Golden State Warriors

Are the Warriors pretty good? It feels like the Warriors are pretty good.

Last Week (1)

Boban Marjanovic, Sixers killer. Also, the Spurs are gooooooood. Again.

Last Week (2)

Russell Westbrook is hustle with a heartbeat.

Last Week (4)

There is no reason the Cavaliers, a team that ranks in the top 10 of offensive and defensive efficiency, should look as bad as they do right now.

Last Week (3)

Oh, so the Pacers’ plan all along was to ditch David West and Roy Hibbert, still get similar stinginess from their defense, reinvent their offense, master said offense right away and start winning games in excess? Cool.

Last Week (5)

Boston Celtics

Look, I can’t explain it, but the Celtics are a jillion times better than their record suggests. Basketball-Reference’s SRS rating, which measures point differential against strength of schedule, has them as the league’s fourth-best team. Like I said, aside from worshiping their top-two defense, I can’t explain it.

Last Week (9)

Miami Heat

Consider this your daily reminder that the Heat’s defense, and the team overall, is actually loads better without Hassan Whiteside on the floor, according to Basketball-Reference.

Last Week (8)

Charlotte Hornets

Teams that rank in the top 10 of offensive and defensive efficiency: Cleveland, Golden State, Indiana, San Antonio and a Michael Kidd-Gilchrist-less Charlotte. Holy crap.

Last Week (12)

Maybe DeMarre Carroll was more important to the Hawks’ defensive success than we thought…

Last Week (6)

Toronto Raptors

Enjoy this while it lasts, Raptors fans. DeMarre Carroll’s absences stands to ravage Toronto’s stock in all the wrong ways.

Last Week (11)

One word to describe the Clippers: Unimpressive.

Last Week (14)

Um, how is Dirk Nowitzki still this good?

Last Week (13)

Chicago Bulls

Kinda-sorta hate writhing this, but: Slowly, surely, painfully, Derrick Rose is killing the Bulls.

Last Week (7)

Utah Jazz

Losing Rudy Gobert indefinitely torpedoes Utah’s stock. End of story.

Last Week (10)

Memphis Grizzlies

All these gritty wins later, it’s still difficult to trust the Grizzlies. I blame the borderline bottom-10 defense.

Last Week (15)

Once the calendar turns to Dec. 15 and (most) players who signed new deals and extensions over the summer are eligible to be traded, the Magic have some serious asset-consolidation to undergo—all in the name of turning multiple pieces into a high-impact talent that sparks a playoff run now.

Last Week (16)

Detroit Pistons

If only the Pistons could score on a semi-consistent basis. They would be a top-10 team without even thinking.

Last Week (19)

Minnesota Timberwolves

Good god this team is fun. The Timberwolves are competitive, Zach LaVine, Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins are playing admirable basketball, and Kevin Garnett, all of 39, is posterizing peeps (Blake Griffin) who are nearly 15 years his junior. No, they won’t make the playoffs this year. But yes, I’d say the Wolves are ahead of schedule.

Last Week (18)

Phoenix Suns

Jon Leuer and Mirza Teletovic have become more important to the Suns’ survival than Markieff Morris. Think about that.

Last Week (17)

Houston Rockets

Sometimes, it looks like the Rockets are back. These moments, though, are fleeting—for the time being.

Last Week (23)

Portland Trail Blazers

The Blazers are…surprisingly mediocre on both ends of the floor. Not sure if that’s a pleasant surprise, given that they’re playing their way out of Ben Simmons territory. Then again, they were never going to be Sixers- and Lakers-level bad, so really, it is a pleasant surprise.

Last Week (22)

Washington Wizards

Honestly don’t care if the Wizards beat the Heat. Their offense is underachieving, and their defense, which has suffered by design in favor of a new offensive model, is just fucking sad.

Last Week (21)

New York Knicks

Steps to the Knicks saving their season:

1. More Kristaps Porzingis
2. Carmelo Anthony needs to play better
3. More Kristaps Porzingis
4. Less Kevin Seraphin
5. A lot less Kevin Seraphin
6. More Kristaps Porzingis
7. A little more of Kyle O’Quinn
8. Worlds less of Derrick Williams
9. More Kristaps Porzingis
10. More Kristaps Porzingis at the 5

Last Week (18)

Denver Nuggets

Every so often, in between the turnovers and missed shots, Emmanuel Mudiay has these moments where you’re like, “Damn, this kid is gonna be great.”

Last Week (25)

Milwaukee Bucks

The Bucks defense is gone. Where did it go? Beats me. They just look lethargic and slow as opposed to aggressive and anticipatory.

Last Week (25)

New Orleans Pelicans

Like, can we all agree the Pelicans need to clean house, bench Anthony Davis on account of a partitioned eyebrow and go full tilt after Ben Simmons? I say this not only as an advocate of a Davis-Simmons pairing up front, but in hopes that the Pellies are smart enough to use Jrue Holiday or Tyreke Evans as a means to dump Omer Asik’s trash deal.

Last Week (28)

Sacramento Kings

DeMarcus Cousins and George Karl appear to be in a really good place right now, which is swell. The Kings are once again on pace to win less than 30 games, which is not swell.

Last Week (24)

Rondae-Hollis Jefferson, Brooklyn’s lone young player worth a damn, is out indefinitely. This run of futility is almost assuredly Fate’s way of paying the Nets back for thinking the corpses of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry were worth multiple first-rounders.

Last Week (27)

Los Angeles Lakers

Byron Scott is out there benching youngsters because the Lakers aren’t winning. WHAT.

Last Week (29)

After seeing the Sixers both beat the Lakers and subversively ditch Sam Hinkie’s process in light of Jerry Colangelo’s arrival, it’s tempting to move them up. But, ya know, they lost by 51 points to San Antonio’s towel-tarriers. So…

Last Week (30)