Does it feel right ending this week with the usual 10 Things? I dunno. But here they are, starring the return of the defining pick-and-roll partnership of the last decade, a fearless young Spur, some bad defenses, and one master of the fake handoff.
1. The return of the Stephen Curry-Draymond Green ballet
Most of Curry's season has resembled this:
The Warriors have run that set thousands of times. In dynastic times, opposing defenses rarely felt comfortable throwing this much attention at Curry:
Golden State's supporting cast is light on shooting and playmaking. Defenses want Curry passing to those guys, even if they catch the ball with 15 feet of open space in front of them. They aren't worried about Curry's teammates taking open 3s, or filling that 15 feet of open space -- the territorial advantage Curry has gifted them -- with drives, handoffs, and other read-and-react plays.
That is, until Green takes the floor:
That hand back is a trademark of the pick-and-roll partnership that defined the past decade. You might remember the identical action producing one of the Curry daggers that ended the Houston Rockets' 2018-19 season:
One Curry drive blows open pockets of space all around him. Kick the ball back to Green, and he will pick the right pocket to exploit with passes, screens, and handoffs. It won't produce a good shot every time with this roster, but it gives Golden State a fighting chance. Green is already roaring on defense. Curry is averaging 30 points. His 62-point masterpiece was a declaration: I'm still here.
The Warriors are plus-7 in 97 minutes with Curry and Green on the floor. Green and Eric Paschall, shooting 56% so far, have logged only seven minutes together; I'd like to see more of the Curry/Green/Paschall trio alongside two wings.
It's hard to know what to make of Golden State at 4-4, with the league's sixth-worst point differential -- the result of three hideous losses. Curry and Green are still learning the new guys. Kelly Oubre Jr. will make shots. James Wiseman's potential is scary.
If they stay healthy, Curry and Green can make something of this team.
2. Seth Curry making plays
The only thing that really matters after Curry's positive coronavirus test ahead of Philly's game in Brooklyn Thursday is that Curry and everyone around him are healthy. It is also a reminder of how precarious this season -- or at least long segments of it for particular teams -- could be. The Nets are scheduled to play Memphis tonight. The Washington Wizards, who faced the Sixers and Curry on Wednesday, are in Boston to play the Celtics tonight. Players take point-of-care tests before games; Curry obviously tested negative before that Washington game. Even so, it'd be understandable if everyone who participated in that game felt a little nervous today.
Back to basketball: Philly's remodeled starting five has poured in 116 points per 100 possessions, better than the Denver Nuggets' No. 2-ranked offense, and Doc Rivers is leaning hard on that group. It has logged more minutes than any lineup leaguewide. The old regime's rigid minutes-staggering is gone.
Almost 60% of Curry's minutes have come within that lineup, and you might say he's doing OK. You've heard of the 50/40/90 club? Well, Curry is less than one percentage point from inventing the 60/60/100 club. Is that sustainable? Duh. Is it fun? Hell yes.
Curry is dishing 3.6 assists per game, by far a career high. Shooting is a discrete skill, but it's also a super-skill that amplifies other skills. Defenses press great shooters. That makes it easier for those shooters to drive. Easier drives means easier access to passes.
Curry's drives are up, and the Sixers are scoring 1.42 points per possession when he shoots out of a drive or dishes to a teammate who fires -- a bonkers number that would have led all players last season, per Second Spectrum. When Curry knifes into the paint, he often has his choice of two spot-up threats (Danny Green and the scorching Tobias Harris), a do-it-all cutter (Ben Simmons) and a behemoth in Joel Embiid who might well be the MVP front-runner.
When none are open, Curry is a brave and crafty finisher -- with both hands:
We were set to learn a lot about Philly over the next two weeks. Their bad loss to a short-handed Brooklyn team Thursday kicked off a tough stretch, and dropped them from second to sixth in net rating. We'll still learn plenty, but less so with Curry out for an extended absence.
Even before Curry tested positive, it felt premature to put Philly in the same league as the Lakers and perhaps the Clippers. They still feel one strong starter-level player away -- Curry's a career backup, and Green is aging -- but let's see how their bench develops. They still haven't really answered the whole "Who handles the ball in crunch time?" thing, though by adding shooters, they've made it easier for Embiid to be that answer more often.
All that said, if you think the Sixers can win the East, they are de facto title contenders. Given what we've seen from other East beasts -- both now and in past postseasons (hi, Bucks!) -- does Philly winning three playoff series in the East seem so outlandish?
Get well, Seth.
3. Donovan Mitchell, searching for balance
The Jazz seem intent on defending their "weirdest team" title after last season's puzzling up-and-down campaign. They are 4-4, alternating nice wins (over the full-strength Clippers) with dispiriting losses -- at home to the not-good Minnesota Timberwolves, and double-digit defeats this week against the New York City teams. They rank about average on both ends of the floor.
It feels strange saying this since he almost single-handedly incinerated the Nuggets in the bubble, but I haven't really enjoyed Donovan Mitchell's shot selection. On paper, it looks fine. Mitchell has exchanged some midrangers for marauding drives and triples -- including an uptick in pull-up 3s.
He's 8-of-40 so far on those shots. He has never hit better than 33.2% in any season. A lot of them have been audacious, momentum-sapping step-backs:
He's also driving into the trees without an escape plan -- one reason he's hitting only 46% at the rim, per Cleaning The Glass:
I'm not sure how problematic this is. Mitchell is by far Utah's best on-ball engine. His assists are up, so it's not as if he's being hoggy. Mitchell mastering the pull-up 3 would be good for the Jazz long-term. His shooting -- 32% on 3s, 42.5% on 2s -- will improve. Perhaps we are really talking about Mitchell bagging one or two shots per game to move the ball along.
Also: The entire team is struggling in 2-point range. Bojan Bogdanovic is shooting 35%.
But it underscores that Utah remains caught between identities in a way that is hard to quantify. Sometimes they reengage "blender" mode, passing and cutting defenses into a haze. (Joe Ingles is usually on the floor for that.) Sometimes they become the Mitchell show. Sometimes Mike Conley commandeers the offense. Set plays for Bogdanovic get sprinkled in. (Utah is 29th in assist rate; the Jazz ranked fourth two seasons ago.)
Maybe everything coalesces at the right time, and Mitchell forcing things today is part of that journey. Utah always has a midseason hot streak when the offense hums. The Jazz found harmony last season, only to see it slip away for lots of reasons -- including injury. Maybe it will stick this time. It will matter only if they stabilize their suddenly leaky defense.
4. Keldon Johnson brings the pain
Johnson has been one of the delights of the young season. He is fearless attacking the basket. Rudy Gobert's around? Who cares?
Johnson isn't just blasting full speed into traffic and plowing through people. He has some change-of-pace guile, a soft floater, and nascent pick-and-roll chemistry with LaMarcus Aldridge. He can finish layups with either hand:
His power is jarring. When Johnson hits someone, that guy moves backward. Johnson has enough hang time to collide with shot-blockers in midair, and flick shots over them as they descend.
He drew fouls on 20% of his drives last season, tops among all players, per Second Spectrum. Those plays haven't been quite as profitable this season. Johnson can get addicted to wild floaters. He sometimes careens to the rim with such head-down determination, he misses open teammates -- or doesn't give them time to come open.
But Johnson just turned 21, and he's averaging 14 points and shooting 42% from deep. He has not looked out of place defending power forwards, and the Spurs have sometimes asked him to toggle onto apex predator wings -- including LeBron James. Johnson has held his own on the glass, and is a giant plus there at small forward. He should be a fixture in San Antonio.
5. Washington's defense, testing the limits of logic
The Wizards find new grotesque ways to entertain every season. Their fresh twist: ranking next-to-stinking-last in defensive efficiency despite allowing the exact "right" diet of shots. Only six teams have conceded fewer 3s as a portion of total opponent attempts, per Cleaning The Glass. None give up fewer shots at the rim. None coax more midrangers.
And yet: 29th! It's honestly incredible. It's art.
Perhaps it is all bad luck. Wiz opponents are on fire from everywhere, headlined by a preposterous 52% hit rate from floater range. (Side note: I always wonder how accurate teams and tracking data are distinguishing restricted area attempts from those just beyond that. How many of those floaters might be glorified layups?) Those opponents have hit half their wide-open 3s, the fattest mark in the league, per NBA.com. Tracking data shows Washington defenders have been about as close to opposing 3-point shooters overall as a league-average team. To some degree, the Wiz have been unlucky. Time to sip that sweet, sweet Felix Felicis.
Sadly, the problems go way beyond luck. The Wiz are a morass of botched switches, coverage breakdowns, and straight brain cramps.
Ish Smith and Troy Brown Jr. mix up schemes, and escort Coby White to the basket. Is it a fluke that Wiz opponents are shooting almost 70% in the restricted area?
Washington often switches for no reason, and into bad mismatches.
Raul Neto appears ready to scoot over Otto Porter Jr.'s pick -- before pivoting late into a switch. Like, why? Does Deni Avdija have any clue that is coming?
The play ends in a foul, and one thing shot location data doesn't capture is Washington fouling the bejesus out of everyone. Fouling is the downstream result of players being out of position. The Wiz have yielded the league's highest free throw rate.
Washington's roster tilts offense. It is incorporating new faces, and starting two kiddos in Avdija and Rui Hachimura. It will take time. Thomas Bryant has made strides.
The Wiz defense might not be as bad as numbers show, but it's bad.
6. The Blazers and Nuggets, trying to ride it out
The Nuggets and Blazers are 28th and 25th, respectively, in points allowed per possession. It doesn't matter how potent your offense is; you are going nowhere serious with a defense that bad.
Both are shooting themselves in the foot to some degree. Portland has zero chance defending with both Carmelo Anthony and Enes Kanter on the floor -- even against opposing reserves. (Both have been helpful on offense, to be fair.) Portland doesn't have a ton of options with Zach Collins out, but there has to be a way to juggle stints for Robert Covington and Derrick Jones Jr. to minimize Anthony-Kanter minutes. (Also: The Damian Lillard-CJ McCollum-Gary Trent Jr.-Covington-Jusuf Nurkic lineup has logged only five minutes. More, please!) Terry Stotts has yanked Kanter for Harry Giles III in recent games.
Denver's backup units trend small. I'm skeptical of the triple point guard look featuring Jamal Murray, Monte Morris, and Facundo Campazzo.
But it's too early to panic. Portland is adapting to a newish scheme that calls for more aggressive help rotations and (sometimes) its big men to venture farther out against the pick-and-roll. Nurkic did not look anything like himself until this week. Peak Nurkic is the keystone of Portland's defense. Stotts has carved average defenses from worse rosters. Portland with an average defense is an interesting team.
Ditto for the Nuggets, who showed against the Clippers in the bubble they can dial in against top-shelf offenses. Of course, those Nuggets had Jerami Grant and Torrey Craig. This version doesn't profile as a good defense, but they should not be helpless. Most of their smaller lineups -- featuring only one of Nikola Jokic, Paul Millsap, Isaiah Hartenstein, and JaMychal Green -- have been stingy. They can add size to reserve units by using Michael Porter Jr. as backup power forward once he returns from coronavirus protocol. (They need all the scoring they can get when Jokic rests; Denver is averaging a ludicrous 121 points per 100 possessions with Jokic on the floor, and 91 when he rests.)
Unlike in past seasons, Denver is not allowing an inordinate number of 3s or shots at the rim. (Teams are making an inordinate number of both -- including a laughable 73% in the restricted area -- and some of that is on the Nuggets.) Porter digests more about NBA rotations every day. The Millsap-Green duo is promising, though perhaps slow-footed. Gary Harris will presumably crack 15% from deep soon. Will Barton is capable. PJ Dozier is solid.
If nothing changes in the next three-plus weeks, both teams will face uncomfortable questions -- including an existential one in Denver: Will lineups with Murray, Jokic, and Porter ever defend well enough for this team to really contend?
7. Isaiah Stewart has a chance
It's going to be a long season in Detroit. I'm not really prepared to talk about Blake Griffin. I'm waiting, hoping for the juice to return.
In the meantime, keep an eye on Stewart. He's raw, prone to mistakes defending on the perimeter. He's not a dynamite vertical athlete. But he plays super-hard, and moves his feet well on defense -- leveraging his 7-4 wingspan around the rim:
That is four defensive plays in six seconds. Stewart cuts off Marcus Smart without exposing any passing lane to Daniel Theis. He snuffs Semi Ojeleye's drive, rotates back to Theis, and then turns to smother Ojeleye under the basket. Great stuff.
It's unclear what Stewart can be on offense. Scouts are confident he will shoot jumpers eventually. He has been a voracious offensive rebounder early. But these snippets of interior defense provide hope for a long career.
8. Patrick Williams, pullin' up
Williams is a readymade rookie role player -- a potential 3-and-D type who has switched pretty seamlessly so far between guarding both forward positions for the strange and mediocre Bulls.
In Chicago's original starting five (featuring Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter Jr.) that meant chasing dangerous wings. In the revamped version with Otto Porter Jr. in Markkanen's place, Williams takes whichever forward poses more of a threat to Porter's alarmingly leaden feet.
Williams is easing his way into Chicago's offense. He's not afraid to drive the ball when the situation calls for it -- or after he grabs a defensive board -- and he has a calm rhythm to his off-the-bounce game.
One shot stands out already: His silky, old-school midrange pull-up -- which Williams releases either with his normal jumper form or as a modified push shot.
Williams is 11-of-24 on pull-up 2s, which works out to about 3.9 attempts per 36 minutes -- high for a rookie support player.
Williams is also 8-of-17 from deep; if he proves an above-average 3-point shooter, he'll have plenty of opportunities to attack scrambled defenses off the catch.
He has shown nice vision when defenses converge, and ferocity accelerating to the rim when he spies a chance.
Now comes the tedious work of balancing all these elements. Half of Williams' shots have been midrangers -- too many. Despite flashes of head-on-a-swivel vision, he has just nine dimes in nine games.
Much of that will come. With most rookies, all you're looking for are glimpses of some ability to read and think the game. Williams has shown that.
Both Chicago starting fives have been outscored badly, but I'm not sure how much of that -- if any -- you can pin on Williams. He looks like a keeper, with a floor as a very good role player. The ceiling? I'm intrigued.
9. Domantas Sabonis and his army of keepers
Sabonis isn't the NBA's most prolific play-action quarterback -- Jokic and Bam Adebayo share that title -- but he might have the most variety to his fake handoffs. Gander at this full-speed ruse executed with a lethal in-and-out dribble:
It's even rubbing off on Indiana's guards:
Sabonis has cooled some, but he's still averaging 21-11-6 on 58% shooting -- and dabbling in 3s again! He might be the meanest post-up scorer outside Philadelphia -- the one who relishes contact the most. Against the Houston Rockets Wednesday, one nasty Sabonis shoulder bump had P.J. Tucker stumbling backward. Sabonis either felt Tucker flopped, or craved another collision; as Tucker regained his balance, Sabonis sneered at him and waved his right hand while dribbling with his left: Come get some more. He looked like Morpheus from "The Matrix."
Sabonis' rampages and pinpoint passing (plus a huge minutes load that doesn't get as much attention as the minutes of Julius Randle and RJ Barrett in New York) are big reasons the Pacers attempt a league-high 44% of their shots from within the restricted area, per Cleaning The Glass.
At 6-2, the Pacers are defying expectations again, though they head West next week for a tough trip. Myles Turner has stepped back on offense to make way for Sabonis, and he deserves huge credit for not letting any bitterness about that -- if any exists -- infect his defense.
Turner is averaging 4.1 blocks, and he's not swat-chasing his way out of rebounding position. Only eight players have averaged four blocks since the league began recording blocks in the mid-1970s; those eight did so in 15 seasons combined, per Basketball-Reference.
The Pacers are winning (by a lot) the minutes Turner plays without Sabonis, and cleaning the defensive glass -- a reversal from last season, when Turner-only minutes were precarious.
Per usual, it is absolutely no fun facing Indiana.
10. Piped in "air-ball" chants
You couldn't blame teams for bringing the minimum fake crowd noise elements. The NBA is trying to play in a pandemic. Many front-office executives have joked that reading memos outlining safety protocols has become their full-time job.
Who has time for frivolities?
Well, at least some teams -- maybe many of them, maybe all of them, I'm not exactly taking detailed notes -- have carried over a piped-in "Air-ball!" singsong to taunt visiting players. (I noticed it first in Denver.)
I love it. Imagine being in that meeting?
Tired team operations person: OK, we've got DE-FENSE, some ambient buzz, random cheering, our normal "Let's go, team" chant. We're good, right? We have to go build a socially distanced media room now.
Hero: Wait ... How are we going to humiliate opposing players?
Tired person: THERE'S NO TIME! SHUT UP! SANITIZE YOUR HANDS!
Hero: What about an air-ball chant?
Imagine shooting an air ball in an empty arena, hearing that empty arena chant "Air-ball!" at you, scanning the stands, and being reminded that, oh yeah, a great void of human plague emptiness is taunting you? That might be more disconcerting than 20,000 fans chanting.
A touch of fun pettiness can spread joy.