The NBA is back and fans are being treated to playoff-intensity basketball right out of the gate.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder put the league on notice with two statement victories over their biggest West rivals in the San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets.
The new-look Philadelphia 76ers spoiled ring night for the defending champions and showed a lot of fight in erasing a 29-point deficit and winning against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The 60-win Detroit Pistons played with tenacity and pieced together a 23-0 run against the Boston Celtics to start their season with a win.
With so many new faces in different places and anti-tanking rules incentivizing lottery teams to chase wins, each slate offers plenty of intrigue - especially early on.
Through three days, here are some of my instant reactions.
New LeBron super team has loaded
To quote my Basketball Island podmate, Michael Hamarneh, “Philly just has problem solvers.”
Watching their first two games, the Sixers’ basketball IQ jumps off the screen; I can see them ending this season with the best clutch time record come April.
Each starter can be a 1-on-1 advantage in the halfcourt; VJ Edgecombe is easily the best fifth man in the NBA.
One of the ways they’ll continue making life easier is hunting transition opportunities more often.
They’ve opened the year scoring a whopping 1.92 points per possession off of steals, as per Cleaning the Glass.
LeBron James has always been dominant on the fast break and now gets partnered with the fastest backcourt in the league – Edgecombe and Tyrese Maxey.
But ahead of this season, the ‘one ball’ dilemma was a common question being asked of this 76ers squad - how are all these superstar egos going to mesh? Who will be willing to sacrifice touches?
From a betting and fantasy standpoint, question marks hovered over each player’s individual scoring volume.
Through the first two games, it seems clear that Maxey will be the one insulated.
His point prop on Opening Night was 21.5 points, and he cleared that easily with 28, then followed it up with 32 points in the team’s comeback win over Cleveland.
There was so much noise about LeBron shifting into a point guard role and leading the league in assists.
Early returns would suggest that Maxey will be the one driving the bus on offence.
He owns the highest usage rate so far, is one assist behind LeBron, and was consistently in control of the offence during clutch time.
While I believe the concerns about one ball in the halfcourt remain valid, Maxey’s breakout ability in transition is what raises his floor.
He’s already logged 22 points on the fast break, yet Philly as a team sits sixth. There’s more room to exploit transition opportunities going forward.
Until Maxey’s scoring prop gets priced out of range, I’d keep buying low on his points.
The Pick: Tyrese Maxey over points
OKC is closed for business
The Thunder look like they’re playing with a vengeance and their defence might somehow be better than it was last season.
The loss of former First-Team All-Defensive player Lu Dort, who joined the Atlanta Hawks in free agency, was a major storyline in the offseason.
The Thunder felt compelled to shed salary and opted not to extend Dort, taking them into the second apron.
Few teams could fill the hole left behind by their number one wing-stopper, but the Thunder are proving they have the depth to remain the NBA’s top defence.
The fact that they held both San Antonio and Denver to under 100 points per possession this week should concern all 27 other teams. Those are two of the very best offences in the league.
They achieved this by suffocating both teams at the rim, holding them to 59.3 per cent (19th percentile) and 50.0 per cent (first percentile).
If they could contain Victor Wembanyama to a 1-for-13 shooting night and Nikola Jokic to a 5-for-19 one, good luck to any other centres in NBA.
Chet Holmgren looked very agile and active to start the year. The 12th-overall pick in this year’s draft, Aday Mara, who stands at 7-foot-3, looks ready to be an immediate impact defender, giving the Thunder a deep four-man centre rotation.
Looking ahead, I would circle Brook Lopez, Isaiah Jackson or Khaman Maluach as centres to go after and hunt their unders.
The Pick: Unders on opposing bigs vs. OKC
Showtime begins in Los Angeles
In their first game of the season, the Lakers looked dangerous, with a newly-built roster designed around Luka Doncic’s strengths after James departed over the offseason.
One of their key offseason acquisitions was former Utah Jazz centre Walker Kessler.
He looked like a perfect fit alongside Doncic on Opening Night.
Kessler didn’t miss a shot, which is no small feat when lining up against former Defensive Player of the Year Draymond Green.
On Friday, the Lakers play their cross-town rivals, the LA Clippers, who also start the year without a franchise icon after Kawhi Leonard was dealt to the Toronto Raptors.
The Clippers got off on the right foot, beating up on the lowly Sacramento Kings, but face a much different test against the Lakers.
Domantas Sabonis went perfect from the field for the Kings in the opener but only took five total shots.
He finished with a 14-point, 18-rebound double-double; Kessler might end up having a similar night.
Isaiah Jackson has never profiled as a reliable 1-on-1 rim protector while backup big, Brook Lopez, is on his last legs in his age-38 season.
With Doncic and Austin Reaves around to feed him lobs, I love Kessler in this spot.
The Pick: Walker Kessler to record a double-double, -120
Raptors running in back
If the expectations weren’t high enough entering the season, they are now after Toronto’s opening-night performance.
The game line closed at -10.5 on Wednesday, and the Raptors ended up trouncing the Bulls by 43 points - the largest Opening-Night win in franchise history.
It got so out of the hand, no starter logged more than 30 minutes.
In blowouts like that, it’s very hard to cash your overs. Some extrapolation will be required to get a sense of where their lines should sit.
One player I expect to keep rolling Friday is Collin Murray-Boyles.
I was all over his rebounding line when FanDuel first listed him at 5.5, +110.
At the time of writing, the same prop for CMB is priced at -146.
Up against Washington on the road tonight, I’m counting on the game to have more competitive balance. If that’s the case, expect him to get 30-50 per cent more playing time.
It’s never easy to cash props when a guy logs just 20 minutes.
With Washington’s frontcourt, CMB’s paint presence will be required on both ends.
He led the Raptors in rebounding on Opening Night and faces a Wizards team that plays at a similar pace to Chicago.
CMB continues to be a player I’m targeting in the early going.
The Pick: Collin Murray-Boyles over 6.5 rebounds, +124