Winners and losers from the NBA’s opening week in 2018-19

Winner: Blake Griffin

From a pure basketball, no fisticuffs perspective, the most entertaining game of the young season was Tuesday’s overtime thriller between the Pistons and 76ers. The star of the night was Griffin, who scored a career-high 50 points to go with 14 rebounds and six assists, and made the game-winning three-point play to improve Detroit’s record to 3-0.

Circumstances were aligned for Griffin to return to All-Star form this season, given a fresh start with a team bringing in a successful new coach and surrounding him with decent talent.

Early on, Griffin isn’t just looking like an All-Star; he’s looking like a legit MVP candidate. His 36.3 points per game ranks No. 1 in the league, and he’s hitting a blistering 53.3 percent from the field and 61.1 percent from 3-point territory. He’s also averaging 11.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists a night.

If you haven’t watched Griffin play much since his heyday with the Clippers — which is very possible given how much time he’s missed with injuries over the last four years — then you might be surprised at what you see from this version.

Griffin is no longer all about powering his way to the rim and dunking over everyone. He can still do that — just ask Joel Embiid — but Griffin has added the ball-handling and shooting range of a guard to become an almost unstoppable force when his jumper is falling.