What we learned in November
The NBA season has been in full swing for just over a month now, and already we are seeing one of the best seasons in recent times. We have some teams doing some pretty amazing things on the court and players taking their game to the next level. One of the best things we’ve seen is that there has been a lot of entertaining basketball right across the league, and It doesn’t matter where teams are sitting in the standings, we are seeing some great battles!
Other than the top two teams in the west, at the moment the standings in both conferences are currently very tight with only a handful of games separating the 11th seed form the 3rd seed. Today I’m taking a look at some of the teams that have been shaking things up so far this season.
Kicking things off with the obvious, is there anything else we need to say about the Warriors at the moment? Still undefeated and coasting through games, things could not be going any better for this championship team. With Harrison Banes still missing games due to injury, once he returns to the court this team is only going to get stronger. As long as they can stay healthy there is not much that will slow them down. Prior to the season kicking off, a lot of people had the Warriors in their top 3 for the year, but not many people predicted this. With a tough stint on the road over the coming weeks, will anyone be able to get a win against these guys before the end 2015?
There’s not much you can say that’s been a positive for the Houston Rockets so far this season. Other than the odd James Harden explosion, the Rockets have had a very disappointing start to the season. Like the Warriors, Houston were predicted to finish in the top 3 teams for the season, with a number of ‘experts’ saying that they would easily account for the Warriors. Currently sitting below the 0.500 mark, the Rockets have a lot of ground to make up if the want to be a contender come the end of the season.
While everyone has been fussing over the Warriors, the Spurs have been quietly going about their business. The additional of LaMarcus Aldridge to an already strong roster has seen San Antonio jump into a clear second place in the west, and with Kawai Leonard out to prove that he’s one of the leagues elite players, this veteran team are only going to get stronger the further we get into the season. They might not be grabbing all the headlines at the moment, but make no mistake, this team will be a serious contender come playoff time.
If you told someone a month ago that the Pacers were going to be a solid team this season they would have laughed in your face, but here we are. Even after losing the likes of Rob Hibbert during the offseason, the Pacers are firing this season. The addition of Monta Ellis and Jordan Hill has provided some solid support to Indiana. George Hill is playing well, Paul George is in unstoppable mode, and youngster CJ Miles stepping up his game and being a solid contributor on a nightly basis. I guess most of us expected Indiana to be a good middle of the pack team, but they are out to prove that they can be a lot better than most people give them credit for.
Most basketball fans will agree that watching the Knicks play over the past year has been pretty painful to watch. So when they decided to use their first draft pick on a guy from Europe that pretty much no one in the United States had ever heard of, of course people we’re going to be upset. The Knicks did make some good moves in the offseason picking up Robin Lopez, Aaron Afflalo and Sasha Vujacic, but it was always going to be Kristaps Porzingis who was going to be under the most pressure to perform. After a less than impressive Summer League campaign, Prozingis didn’t take long to find his way in the NBA already averaging 14 points per game and 9 rebounds, but it’s not his stat line that has people talking. Explosive dunks and acrobatic put backs plays have become the norm for this rookie, and after a rough welcome from the Knicks fans on draft night, it’s safe to say that the fans are now pretty happy with their first round pick. While the Knicks won’t do anything amazing this year, their future is good hands with Prozingis and it’s going to be exciting to watch this young man develop into a superstar of the league.
Golden State Warriors Image – Bleacher Report
Houston Rockets Image – Forbes
San Antonio Spurs Image – Bleacher Report
Indiana Pacers Image – NBA.com
Kristaps Porzingis Image – NBA.com