NBA Week in Review: Who’s Rising, Falling Fast And Notes From Week 1
This past week saw a number of players separate themselves from the pack as elite playmakers, rebounders, and scoring options for their teams. On the other hand, some players appeared to be unprepared for the opening of the NBA season. Here’s a list of some of the best and worst individual performances from this first week of NBA action.
Players in Mid-Season Form:
Steph Curry: Let’s face facts…this man is incredible at what he does. And what he does is shoot the basketball. Many analysts have time and again declared that Curry is the greatest shooter in the history of the NBA. For quite some time I was hesitant to jump on that bandwagon, siting guys like Larry Bird and Ray Allen because of their longevity and career statistics.
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After what he’s been able to do in the early goings though, I have officially been swayed. Chef Curry is cooking up something special for this year’s Warriors campaign, and this week’s dominant string of outings appear to have just been an appetizer for the basketball world to sample.
Russell Westbrook/Kevin Durant: The Oklahoma City Thunder have the best issue in the NBA. They have a pair of superstar talents who have proven time and again that they can lead and carry a team to greatness. They stroll down the court on a nightly basis and essentially take turns launching up shots and thrown down dunks at high volumes. And the crazy part is that it works.
Westbrook is averaging a hair over 30 points per game, while KD doesn’t sit too far behind at 29 points a contest. It’s become a friendly game of one-upmanship between the teammates, and the scary part is the basketball world knows that these two can do this for incredibly long stretches at a time.
Blake Griffin: The Los Angeles Clippers have been blessed this season with talent in bulk, and a fairly easy schedule in their first week of action. They’ve hit the ground running and appear to be as hungry as ever to unseat the Warriors atop the Western Conference throne.
Griffin has emerged as a premier talent, who has developed the ability to create his own shot, and most of the time he doesn’t have to with Chris Paul bringing the ball up the court. Griffin is out to a fast start this year offensively and has been the front court star that the Clippers need him to be for them to claim a top spot out West.
Lebron James: Much was made of the plans for LeBron James to take a reduced role this season with the return of Kevin Love and eventually Kyrie Irving. If this is a toned down LeBron, I’m perfectly okay with what he’s doing on the court. He remains an efficient, nightly triple-double threat and he’s scoring more than 20 points a game. The Cavs are the favorites in the East, and LeBron playing like this alongside a healthy Irving and Love, means bad news for the rest of the league.
Next: Struggling Players