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A pro tip for your upcoming Thanksgiving meals: If you control the gravy, you control the entire night.
Might-be Good Meter!
Is it time to believe in these four teams?
We’re a little over a month into the season, and we have a pretty good idea of who the contenders are. We know who the bad teams are. But are there solid-to-good teams that might be good enough to truly worry about when we get to the postseason? Yes, that’s a long time away from now, but these teams are worthy of your attention and fear now! We’ve decided to debut the Maybe Good Meter, a.k.a. the MGM for short.
The MGM is a hyper-sensitive, super sophisticated rating system (emoji scale of 1-5) to let you know if this team needs to be taken seriously for the rest of the season.
Rockets (12-6) | 15th offense | 2nd defense | 4th net rating
Houston was the inspiration behind the creation of the MGM. The Rockets are incredibly impressive to start the season. They have an elite defense, a solid offense and a budding star in 22-year-old Alperen Şengün. They struggle to make shots but corral their own misses as well as anybody. The Rockets don’t just beat up on bad teams either. They’re 7-3 against non-losing teams, and eight of their 12 wins are by double digits. Don’t sleep on the Rockets. They’re the real deal. MGM: 🚀🚀🚀🚀
Magic (12-7) | 25th offense | 3rd defense | 9th net rating
Many of us believed the Magic would struggle to stay afloat without Paolo Banchero for roughly a month. And it looked that way right after the injury as the Magic lost four straight without him. Since then, the Magic have been carried by great defense and Franz Wagner’s ascension right before our eyes. Their record is boosted by being 9-2 against losing teams, but we’re not going to hold that against them when they’re missing Banchero. It would be great if they scored semi-efficiently though. MGM: 🪄🪄🪄🪄
Clippers (11-8) | 22nd (tied) offense | 5th defense | 11th net rating
This doesn’t look quite as good after the Clippers got destroyed by the Celtics last night (see below), but the MGM is not swung by one game. It’s too scientific! I won’t be fooled into talking about this team “when Kawhi Leonard is healthy.” This team without him is so good defensively, and it has a bevy of role players to wear you down. Ty Lue won’t get them to contending status without Leonard, but not many teams want to face the Clippers. MGM: 🚢🚢🚢
Grizzlies (11-7) | 5th offense | 6th defense | 6th net rating
Now that Ja Morant is back, it’s time to take the Grizzlies seriously again. They went 5-3 in this latest stint without Morant in the lineup, and we’ve seen some real development with role players like Scotty Pippen Jr, Jaylen Wells and Jake LaRavia. Memphis is one of five teams top-10 in both offense and defense. They’re one of two teams ranked top-six in both. MGM: 🐻🐻🐻
Yep, no hot takes on any of those four. The name of the meter has the word “Maybe” in it, after all.
The Last 24
Star returns: KD Beal, Kristaps and Ja are back!
🏀 Kristaps Porziņģis is back. He made his season debut in the Celtics’ win over the Clippers. He had 16 points in 23 minutes.
🏀 Law Murray has you covered with the latest edition of NBA Power Rankings! He even gave thanks for each team.
🐂 Is it Matas Buzelis time? The Bulls rookie is showing a glimpse of the future in Chicago. There’s something here.
💸 FVV gets fined. Fred VanVleet of the Rockets was fined $50,000 for saying some bad things to the referees the other night.
📚 Read John Hollinger’s story about GOATs Points as “The Basketball 100” is released for purchase today!
📺 Don’t miss this game tonight. Bucks (8-9) at Heat (7-7), 7:30 p.m. on TNT. This is a must-win game for Miami if it wants to win its NBA Cup group.
📺 NBA Cup group clincher? Rockets (12-6) at Timberwolves (8-8), 8 p.m. on League Pass. The Rockets clinch the group with a win.
📺 Stay undefeated? Lakers (10-6) at Suns (9-7), 10 p.m. on TNT. The Lakers have never lost an In-Season Tournament game. Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal are back for Phoenix.
Rank ‘Em!
Top three, middle three, bottom three
It’s Tuesday! That means we’re back trying to figure out where everybody in the league may fall in the hierarchy of good and bad. But we don’t have time to rank all 30 teams, so we’re going to keep up the revolutionary Top-Three, Middle-Three, Bottom-Three ranking system. We’ll tell you teams 1-3, 14-16 and 28-30. Some say it’s harder than ranking all 30! I am some! For what it’s worth, the MGM squads are all probably between the top and middle teams.
Top three: Celtics (15-3), Thunder (13-4), Cavaliers (17-1)
This feels pretty set right now, although the Thunder have a great case for being included. The Celtics continue to show us they’re the best team in basketball. The Thunder are thriving without Chet Holmgren thanks to Isaiah Hartenstein being back. Just wait until Holmgren is healthy again. And the Cavs are in a historic space that tells us we shouldn’t be surprised if they end up in the NBA Finals. And they’re not even fully healthy yet.
Middle three: Bucks (8-9), Mavericks (10-8), Timberwolves (8-8)
We know these teams are capable of being more. The Bucks are still hoping Khris Middleton makes them look like a contender, but Giannis Antetokounmpo’s production has brought them to a much more competitive space lately. The Wolves are still trying to figure out what their dynamic is with Julius Randle in the mix. The Mavs need Luka Dončić to be healthy and in shape, but you can see the structure of another deep playoff run.
Bottom three: Jazz (4-12), Pelicans (4-14), Wizards (2-13)
We know why the Jazz and Wizards are bad. Washington has only beaten the Hawks (twice!), and the Jazz aren’t competent enough to be better on either side of the court. The Pelicans are still just suffering through massive injuries. As guys start to come back to health, others seem to sit. They’re signing guys from past media guides to get a full rotation. New Orleans desperately needs to hit the reset button. This wasn’t supposed to go like this.
About Last Night
OG Anunoby just dismantled Denver
Knicks 145 (10-7), Nuggets 118 (9-7): What a ridiculous stat line throughout this Knicks blowout victory in Denver. Karl-Anthony Towns had 30 points, 15 rebounds, four assists and three steals against Nikola Jokić (a modest 22-7-7). Jalen Brunson had 23 points, 17 assists and just two turnovers. And it all pales in comparison to OG Anunoby, who dropped 40 points on 16-of-23 shooting. I know it says he missed shots and had a turnover. He had a perfect game and completely dominated everything Denver tried to do. New York’s offense is serious.
Thunder 130 (13-4), Kings 109 (8-10): The Kings are finally healthy with Malik Monk back in the picture, but it didn’t matter against this Thunder juggernaut. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was dastardly, dropping 37 points and 11 assists on the Kings, who just couldn’t do anything to slow him down. OKC outscored the Kings by 20 in the second half to cruise to victory in the fourth.
Magic 95 (12-7), Hornets 84 (6-11): The Orlando broadcast called the 18-point first quarter by the Magic “forgettable.” If that’s the case, then the Hornets will want those final two quarters to be expunged from the record. Orlando’s defense held Charlotte to 38 total second-half points, as the Magic scored 37 in the fourth to come back and win behind 53 bench points. They survived LaMelo’s 44 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Ball and Brandon Miller combined for 64 of Charlotte’s 84 points.
Celtics 126 (15-3), Clippers 94 (11-8): The Clippers have been shutting everybody down on defense. The Celtics showed them that things get a little different when you come to Boston. The defending champions had a 51-point second quarter in which they hit more 3-pointers (12) than the Clippers made total shots (11). Payton Pritchard and Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with 20 points. There are 53 50-point quarters in NBA history. A dozen have happened since April of 2021.
Pacers 114 (8-10), Pelicans 110 (4-14): Perhaps the Bounce Stock Report has revived Tyrese Haliburton! The Pacers point guard had 34 points, hit nine 3-pointers, dished 13 assists, collected three steals and turned it over just twice in Indiana’s win. But that’s not the crazy part of this game. Elfrid Payton, who was out of the league for two-plus years before New Orleans needed bodies last week, had 21 assists. His previous career-high was 16 set back in 2019.
Pistons 102 (8-11), Raptors 100 (4-14): Remember when Monty Williams had Jaden Ivey backing up Killian Hayes last year? Well, J.B. Bickerstaff would never. The Pistons had to get past 31 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists by Scottie Barnes. They did that with Ivey’s 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting, eight assists, five rebounds and one game-winner. Look at this tough buzzer-beater.
Nets 128 (8-10), Warriors 120 (12-5): The Warriors knocked down 19 3-pointers in this one and were up 18 in the third quarter, so you probably wonder how the Nets were able to beat them at the Chase Center. Brooklyn knocked down 20 3-pointers with seven different players hitting multiple threes. Dennis Schröder and Cam Thomas combined for 50 points.
Mavs 129 (10-8), Hawks 119 (7-11): The Hawks had 76 points in the paint, shredding the Mavs’ defense so many times throughout the night. And it didn’t matter because Kyrie Irving had 16 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter, Spencer Dinwiddie had 22 points off the bench and Jaden Hardy had 23 points. Dallas outscored Atlanta 68-52 in the second half.
Grizzlies 123 (11-7), Blazers 98 (7-11): Ja Morant returned from his hip injury to lead the Grizzlies with 22 points and 11 assists in just 23 minutes. The Grizzlies were plus-22 with him on the floor. Memphis is 6-3 when he plays this season.
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(Top photo: Carmen Mandato / Getty Images )
