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This is the week we confront our League Pass mistakes. We should’ve taken the Bobcats more seriously. We were too enamored with the idea of the Pistons. We should probably watch the Bucks. We can lay off the Nets for awhile. We all have to confront our demons.
Monday: Charlotte Bobcats at Oklahoma City Thunder (6:00 PM PST on League Pass)
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If you haven’t gotten a chance to watch America’s Team, aka the Charlotte Bobcats, this is the week you must find the time. The Bobcats have quickly become this season’s folk heroes, roaring out of the gates to a 7-5 start. Kemba Walker is reprising his popular role from UConn as “undersized, hustling combo guard”, and teaming up with Ramon Sessions to form a backcourt that does just enough to get the job done. The team’s frontcourt has been exceedingly balanced as well, with Byron Mullens giving the team 13 and 8, and rookies Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Jeff Taylor averaging 12 and 8, respectively. And do we have a Ben Gordon sighting? We do! We do! We do see Ben Gordon averaging 12 points off the bench (though shooting his lowest percentages in four seasons)! And with Mike Dunlap as head coach, man, the Bobs are basically a NCAA fan’s professional dream. Can America’s Team unseat the reigning Western conference champions on the road? We find out tonight.
Tuesday: Toronto Raptors at Houston Rockets (5:00 PM PST on League Pass)
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Last season, Kyle Lowry played the role of talented but oft-injured point guard for the Houston Rockets. Now, Kyle Lowry plays the role of talented but oft-injured point guard for the Toronto Raptors. It’s a shame that the guy can’t seem to get his body right. The Raptors are on the cusp of something, here: they played the Spurs really close on Sunday, before falling in 2OT, 116-111. Seven of their 10 losses have come by less than 5 points, and they’ve already had two overtime games this season. One gets the sense that Lowry, who has averaged 18, 6.5 and 5.5 in seven games this season, would help this team get more consistent, and maybe get something out of Andrea Bargnani (who shot 2-19 in the Spurs game). But then again, the Raps are 1-6 when Lowry plays. So maybe I’m an idiot.
Wednesday: New York Knicks at Milwaukee Bucks (5:00 PM PST on League Pass)
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We’re bypassing James Harden’s return to Oklahoma City in favor of this matchup between two Eastern conference powerhouses. No, really! The Knicks are 9-3, first in the tough-as-nails Atlantic. The Bucks, meanwhile, are 6-5, and first in the pudgy-as-shit Central. One can’t really be convinced that Milwaukee’s for real; Monta Ellis is still doing his hero ball routine without much success, and for the second season in a row, Brandon Jennings is starting off hot (at least offensively). After that, it drops off pretty quick — Mike Dunleavy Jr., Larry Sanders and somebody named Tobias Harris are the next leading scorers — but the Bucks still have managed to win some tough games. They lead the league in pace, so they spend most of the game controlling the ball. Let’s see how they fare against the Knicks, who are currently sporting the second best defense in the league.
Thursday: Denver Nuggets at Golden State Warriors (7:30 PM PST on TNT)
By all means, catch the Spurs-Heat matchup at 5:00. It’s as likely of a Finals preview as anything, and it’ll likely be a great game. But heed my words, and catch the Nugs-Dubs game afterwards. Denver has won four straight (as of Sunday night), and Iggy is looking more comfortable in George Karl’s fast paced offense. Kenneth Faried has way more offensive skill than we expected (averaging 13 and 12, second in the bigs in boards, and seventh in FG%), and it’s generally interesting to see young, talented players buy into a system that plays to their strengths. The Warriors, meanwhile, are currently weathering the Bogut rehab storm, and learning a lot about themselves as they play their way to an 8-6 record. And Harrison Barnes. I love him. And that dunk. Better than a Mozgov? I think so.
Friday: Portland Trailblazers at Boston Celtics (7:30 PM PST on League Pass)
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It’s not that unusual for the Celtics to start out slow. It seems like the last few years, the C’s go through a prolonged period of mediocrity that prompts pundits to start issuing eulogies en masse. As of Sunday, the Celtics sit at 8-6, second in the Atlantic. Stats show the C’s are elite shooters, free throw shooters and passers at this point, and are below league average in almost every other meaningful stat. But here’s the thing: this has been the case almost every single season since 2008. The Celtics have never been great rebounders, and occasionally aren’t great free throw shooters. But each year, they’re excellent shooters (never below fifth), and that’s more than enough. That said, this is a completely new roster, and not everyone is sure about their particular role on the team yet. Watching the C’s figure it out is a pretty interesting process, and I do think that they will. They’ll match up well against the Blazers, who are just a good, harmless all-purpose watch.
Saturday: Memphis Grizzlies at San Antonio Spurs (5:30 PM PST on League Pass)
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It was the quasi-surprise upset of the Spurs in 2011 that launched the Grizzlies into our national consciousness, and now look at ‘em: they’re first in the West, look like they could win the conference, and finally healthy. The Spurs aren’t healthy, though. They’re missing Kawhi Leonard and Stephen Jackson for the next few weeks at least. The West is all about matchups; the Grizz proved this in 2011 when they overmatched the Spurs athletically and physically. With Jax and Kawhi gone, who’s going to guard Rudy Gay?
Sunday: Phoenix Suns at New York Knicks (9:00 AM PST on Fox)
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Usually I don’t take the Sunday matinee games seriously. The players all seem sort of hungover, and it takes awhile for the game to become watchable. But today, I laid in bed and recovered from a long night by watching the Spurs-Raps 2OT epic. It was awesome. If the Craptors (right where it hurts!) can force the Spurs to play 10 extra minutes of ball, we can reasonably hope that the Suns, aka Pistons West, can do the same with the Bockers.