Week 3 news recap and Roze's 5 Things

Standings Updated through Saturday November 9th

1. Cleveland Cavaliers 11-0
2. Boston Celtics 8-2
3. New York Knicks 4-4
4. Charlotte Hornets 4-5
5. Indiana Pacers 4-5
6. Detroit Pistons 4-6
7. Chicago Bulls 4-6
8. Orlando Magic 4-6
9. Brooklyn Nets 4-6
10. Miami Heat 3-5
11. Atlanta Hawks 4-7
12. Washington Wizards 2-5
13. Milwaukee Bucks 2-7
14. Toronto Raptors 2-8
15. Philadelphia 76ers 1-7

Sunday November 2nd

New Orleans signs Jaylen Nowell to a contract. New Orleans has the most games missed as a franchise so far this season. 

Isaiah Jackson torn his Achilles tendon and will undergo surgery on it. He will miss the rest of the season for the Pacers. 

Tuesday November 4th 

Matt Ryan and Ariel Hukporti sign deals with the Knicks.

Wednesday November 5th 

Aaron Gordon will be out for multiple weeks with a calf injury. 

Friday November 7th 

Tyrese Maxey will be out for 2-3 weeks with a hamstring injury 

Saturday November 8th 

Zion Williamson out for at least 2-3 weeks with a hamstring injury. 

Ja Morant out for at least a week with a hip injury. 

Kevin Durant will miss at least 2 weeks with a calf injury.  

Roze's 5 Things

1. Anthony Davis and Nikola Jokic's hot starts

Both of these two big man are off to unbelievable they have been probably the two best player in the league so far this year. Yes, Jayson Tatum has a credible claim at the title as well, but these stats are just gaudy from Jokic and Davis and both are doing it with a ton of post touches and getting offensive rebounds. To start with Davis, he averaging a league leading 32.4 points on 57% shooting from the field. He's taking 12 free throws a game and is putting every player in the basket when he catches it on the block. The three point shot is still lacking compared to the rest of his game, but his mid range shots have been very good this year, he's shooting 50% in the 10-14 foot range, something he's struggled with since the bubble. It's also reassured JJ Redick's plan of having Davis as the focal point on offense. He's been great this year and probably the leading candidate as MVP with not only his offense, but his defense as well. Jokic is putting put numbers that are just unreal. I think part of it is due to he needs to be more aggressive with no Aaron Gordon for the next couple of weeks but Jamal Murray has picked up his play recently. Jokic is averaging 28.9 points per game,  a league leading 13 rebounds, and is 2nd in the league in assists at 11.3 per game. Has been unbelievable and already has 5 triple doubles this year and has had 1 in his last 3 games. He's been shooting 54% from the field and 53% from three. He has not had a bad game so far this year and has the Nuggets at 6-3 after a slow 2-3 start. Jokic has won 3 of the last 4 MVPs and is in position to 

  2. Tyrese Haliburton needs to be better if the Pacers want to win. 

The Pacers point guard has been far from his All-NBA self from a season ago. Typically, guys who go and play Team USA in the summer see some improvements to the next season, but that has not been the case this year. He's averaging 6 points less and a game and his assists are down to 7.7 compared to 11 last year. His shooting splits have not been good and he is shooting 25% from three this year as well. It's easy to point out how bad he's been, but what is the problem for him? For starters his shot is not falling. Sometimes players just go through shooting slumps are the start of the year. This feel different though. I'm saying he's going to shoot 25% from three the entire year, but even his shot creation this year has been pretty poor. He's creating much space on his shots and his catch and shoot number are way down. Another problem is the assist numbers. He's been giving up the ball a little too soon it feels like instead of racing the ball down the floor and hitting Myles Turner rim running or creating an easy three for the guys on the wing He's giving it up without creating an advantage for his team. The Pacers this year on offense have not looked great either some telling stats are have been the following. Offensive rating: 18th, Pace: 15th, and fastbreak points :10th. All of these stats last year were 1st or 2nd in the NBA. Their defense hasn't improve and their schedule has been relatively easy to start. The Pacers are still 5th in the East with his Haliburton's play being this poor, but if they want to and get back to the Eastern Conference finals he has to be better going forward 

  3.  Thunder/Warriors Defense

To start the year the Thunder and Warriors defense have been far and away the best in the league. They do it in different ways. The Thunder have incredible individual defensive players. Lu Dort, Jalen Williams, Aaron Wiggins, Alex Caruso, Chet Holmgren, and Cason Wallace have all been incredible to start the year let's just read out some stats they have so far this season. They are leading the league in the following categories, opponents points per game, steals per game, blocks per game, turnovers forced, defensive rating, opponent three point percentage, and opponent field goal percentage. They are an absolutely into every opponent they play and no one has any idea how to beat them. They play hard and get in the passing lanes so well and disrupt any type of offense or set they are trying to run. The Warriors are similar in that sense, but they absolutely get after people through using switches and rotations. They allowed only 40 first half points against the Celtics, granted they did give up 83 to following game against the Cavs, but this is type of defense brings it bring the strength in numbers era, where they would just fly all over the place for 48 minutes with 10-11 guys. These two teams have been awesome to watch on this side of the ball so far this year and I wanted to give them their flowers for it. 

  4.  Rookies starting to get comfortable?

The previous two weeks of the season for the rookies had been rough in terms of scoring output. However, this past week saw them put up their best games from a number of players. Kyshawn George for the Wizards put up 20 points Monday night against the Warriors. Zach Edey was able to put up 25 points against the Nets, Zaccharie Risacher put up 33 points against the Knicks on Wednesday, Stephon Castle had 23 points in the Spurs game versus the Jazz. There wasn't a clear number 1 pick going into the draft and the overall draft class was not very deep, but that hasn't stopped the the rookies from putting in some nice games. This past draft class is also the type where the 28th pick could be as good as any lottery pick. However, after a slow first two week from the class as a whole it's still nice to see them have some really nice games early on and hopefully won't be the last time.   

   5. Dyson Daniels' Defense 

I understand Wembanyama is having a great season and a lot of other guys are as well. No one has been more impactful as a new player on their team than Dyson Daniels. He takes on every difficult matchup, forces them to earn every single points they have and does it all while still being consistent on offense. He's been awesome next to Trae Young this year and the rest of the Hawks' team. Atlanta probably isn't winning anything important this year, but the pleasant surprise from Daniels has to be ideal. He's leading the league in steals per game with 3.3!! Opponents shoot 38% while he has guarded them this year, one of the best in the league for guards and  he also averages 7.3 deflections a game.  On top of all those stats, he contested the most shots per game for any guard in the league. He's unbelievable in traditional stats, advanced stats, and for the Hawks this year on defense.