NBA Notes — October 26th

Heat @ Magic, Mavs @ Pacers, Nets @ Celtics, Timberwolves @ Grizzlies, Nuggets @ Pelicans, Thunder @ Sixers, Rockets @ Lakers.

Heat @ Magic:

Key Learnings:

• Even though very limited on the wing, Heat are seem to have everything in order in terms of rotations and doing stuff that works for them.
• Mandatory Aaron Gordon at SF complaint.
• Dragic had an annoying first quarter. Got stuck under the rim on every drive without a pass option. Otherwise played nicely.
• Whiteside was good but had a couple of WTF plays. Broke stuff offensively and went for two unnecessary blocks that led to basket.
• Waiters was very good. Potentially nice fit with Dragic AND second unit.
• Jeff Green was in the wrong place defensively so often it’s as if he did it on purpose.

Mavericks @ Pacers:

Key Learnings:

• Seems like lineups where Dirk is at center are the best. Just too slow units otherwise. Had terrible time guarding C.J. Miles etc.
• Pacers identity has clearly shifted and sometimes fast break looked quite nice.
• Teague-Ellis was pretty good today offensively, just as bad defensively. Not super pumped about that. George really didn’t get to shoot as much as you’d like because of those two.

Nets @ Celtics:

Key Learnings:

• Horford is an awesome fit in the offense. Multiple times initiated an“extra pass sequence”. Ball movement by Celtics was brilliant.

• Looks like Lin is going to have quite a bit of turnover trouble again this season in a bigger role. Made a couple of bad reads trying to lob over top in PnR.
• Overall the Celtics offense looks like it’s going to be another level. Fun to watch ball movement when it doesn’t end with a Sullinger long-two no one really guards.

Timberwolves @ Grizzlies:

Key Learnings:

• Exciting to see the first Towns/Bjelica lineup with four minutes left in the 1st quarter.
• Even though the results weren’t crazy, I thought Timberwolves defense really looked different and the concepts were correct. Here’s a play that didn’t work out but the ideas are the right ones.

• Grizzlies to me weren’t the better team. Made some shots and grinded out the win.
• Vince Carter is here to take shots and miss all of them.
• Andrew Wiggins has a bit of a shot selection problem. One pull-up in transition with 4 guys in front of him was the worst.
• Green, Gasol and Randolph all made threes. Went well but there are going to be bad nights in terms of spacing. Timberwolves overreacted after the makes (but they’ll get more disciplined as the season goes along).
• Not a fan of Dieng at all. Messed up some stuff defensively, ruined space offensively.

Nuggets @ Pelicans:

Key Learnings:

• Why not have Anthony Davis shoot 12+ times per quarter? Looked great both inside and out.
• Pelicans can find some pretty nice spacing and defensive versatility with Hill, Galloway, Moore and if lucky Stephenson.
• Pelicans lost a ton of 1-on-1 situations that led to breakdowns. Individual mistakes on closeouts and pick and roll defense. Terrence Jones really sucked at everything, most notably post defense.
• First time seeing Murray and I really liked how smooth his game is. Comes off nicely and gets to middle here on the hand-off play.

• Nurkic was great in the post, but the fit with Jokic was a bit awkward. They did play separately most of the time (I think).
• Mudiay got to the basket pretty nicely, his finishes looked better than before even if the percentages don’t show it.

Thunder @ Sixers:

Key Learnings:

• Rodriguez-Henderson-Covington-Saric-Embiid is super fun.
• THE PROCESS (I only watched the 1st quarter to see a bit of Embiid so no super smart analysis here).
• 9 assists for Rodriguez without a turnover deserves a mention.

Rockets @ Lakers:

Key Learnings:

• Nick Young is starting *cough* being showcased for a trade *cough*
• Russell is a genius level passer in the pick-and-roll. Took me a while to understand him last season and looked so slow and unathletic at the beginning. Now I’m a huge fan.
• The McDaniels and Gordon guarding Russell experiment didn’t go particularly well. Though Rockets did get an advantage when Russell didn’t box out at all.

• I wonder how good teams can guard Harden in the spread pick-and-roll. Switching would seem logical with a big wing and mobile big. It’s not like weakside corner guy can help since Harden can hit the corner/lift guy.

• The ending of this game was hero vs. hero ball. Nick Young shot it every time he touched it, so did everyone on the Rockets. Russell and Clarkson were awesome and under control!