Week 10 recap and Roze's 5 Things

Standings 

Eastern Conference

1. Cleveland Cavaliers 27-4
2. Boston Celtics 23-8
3. New York Knicks 22-10
4. Orlando Magic 19-14
5. Milwaukee Bucks 16-14
6. Atlanta Hawks 17-15
7. Miami Heat 15-14
8. Indiana Pacers 15-17
9. Chicago Bulls 14-18
10. Detroit Pistons 14-18
11. Philadelphia 76ers 12-17 
12. Brooklyn Nets 12-19
13. Charlotte Hornets 7-24
14. Toronto Raptors 7-24
15. Washington Wizards 5-24
    
    
    

Western Conference

1. Oklahoma City Thunder 25-5
2. Memphis Grizzlies 22-10
3. Houston Rockets 21-10
4. Dallas Mavericks 20-12
5. Los Angeles Lakers 18-13
6. LA Clippers 18-13
7. Denver Nuggets 17-13
8. Minnesota Timberwolves 16-14
9. San Antonio Spurs 16-15
10. Golden State Warriors 16-15
11. Phoenix Suns 15-16
12. Sacramento Kings 13-19
13. Portland Trail Blazers 11-20
14. Utah Jazz 7-23
15. New Orleans Pelicans 5-27 

Reaction 

As week 10 closes the Eastern Conference has seen some more movement than expected.  The Cavaliers seem to blow out every team they play and are putting up a ton of points. They put up 149 points against the Nuggets in Denver, Evan Mobley looks awesome.  The Knicks are now only a 1.5 games behind the Celtics after Boston lost 3 of last 4 games. They've been dealing with some injuries as well, but who isn't at this point. Milwaukee and Atlanta claim the 5th and 6th seeds and stay at of the play-in and are both 2 games above .500. The Pistons have come back into the play-in mix, while the Heat fall into the 7th seed and the Pacers and Bulls are holding the 8th and 9th seed. The 76ers have moved into the 11th seed while the Nets, Raptors, Hornets, and Wizards will finish in the 12th through 15th seeds. In the Western Conference the OKC Thunder have opened up a 4.5 game lead after going on a 10 game winning streak. The Grizzlies and Rockets have leap frogged the Mavericks for the 2nd and 3rd seeds. The Los Angeles teams are taking up the final non-play-in playoff teams in the 5th and 6th seed after having very productive weeks while the others below them struggle. The Suns have fallen out of the the play-off picture to the 11th seed. The Timberwolves, Nuggets, Spurs, and Warriors round out the play-in. The Kings, Blazers, Jazz, and Pelicans round out the 12th through 15th seeds and will most likely be in the lottery come June. 

News Recap 

Monday, December 23rd 

Alex Caruso and the Oklahoma City Thunder agree on a 4 year 81 million dollar extension. Caruso is on an expiring deal after being traded from Chicago this past offseason. 

Tuesday, December 24th

Miami Heat guard Dru Smith suffered a season-ending torn Achilles tendon. Smith had been a nice addition to the Heat backcourt on the defensive side of the ball. 

Thursday, December 26th 

Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic will miss at least a month with a left calf strain. He suffered the injury on Christmas Day vs. the Timberwolves. The injury will likely result in Doncic missing more than nine games, bringing his season total to at least 18 games, and making him ineligible for regular-season honors. 

Friday, December 27th 

The Sacramento Kings and Mike Brown parted ways. The Kings are 13-18 this season and have lost five straight games. For now, the Kings have named Doug Christie interim head coach. 

Sunday, December 29th

The Nets trade away Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton to the Lakers for D'Angelo Russell, Maxwell Lewis, and 3 second round picks in 2027, 2030, and 2031. 

Roze’s 5 Things

1 Warriors recent slide

The Golden State Warriors seemed to have found an identity early in the year. They were playing 11 and 12 guys and everything seemed to be flowing nicely from them. However, things have taken a turn for the worse. The Warriors started the season 12-3 and sat 1st in the Western Conference, before going 4-12 over their next 16 games and have moved to 11th in the Western Conference in a matter of a month. So what is behind the struggle? The Offensive rating is at 106.8 which is 24th in the NBA over the last 15 games, the defensive rating is 114.1 and is 19th over the same span. The Warriors are shooting 42% from the field, which is 3rd worst in the NBA in that span. Lindy Waters is shooting under 30% from the floor, Andrew Wiggins has struggled from 2, Buddy Hield has cooled down since his hot start to the season, and even Steph Curry still feels like it’s been a very slow start for him to begin the year. The point guard position has been one that’s been critical this year. Outside of Curry, Brandin Podziemski has been very sluggish at the beginning, but he’s been a very poor playmaker for others. It also seems that the young guys still do not know how to play with Curry on the floor. Steve Kerr noted in a recent press conference that he doesn’t like guys like Kuminga and Podziemski shooting lower percentage shots at 12-17 feet on the floor when Curry is moving around. They made the trade for Denis Schroder to help with this, but I’m not sure how the Warriors get out of this slump and get back into the Western Conference picture. Part of the fast start was due to opponents, not making any 3s against them. However over the last 15 games teams are shooting 38% from 3, while they were only shooting 31% over the 12-3 start. Part of it was luck, but the other aspect has been the younger guys fumbling the rotations and inconsistent rotations as well. 

2 Can the Cavaliers win the East and make it to the Finals?

The answer is very simple, yes. I’m not putting them as the favorite, but they have every right to be in the championship discussion. The main reason is the three-point shooting. The Cavs are first in the NBA in 3-point percentage at 40.9%, the highest in the NBA. The pairs of Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley, and Darius Garland, and Jarrett Allen, are working well in their minutes together. Both Mitchell and Garland have been extremely efficient in the pick-and-roll situations this season. Evan Mobley’s improvement on the offensive end is also another reason to buy stock in the Cavaliers. Mobley has been great on the perimeter this year shooting 3s and play-making on the perimeter. He looks much more comfortable handling the ball in the open floor and is attacking the basket relentlessly for Cleveland. Maybe the shooting wears off, but the bench of Dean Wade, Caris LeVert, Ty Jerome, Max Strus, and Georges Niang complements Garland, Mitchell, Allen, and Mobley very well. The only concern I have is the defense. The guards of Garland and Mitchell are notoriously not good defenders, and the Cavaliers don’t rebound the ball great. They also give up 37% from the 3-point line, an area that can expose them at times throughout the season. However, the offense is one of the best in the NBA and the interior defense is very good. All signs point to Cleveland being the team to enter the playoffs as the number 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. 

3 Is Victor Wembanyama is Top 10 player already?

I am more than ready to give Wembanyama the approval to be a top 10 player in the NBA. The offense has taken a huge step forward, and the defense is some of the best in the NBA. His effect on the Spurs game and whether they win or not almost solely relies on him. Sure maybe he’s taking too many threes. I for one would like to see him slip out pick-and-rolls a little bit more or post up and look for back cuts, but the offensive production is there and the defense has been there this year. He’s taking almost 10 threes a game and shooting 36% from behind the arc as well. He’s shooting 48% overall and averaging 25 points a game. His 42-point performance on Christmas Day should open people’s eyes to how good he is. I would say do not be tricked by your eyes and get caught up in how young he is still. Opponents shoot 41% with him as the primary defender, the best in the NBA, and he’s averaging an NBA-high of 4 blocks a game this year. He’s unbelievable in his ability to take away shots at the basket and defend 1-5 on the perimeter and at the basket. Maybe he is number 10, but the Spurs are above .500 and I’m not sure there are more than 10 players who you could replace him with and the Spurs would still be at that same record. The unbelievable season we are seeing right now from Wembanyama should’ve been over-looked 

4 Mikal Bridges makes the Knicks the NBA’s sleeping giant. 

Don’t look now but Mikal Bridges has figured out his shooting after a very rough start to the season. At one point he was shooting 30.1% from 3 early in the season, but that’s now up to 36.9% from behind the arc while shooting 50.1% from the field and he’s been even better in his last 10 games. He’s shooting 56.1% from the field and 45.3% from 3. His last 10 games can be highlighted by the 41-point outburst on Christmas Day, a game that featured Bridges handling the ball in crunch time down the stretch. His cutting and connectivity on the offensive end give the Knicks one of the best offenses in the NBA. The efficiency is off the charts and the defense is coming along as well. In the last 10 games, he’s shooting 50.9% on catch-and-shoot 3s and he’s only taking 15 shots and averaging 21.7 points per game in that span as well. He’s also shooting 63.1% from 2 as well. It’s possible to say this version of Mikal Bridges makes the Knicks the best team in the NBA. This is what New York imagined when they traded for him in the off-season and this version can create a monster for the rest of the NBA to deal with. The Knicks are 15-4 since starting the season 5-6 and are just 2.5 games behind the Celtics for 2nd seed in the Eastern Conference.

5 The 76ers are starting to figure it out. 

The 76ers have seemed to figure it out after one of the worst starts in the NBA this season For a team who put basically everything into this off-season and was able to get Paul George to sign with them, it could not have started worse. After 17 games they sat with a record of 3-14 which was almost as bad as the Wizards and New Orleans Pelicans. Over their last 12 games, they’ve been 9-3 and showing some signs of being the team we thought they were before the beginning of the NBA season. Joel Embiid has played games instead of being suspended or injured, Paul George has found his role next to Maxey, and Embiid, and Tyrese Maxey is becoming a high-usage guard that can play-make and score. The 3-point shooting is still a concern of mine as they are currently one of the worst in the NBA at 33.1% from behind the arc, however, the defense has been getting better. Part of it is teams aren’t hitting as many 3s on them as in the past, but Joel Embiid being healthy has boosted their interior defense in the upper half of the NBA. Putting them as the 6th seed is premature considering Joel Embiid and Paul George have notoriously been known for their lack of availability. Still, I think they are a dangerous play-in team if they’re playing good basketball come the end of April. The statement win of going into the Boston Garden and winning on Christmas Day should put some teams on notice of the Philadelphia 76ers. If they can continue to build on the recent stretch of games and figure out the 3-point shooting they are as dangerous as any team at the top of the East.