Welcome to the NBA Shootaround. Remember me? Here’s the Ringer staff’s weekly run through the league, told in riffs and GIFs (one second, I’m being told GIFs are no longer a thing). Let’s unpack a loaded Wednesday night around the league.
The Golden State Warriors look legit again.
Michael Pina: Celtics-Warriors was comically heralded as a “revenge” fest for Jayson Tatum, who could finally “punish” Steve Kerr for “embarrassing” him with a few DNP-CDs during Team USA’s gold medal run at the Olympics. But alas, despite finishing with an efficient, game-high 32 points, the NBA’s most anodyne superstar spent most of the night enduring nonstop double-teams before he missed a couple of big shots down the stretch. His Celtics lost their second game of the season. No revenge was had.
Instead, this game will be remembered for all the ways these Warriors showcased their defense on a nationally televised stage. Yes, Boston finished with a respectable offensive rating, missed a bunch of 3s, didn’t have Jaylen Brown (or Kristaps Porzingis), and witnessed stretches in which Neemias Queta looked like Wilt Chamberlain. But the energy, pressure, and discipline Golden State exuded in this win weren’t new. Since opening night, everyone’s been flying around, running shooters off the line, jumping passing lanes, and making multiple efforts on every play.
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The Warriors currently rank second in defensive rating. Last year, they finished 15th. The year before that, 14th. And then in 2022, when they won the title, Golden State finished the regular season … second in defensive rating. Some of their success so far can be explained by a small sample size and a soft schedule. But watch them play. Everyone cares—especially Buddy Hield, who, if everything holds, could be one of the most improved defensive players I’ve ever seen—and everyone who plays has bought into a considerably long rotation that includes 13 players who average at least 10 minutes per game. Legs are fresh. Minds are sharp. Game plans are second nature.
(Here’s a quick stat that’s slightly deranged but clearly working: Golden State’s starting lineups have played only 20.5 percent of Golden State’s minutes this season. Units that feature zero starters? 18.1 percent, which is the highest share in the league.)
Now, it’s not even Thanksgiving, which means nothing matters. But of all the semi-shocking early-season developments, Golden State’s somehow elite defense feels most likely to remain consequential in a few months. Last night, with some of the most disruptive sequences Boston has been dragged through in a very long time, the Warriors showed the rest of the league how real they just might be.
It might be AD or bust for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Tyler Parker: Couple of things. Numero uno, the Lakers defense without Anthony Davis is no bueno. Actually, it’s a shit show. Threadbare and tattered, the kind of defense an offense loves to see coming. A crumbly, ghostly mess offering so little resistance that sometimes you could mistake it for air. More holes than a strainer. Pushback on the perimeter or at the rim is raggedy and decrepit. If the opposing team has anyone with any ability to penetrate and touch paint, things get dicey real quick. If Ja Morant is on the other side, then L.A. has entered fraught with danger territory. What’s wild about last night, though—the Lakers offense might’ve looked even worse. LeBron was sensational again. Went ahead and scored his age, 39 points, seven rebounds, six assists on 15-of-24 shooting from the field and 6-of-11 from 3. [Insert here the requisite this-dude-cannot-be-real reaction.] The rest of the Laker starters combined for only 42 points. Joining AD in street clothes was Rui Hachimura. It should be pointed out, though, that Memphis was also without two key cogs in Desmond Bane and Marcus Smart. Speaking of injuries …
Numero dos, Morant got hurt again. Landed funky on an alley-oop attempt late in the third quarter and messed up his hammy. This would be frustrating at any time of year, but it stings all the more now because of how well he’d been playing in his return this season. The highlights were flowing, his passing and handling and in-air dexterity combining to bring forth massive amounts of sauce. In Wednesday’s 131-114 win, he brought the energy and went back and forth in one of the more entertaining second quarters we’ll have this year. Bron couldn’t miss and Ja went right back at him, taking exception to James’s dominance and his too-small hand gesture after a Morant foul/flop in the post. Ja banked in a runner a short while later and ran into the lane to give Bron a minor forearm to the back. They teed Morant up for that transgression, and things cooled off after the hammy trouble. Here’s hoping he’s out for only a short while and gets back to the aerial exploits sometime soon. He has the coolest layups in the league and is, what, a top two in-game dunker? He talks mad shit and competes without regard for his own well-being. The league is more fun when he’s playing. Anybody who hates gravity that much deserves good health.
The Denver Nuggets’ kids are all right.
Zach Kram: The Nuggets would have been forgiven for losing to the undefeated Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday. They’d already lost to them earlier this season, at full strength, and in this rematch, the Nuggets were missing both Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon due to injuries. Midway through the third quarter, they trailed by 16 points.
Moreover, Denver has suffered through a rocky start to the season; the team’s four wins before Wednesday came against the Raptors (in overtime), Nets (in overtime), Jazz, and Raptors (by two points) again. The Nets are frisky, but let’s be real: There’s not a single impressive victory in that bunch.
Yet a technical foul from Michael Malone spurred a Nuggets comeback, and a 23-point, 20-rebound, 16-assist masterpiece from Nikola Jokic powered a 124-122 win. Even more important than Jokic’s play or Denver’s small boost in the standings is what this game meant for Denver’s youngsters: Christian Braun continued his strong start to the season with 24 points and four made 3s, Peyton Watson and Julian Strawther both scored key buckets in crunch time, and Watson—filling in for Gordon in the starting and closing lineups—blocked a game-tying attempt from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as time expired.
That trio’s development serves as one of the season’s most crucial story lines because—with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Bruce Brown, and Jeff Green all gone—Denver can’t win without them. The problem is a domino effect: Braun is excelling in his role as KCP’s replacement, but his move to the starting lineup means Denver has no reliable players on the bench. (Filling in for Murray, Russell Westbrook was tremendous on Wednesday, scoring 29 points on 15 shots. But he is the opposite of reliably great.)
The Nuggets’ healthy starting five has a plus-18.9 net rating this season, per Cleaning the Glass, making it the second-best high-volume lineup in the league. It scores a healthy 117 points per 100 possessions. But before Wednesday, all other Nuggets lineups had a collective net rating of minus-5.3, with an offensive rating of just 107.6. In other words, if just one Denver starter is removed, the team typically descends into the disaster zone.
But if that dynamic changes, and if Strawther and Watson can use their expanded playing time while Murray and Gordon recover to get good reps and gain Malone’s trust, then this short-term injury curse could be a long-term blessing in disguise.
Darius Garland is back.
Danny Chau: And just like that, there is only one undefeated team remaining. After Wednesday night’s 131-122 victory over the Pelicans in New Orleans, the Cleveland Cavaliers are 9-0. The Cavs’ best start to a season in franchise history. Donovan Mitchell is trading volume for brute efficiency and Evan Mobley has flashed two-way brilliance, but I find my attention fixed on Darius Garland. He’s back. He’s all the way back. After he overcame a nasty eye injury in 2022 and is now a season removed from fracturing his jaw, it’s nice to know he still has 4D vision. Just watch him play:
The yo-yo dribble—a feint that the likes of Chris Paul and Ja Morant have perfected—typically preys on the fallibility of the backline defender in the two-man game. It is a hesitation dribble that momentarily looks like the makings of a pocket pass, before the ball is manipulated to spin back into the handler’s possession. Usually, it freezes the targeted defender. But sometimes, it’s really just a flex, a moment of AND1 Mixtape Tour–sanctioned bravado. This was one of those times. There was no way he was actually thinking of snapping a pass to a trailing Jarrett Allen still making his way past the center logo. It was a bit of flair from a player who already knew how the possession would unfold.
When he’s at his best, Garland has a style that communes with that of Steve Nash. Incisive dribbles. Passing vision, touch, and wit. Elite shooting efficiency. Unconventional pathways to three-level scoring for a player without ideal dimensions. But where Nash’s unusual, upright brand of athleticism appeared in defiance of nature, Garland’s frictionless motion suggests the rhythm and flow of nature itself. It’s been an embodiment of the Cavs offense writ large. Their offensive rating (122.1 points per 100 possessions) currently stands just a tenth of a point behind the Celtics’ all-time great mark (122.2) set last season.
It’s a stunning development roughly one-tenth of the way into the season, but maybe it shouldn’t be. Continuity counts for a lot, and the Cavs are building on an identity they forged in fracture last season. A procession of injuries to Cleveland’s star players in 2023-24 forced the team to look to its bench and to the 3-point line as its great equalizer. The main difference this time around? The team—most notably Garland—is healthy. The result has been joyous. Praise be.
The Orlando Magic are up a creek without a Paolo.
Matt Dollinger: Ten days ago Paolo Banchero dropped a 50-bomb on the Indiana Pacers. If you caught the game, it was actually even more impressive than it sounds. He finished one assist short of a triple-double (just ’cause), and he mercifully cooled down in the second half after scoring 37 before halftime. In a sleepy start to the season, the message was so loud it shook Epcot: I have arrived. The Orlando Magic have, too.
Then, you know, the NBA happened. It seems almost physically impossible to play seven months of regular-season basketball without suffering a terrible injury. I go to one Orangetheory class and realize it’s time to update my will. Two nights after torching the Pacers, Banchero was doing the same to the Bulls … but then he felt something. That something was actually a torn oblique that has sidelined Banchero indefinitely and led the Magic to lose five straight games, including Wednesday night’s defeat to those same Pacers. Now there’s a new ear-shattering message coming out of Orlando: Without Banchero, we’re screwed.
This is more a compliment to Banchero than an insult to the Magic. Orlando has a roster chock-full of fun players, but none of them are go-to options like Banchero. When a team completely falls apart without its best player, it sort of doubles as a convincing MVP case. Banchero looked like one of the best players in the league to start this season, the skeleton key to making the Magic’s fun roster a terrifying threat. But they don’t have anyone who can even impersonate a go-to scorer or facilitator in his absence. Franz Wagner is incredible at many things, but asking him to carry your offense is like asking Steve Buscemi to carry your movie. He’s a star in his role, but he’s not a leading man. Banchero is that guy, pal. His absence confirms it.
Goddamnit, Zaccharie Risacher, and other scattered Knicks thoughts from a diehard.
Keith Fujimoto: After the past few days, my mind can paint only in short, broad strokes, so here are some scattershot observations from the Hawks-Knicks game Wednesday night:
Risacher will have a better career than former no. 1 pick Michael Olowokandi. I’ll bet one of my lungs on it. Sure, it’s only four minutes into the first quarter, but Zacc is operating with a Wes-Anderson-tracking-shot level of clarity with the rock. I like the cut of his long-distance jib. Also: Antonio Lang, a former Sun/Cav/Heat/Raptor/Sixer whose cards I’d fling around like Gambit, is on the Hawks coaching staff. Rick Brunson has the look of someone who perpetually leaves the door unlocked and doesn’t know whether he should drive back to double-check. Clyde is exasperated with the Knicks’ lack of communication on transition defense. Tyler Kolek is Mr. Perfect from beyond the arc.
Oh shit, I’m with Wally and Pidto, it’s already halftime … [a symphony of 100 slightly inebriated Knicks fans in Atlanta over the Playaz Circle “Duffle Bag Boy” instrumental] F-U-C-K TRAE YOUNG. New York Lottery, nobody says this enough, thank you for the closed captioning.
Dyson Daniels has some go-go gadget hands—could probably lead the Falcons in deflections. This game has turned into a Risacher vs. Bodega KAT duel. Is Mikal Bridges just overpaid Hubert Davis with the Defensive Stopper badge? The Hawks need to bring back the hawk clasping a basketball on their jerseys, shout-out Stacey Augmon. Jericho Sims missed short on his first two free throw attempts of the season. Jalen Johnson is sneakily three assists away from a triple-dub. Kolek-McBride-Bridges-Hart-Towns, put it on a bootleg tee. The Thibs face-scrunch counter is at six after a KAT three-seconds-in-the-key call. Clutch KAT 3, clutch KAT goaltend challenge reversed to a block … KAT corner 3 brick leading to a Trae clutch dime to Capela, pushing the Hawks’ lead to three with under 47 seconds left.
And kids, that’s the story of when OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges got eaten alive by Zaccharie Risacher (33 points, seven rebounds, three steals, two blocks).
The Sacramento Kings finally have an adult in the room.
Rob Mahoney: Sacramento isn’t above some buzzer-beating heroics when the situation calls for it, but why go through the trouble of fending off an entire team for a game-winning putback when you can systematically seal things up in the middle of the fourth? The best crunch-time offense is the one that keeps you out of crunch time. The Kings found their poise on the way to a 122-107 win over the Raptors, which is to say that they found DeMar DeRozan over and over and over again. Clear out the left side, feed him in the mid-post, and wait for the possession to resolve itself.
Sometimes it was as simple as DeRozan pirouetting into a jumper, his footwork copied and pasted from the countless such shots he hit for the Bulls, the Spurs, and not so long ago, these very Raptors. When his defender closed the gap, DeRozan—a master of and-1 finishes—drew the foul. When the double came, he busted it with the pass. Everything was simple. Methodical. DeRozan has dropped 20 or more in every game he’s played so far for Sacramento, including 27 on Wednesday night. By the time the ever-feisty Davion Mitchell switched over to take on the least enviable assignment on the floor, it was too late. DeRozan’s work was done, and the Kings were already sailing.
To call this a change of pace for Sacramento doesn’t tell the half of it. Last season, the Kings found pretty much every way possible to drop a game to an inferior team. They blew leads, they bricked free throws, they clammed up, they let go of the rope. Domantas Sabonis may be a double-double metronome and De’Aaron Fox one of the best finishers in the league. But in the space between them, there had been too many imbalanced lineups and cursed stretches—particularly when only one star was on the floor. No more. Look in the same gaps now and you’ll find a professional scorer at work, calming the offense one bucket at a time. Sacramento is already taking after one of the league’s fourth-quarter kings.
The Spurs and Rockets wrap their Texas three-step.
Isaac Levy-Rubinett: The Spurs and Rockets have each played eight games so far in 2024-25, and three of them have been against each other. In the first, San Antonio jumped out to a 21-point first-half lead, almost gave it all back, and won by three. The second was almost an exact inverse: Houston built a 21-point second-half margin, let go of the rope, and held on to win by five. In their third matchup, on Wednesday night, the Rockets built a 25-point lead before halftime … then dug their spurs in deeper.
Familiarity breeds contempt, sure—but at this early juncture of the season, it also teaches you something about yourself. The Rockets have guarded the Spurs with bludgeoning physicality, forcing everything away from the basket and swarming Victor Wembanyama anytime he moves toward the rim. It’s been an effective strategy (even more so with Tre Jones, Jeremy Sochan, and Devin Vassell all out Wednesday due to injuries), albeit one that may be hard to replicate for teams that don’t employ Dillon Brooks and a cohort of strong, rangy wings. Wembanyama has had to work for every touch, and his easiest looks have come from beyond the arc—clean shots he’s right to take but has yet to consistently hit, with a 1-for-6 performance on Wednesday night dropping his season average to 21 percent.
The Rockets, meanwhile, have recovered from a chaotic start by winning four of their last five. They’ve beaten the Spurs (twice), Mavericks, and Knicks and fallen to the Warriors in overtime. Coach Ime Udoka’s rotation goes 12 deep and, importantly, consists of players with distinct but overlapping skill sets. Jalen Green can catch a heater. Brooks can single-handedly lower a game’s collective field goal percentage. Alperen Sengun can prop up an offense, or he can hit the bench to make room for Tari Eason and Amen Thompson in ultra-athletic, hard-nosed defensive lineups. The Rockets have plenty of rotational questions to sort through, and the prospect of a consolidation trade will loom over the season, but their style plays. Now let’s see what these teams look like against other opponents.
The Philadelphia 76ers take one step forward, two steps back in Paul George’s L.A. return.
Anthony Dabbundo: Wednesday night was both a revenge game and a reunion for the Clippers and Sixers in Inglewood. And accordingly, Clippers fans greeted every Paul George touch in the first quarter with a chorus of boos.
And then there was James Harden, going against his old Sixers side. Teacher Harden and student Tyrese Maxey, who credits his former teammate with showing him how to perfect the stepback jumper, took turns beating each other off the dribble in a competitive first half. But then, just like pretty much everything in the first two weeks of this Sixers season, Philly’s one step forward was followed by multiple immediate steps back. The Clippers dominated the third quarter and won the game 110-98. The Sixers lost again and fell to 1-6.
George was the positive step forward for the Sixers, carrying the offense with an efficient 18 points in 24 minutes on 7-of-9 shooting from the field. He bailed the Sixers out of multiple bad possessions by hitting contested isolation jump shots toward the end of the shot clock. He even trash-talked the Clippers bench after one difficult make early in the fourth quarter.
Nick Nurse is sticking to the minutes restriction for George as he eases his way back from the knee injury that delayed the start to his season. And while the first half offered promising flashes from the Sixers, the third quarter was an all-too-familiar groaner, dashing any hopes they had of stealing a difficult road game as their early-season plight continues without Joel Embiid.
George played only 18 minutes in the first three quarters of the game. Nurse’s decision to keep him out of most of the third while the Clippers made their run showed that he remains unwilling to rush anything during this extended preseason the Sixers are going through.
Injuries, investigations, suspensions, fines, and losses have defined the first two weeks of the season for Philly. Maxey was supposed to be the shining beacon to begin the year, but he’s been inefficient despite his high-volume scoring. And just when you thought it couldn’t get worse for the Sixers, Maxey left Wednesday’s game with hamstring soreness before the fourth quarter and did not return. There are a ton of new pieces on this roster, and while the Sixers keep stressing that the playoffs are the only focus, these regular-season struggles are stinging more than expected. It’s also not clear how all the pieces will fit together once Embiid makes his anticipated return from suspension and injury on Tuesday against the Knicks. Until then, the Sixers will keep losing games and putting themselves under more pressure.
