NBA Season 2026-27

[Birdman]

OKC in big trouble this season.

[Goldstar88]

Massive game from Darius Acuff Jr. The Rookie PG finished with 34pts/14ast/6rebs. 13-26 from the field.

Clearly has a license to shoot. 37% overall and 22% from 3 on high volume isn't that efficient, but I suppose they have nobody else other than LaVine. Let him keep chucking then 

(click to enlarge)

His shooting numbers are not great thus far, but the fact that he was able to put up that stat line last night with good shooting was really impressive.

Acuff Jr with another monster game. Tonight he had 38pts/5rebs/5ast.  12-25 from the field and 9-14 from 3pt. 

Darius Acuff Jr. became the first teenager with nine threes, doing it against the Grizzlies.
HoopsMatic

[slightly biased bias fan]

OKC in big trouble this season.

I mean, any team would be too with their injury list. Williams, Holmgren, Wallace, Caruso, Sorber, Topic, are all out.

It would be the equivalent of the Celtics missing, George, White, Prichard, Queta, Walsh, Harper Jr.

[Who]

Interesting that Portland kept the small & fast backcourt strategy with Ja Morant out injured. They promoted Scoot Henderson into the starting lineup instead of Jrue Holiday. Kept Jrue in his 6th man role. Had Scoot push the pace.

----------

New Orleans with back to back wins using a new lineup. Dejounte Murray is out injured. So is Jordan Poole. So NOP abandoned their small backcourt and are back playing 3 forwards in Herb Jones, Trey Murphy and Zion Williamson. Y Missi also got injured. Surprisingly, it is not Derik Queen who got the the nod. He has stayed in his bench role. Instead it is a Karlo Matkovic who got the starting gig. 

Apparently it is his 3rd season with Pelicans. I had no idea who he was. Matkovic looks like a bigger Daniel Theis. An athletic big. Can play PF or C. Hustle big with a three point shot. Looks like he has given them a spark with his high energy high effort plays. Might be worth someone keeping an eye on.

-----------

Grizzlies perfect start to the season. 6 wins 0 losses.

-----------

LaMelo Ball with a strange start to the season. This is his 3rd game out 7 where he has played under 25mpg. 17min, 20min, 23min. His other four games are 28-31mpg. His minutes are low.

He has been in foul trouble almost every game for Minnesota. He fouled out last night in the 20min effort. He is averaging 4.3 fouls and 3.7 turnovers in only 25.1mpg. That is a huge amount of fouls and turnovers in such low minutes.

39% FG 34.5% 3PT 52% TS. So shooting badly as well.
14.4ppg 6.3apg

Minny 4 wins 3 losses.

[Who]

Hearing analysts saying Philly haven't played well offensively but are winning based on their defense. For early season offensive efficiency they are 23rd and 3rd in defensive efficiency.

Jaylen = 52.1% TS
LeBron = 51.5% TS
Embiid = 50.5% TS
Edgecombe = 48.2% TS

Maxey = 60.4% TS

Maxey the only one of their star players with good scoring efficiency.

[Who]

Brooklyn got their 1st win of the season yesterday against Indiana. That leaves Sacramento as the only team in the league with 0 wins thus far.

Teams with 1 win = LAC, Utah, PHO (only 4gms played) in the West + BKN, MIL, CHI in the East.

Utah and Phoenix are a surprise. Other than them, those are the teams you would expect to be at the bottom of the league come end of season. 

---------------

Indiana on a losing streak since Zubac got injured. They had 2 wins and 1 loss with Zubac in the lineup. They have lost 4 straight without Zubac. Jay Huff has been starting in his stead.

Hmm ... they have no 3rd string center. So no backup center while Zubac is out. A bunch of PFs. Jarace Walker, Kobe Brown, Obi Toppin (been injured, back shortly).

Bad roster construction.

So no rim protection / interior defense when Jay Huff is off the court and he is only playing about 18.5mpg in his 4 starts. So Indy playing most of the game (30mpg) with no rim protection. No wonder they are struggling to win games without Zubac.

Jay Huff has 1 block and 0 steals in 74 minutes in his last 4 games. Low numbers for a guy who normally blocks a good number of shots. He is only shooting 42.9% FG 30.9% 3PT (more than half his shots are 3s) 52.4% TS. So his lack of PT is likely due to bad play.

Ahh, looks like Haliburton has missed the last few games as well. Played the first 4. Missed the last 3. So his absence has coincided with Zubac's absence. I did not realize that. I figured they were just resting him the odd game here and there. So 2-2 with Hali and 0-3 without Hali. Or 0-3 without Hali & Zubac.

Hali's stats were impressive. 21.8ppg 9.5apg only 2.3 turnovers. Strong shooting stats with 51.6% FG 37% 3PT 63.4% TS. Good signs he has fully recovered from his injury. He is out with a hamstring strain but it is the other leg than the one he had the achilles tear on.

[Goldstar88]

Luka Doncic becomes first player in NBA history with 15 rebounds, eight threes and five steals in a game.

In 35 minutes of play, he finished with 45pts/15rebs/6ast/5stls. 12-23 from the field and 8-12 from 3pt. Ridiculous

[LilRip]

Hearing analysts saying Philly haven't played well offensively but are winning based on their defense. For early season offensive efficiency they are 23rd and 3rd in defensive efficiency.

Jaylen = 52.1% TS
LeBron = 51.5% TS
Embiid = 50.5% TS
Edgecombe = 48.2% TS

Maxey = 60.4% TS

Maxey the only one of their star players with good scoring efficiency.

I might come off as a hater but its funny how JB is probably the 4th most important player on that team. He went from 2nd to 4th.

[RodyTur10]

Hearing analysts saying Philly haven't played well offensively but are winning based on their defense. For early season offensive efficiency they are 23rd and 3rd in defensive efficiency.

Jaylen = 52.1% TS
LeBron = 51.5% TS
Embiid = 50.5% TS
Edgecombe = 48.2% TS

Maxey = 60.4% TS

Maxey the only one of their star players with good scoring efficiency.

I might come off as a hater but its funny how JB is probably the 4th most important player on that team. He went from 2nd to 4th.

Before Holiday and Porzingis were shipped off he was the 5th most important player for Boston. I'm sure he'll find a way to boost his numbers and try to look like he's the guy.

[SparzWizard]

OKC in big trouble this season.

Safe to say they'll be dropping out of the top 4 teams in the West. Those season-ending injuries and out indefinitely injuries are no joke.

[Goldstar88]

Luka Doncic is playing 36mpg and averaging 38pts/8rebs/7ast/2stls with 48/43/90 shooting splits. That is absolutely insane.

[snively]

Ty Jerome with his second 40 point game of the season as the Grizzlies lost their first to the Pelicans in OT.

Queen had a nice game for NO. Caused Edey major problems with his driving ability and toyed with the rookie Boozer. Reminds me a little of Andray Blatche.

[Phantom255x]

Luka Doncic is playing 36mpg and averaging 38pts/8rebs/7ast/2stls with 48/43/90 shooting splits. That is absolutely insane.

Easily the MVP right now. Lakers are very Luka-reliant though, I'd be curious to see how they do if he ever has to miss time

[RodyTur10]

Luka Doncic is playing 36mpg and averaging 38pts/8rebs/7ast/2stls with 48/43/90 shooting splits. That is absolutely insane.

Very good player. Mavs should never have let him go. Neither should the Suns and Kings have passed on him in the draft. They still pay the price for it.

[RMO]

Luka Doncic is playing 36mpg and averaging 38pts/8rebs/7ast/2stls with 48/43/90 shooting splits. That is absolutely insane.

Easily the MVP right now. Lakers are very Luka-reliant though, I'd be curious to see how they do if he ever has to miss time

I haven't watched them but noticed they've had a pretty easy schedule.  Their opponents are scoring a lot (though they're scoring more).  Luka definitely having an MVP season so far.  As a person who hates the lakers should I be concerned?