We are already one week into the NBA schedule and there are already some interesting goings on around the league. There are three unbeaten teams remaining and neither the Lakers or Magic are one of them. Carmelo is a man on a mission, there are a couple of teams off to surprising starts, and more.
The Unbeatens
As we enter day number nine of the NBA season three unbeaten teams remain: The Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns, and Denver Nuggets sit atop the standings. Boston appears to be the most legit of the bunch right now. The Suns and Nuggets have simply outscored the mediocre competition they have faced thus far, and while the Celtics only quality win is at Cleveland they are simply demolishing their opponents right now.
The Celtics opened the season with a six point win in Cleveland and have since followed that up with a 33-point dismantling of the Bobcats, demolished a solid Bulls squad by 28, the Hornets by 10, and the Sixers by 31. The Celtics are not just beating the teams they are supposed to beat but they are putting them to bed early. They are doing it by playing stifling defense and appear to have re-stocked the bench with quality depth over the summer.
Only Paul Pierce (21.6) and Ray Allen (15.2) are averaging more than fifteen points per game and Rasheed Wallace (12.0), Eddie House (9.6), and Shelden Williams (7.8) are all averaging more than 7.5 points per game off the bench. In fact the Celtics bench is chipping in 35.6 points per game over the first five games. That accounts for just over 35% of the teams offense.
The main concern for the Celtics as the season wears on, obviously, will be how well veterans like Allen, Kevin Garnett, and Wallace are holding up come March and April. Fortunately, for them, with guys like Wallace and Williams stepping up and giving them front court scoring off the bench they do not need to lean on Garnett as heavily in the early going and should be able to limit his minutes the first half of the season.
What sets the Celtics apart from the Suns and Nuggets right now is they actually defend and are not relying on out shooting the opposing team. Denver and Phoenix are both roughly averaging an astounding 114 points per game but they are also allowing roughly 104 points per game. Phoenix has allowed at least 96 points in every game and 100 or more in three of its four games while the Nuggets have given up at least 93 each game and 100 or more in two of their four games. Teams that do not defend well tend to lose to the teams that do in April and May.
‘Melo on a Mission
Denver’s Carmelo Anthony has been playing like a man possessed thus far averaging 34.5 points per game and going for forty or more in two of the Nuggets’ first four games this season. He is hitting 50% of his shots from the field and is attacking the rim getting to the line a whopping 13.8 times per game this season. Anthony may just be the best offensive player in the league going right now. I have always said, though, the Nuggets will never win a title until Anthony decides he needs to defend someone.
Rockets Red Glare
I am shocked at the Houston Rockets being 3-1 given they are starting the season without Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming. They already own wins against the Jazz and Blazers who were both playoff teams last season. They are doing it all without an established star leading the team.
Trevor Ariza and Aaron Brooks are the breakout players of the first week of the season. I do not think anyone saw Ariza averaging 21.3 points and Brooks going for 21 a night four games into the season. Granted, it is still early but Ariza has never shown the ability to be a 20 point a game scorer in his previous five seasons. He is a career 7.1 point per game scorer and has never averaged more than 8.9 points per game over the span of his vagabond career. In fact, prior to this season, he had just 4 20 point games in his career and already has two this season including a career best 33 point effort against the Blazers. I am skeptical as to whether he will maintain this scoring prowess throughout the year though.
Brooks, on the other hand, is not as surprising as he was the breakout player of last season’s playoffs scoring 16.8 points per game in the post season for the Rockets. Brooks’ production has steadily increased as he has gotten more minutes his first two years in the league so it would seem that he is simply making the natural progression he has made thus far. I have more faith in Brooks ending the year with an 18 to 20 point scoring average than I do Ariza.
Respectable Bobcats?
After starting the season with a humiliating loss to the Celtics scoring a meager 59 points the fact that the Bobcats have rebounded to win two of their last three games is pretty astounding. This team looked like it was heading in the wrong direction after imploding and losing 7 of its last 8 games last season. The inexplicable trade of Emeka Okafor simply made them look that much weaker offensively and one really has to wonder where the scoring is going to come from for them this season.
They have hit the 80-point mark just once this season in their overtime victory against the Knicks. It figures the only time they put up a respectable point total was against a Mike D’Antoni coached team. Somehow, they managed to outscore the Knicks 102-100 then held the Nets to just 68 points to for their second win in three games.
Gerald Wallace has all of a sudden turned into a rebounding machine for the ‘Cats averaging 14 a game and pulling down a career-best of 20 against the Nets last night. All of this from a guy averaging just 5.5 boards per game for his career. It was widely expected that Chandler would be the team’s leading glass man this season.
One has to wonder how a team that is averaging 79.8 points per game and shooting an abysmal 36% from the floor and 17.9% from beyond the arc is going to maintain any kind of a level of competitiveness or respectability as the season wears on.
Jumbled Jazz
Fans in Utah have to be wondering what is going on with their beloved Jazz who have stumbled out of the gate to start the year 1-3. It looks as though the Jazz should have dealt Boozer when they had the chance over the summer. He has scoring just 12.8 points per game and shooting just .352 from the field. With that kind of offensive output one begins to wonder when Jerry Sloan yanks him in favor of Paul Millsap as the starting power forward. With guys like Boozer and Andrei Kirilenko who have dropped hints in the past about not wanting to be with Utah one wonders if this team is losing its chemistry.
Pathetic Pacers
The Pacers closed last season winning 8 of their last 12 games and looked like a team that might be headed in the right direction. This have not quite panned out for the Pacers as of yet as they opened the season losing their first three games by double digits. The team is not scoring like it did last season and it appears to missing the likes of Jarrett Jack and Marquis Daniels more than it thought it would.
It is pretty telling when Dahntay Jones, owner of a career scoring average of 5.1 per game, is the second leading scorer with 14.3 points a game off the bench. He and Danny Granger are the only two Pacers players averaging in double figures right now. Without any other viable scoring options Granger is left to chucking up three point shot after three point shot. Granger has hoisted an astounding 32 3-point attempts already this season.
The only real positive in Indy right now is second year big man Roy Hibbert is beginning to look like a serviceable center scoring 9.3 points, grabbing 9 rebounds, and blocking 2.3 shots per game this year. He is also playing 25 minutes a game up from the 14.4 he saw last season.
Harried Hornets
One also wonders what is going on with the Hornets right now. Two summers ago this was the up-and-coming team to watch in the West and it was only a matter of when and not if Chris Paul would lead them to a NBA title.
Their only win has come against the lowly Kings and they just gave the Knicks their first win of the season Monday night. The question is what happened to the defense in New Orleans? This is a team that surrendered 94.3 points per game last season and is now allowing its opponents to score 104.8 points per game this season. Is there that big of a gap in how well Tyson Chandler defends in comparison to Emeka Okafor?
It is probably also not a good sign that Chris Paul is the team’s leading scorer by about 12 points per game. When the Hornets offense is firing on all cylinders Paul is setting up his teammates with good scoring opportunities and that does not appear to be happening in the early going this season.
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