendeborg in his first 12 NBA games has passed, if not aced, every offensive test thrown his way so far. It’s a thin resumé, but it already is delighting the Warriors and their fans, who are falling in love with his potential.

Kerr was quick to place the ultimate faith in Lendeborg’s ability, elevating him to primary offensive engine when Curry is off the floor. Lendeborg’s response has been 21.7 points per game on 51.8/42.6 shooting splits, while adding 7.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists. His Rookie of the Year candidacy is strong.

A lot must happen for the Warriors to win at least half their games without Curry. Green must take and make more shots. Melton, shooting 42.9 percent from deep, must stay close to that level. Georges Niang and Al Horford must produce off the bench. Charles Bassey must remain a force in the paint. Brandon Williams must return soon.

“We have to keep working on our offensive execution,” Kerr said in Houston. “… Without Steph, we have to be organized in our concepts and with our spacing so that we can attack and create shots for each other.”

Much of that task will fall on Lendeborg and Podziemski. If they handle it well, the Warriors can be respectable without their superstar.

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