Last week: Won at Memphis 107-100, beat Golden State 129-112, won at Chicago 117-94
This week: Monday at New Orleans, Wednesday vs. Clippers, Friday vs. Indiana, Saturday at Minnesota
The Houston Rockets righted the ship a bit last week with a 3-0 run that included convincing wins over struggling Golden State and inconsistent Chicago.
James Harden was part of that big week, finding his range from deep while averaging 40.7 points, 9.3 assists, 8.0 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 1.3 blocks in 36.1 minutes per game, shooting 43.6 percent overall and 43.1 percent on a whopping 17.0 3-point attempts per game. Before last week, Harden was shooting just 37.1 percent overall and 21.5 percent from deep.
His lowest-scoring game of the week may have just been his best, when he put up 36 points with 13 assists, three steals and three blocks in the win over the Warriors.
Houston’s defense even showed signs of life, moving up from dead last to 26th in the NBA in defensive effective field goal percentage, getting that number in non-garbage time minutes to 54.3 percent, per Cleaning the Glass.
Last week: Lost to Milwaukee 134-106, lost as Memphis 137-121, beat Golden State 125-119 (OT), lost to Denver 100-98 (OT)
Next week: Monday at Detroit, Wednesday vs. San Antonio, Friday vs. Washington, Saturday vs. Houston
The shine is all but gone from the 4-1 start by the Minnesota Timberwolves after a 1-3 week that included two losses at home and a blowout loss on the road to a two-win Memphis team.
Sunday’s overtime loss to Denver was a serious gut-wrencher. The Timberwolves held the Nuggets scoreless for more than seven minutes at the end of the fourth quarter and overtime, erasing a 16-point deficit, but went cold in the OT, going 4-for-11. Their 6-for-45 3-point shooting did not help matters.
Andrew Wiggins was solid last week, averaging 30.0 points, 4.5 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game, shooting 49.5 percent overall and 35.7 percent on 7.0 3-point tries per game. He hung 40 points in Minnesota’s overtime win over the Warriors and had three blocked shots, offsetting a rough 4-for-8 night at the foul line.
Last week: Beat Orlando 102-94, lost at San Antonio 121-112, beat Golden State 114-108, lost to Milwaukee 121-119
This week: Tuesday at Indiana, Friday vs. Philadelphia
The Oklahoma City were one up and one down all week long, treading water at 2-2 after Chris Paul‘s pull-up 3 in the final second was off the mark in Sunday’s loss at home to the Bucks.
But Paul is still playing pretty well for an older guy. The 34-year-old averaged 18.0 points, 6.3 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals in 31.3 minutes per game last week, shooting 37.1 percent overall and hitting 7-of-18 from 3-point range.
In a scheduling quirk, the Thunder have already wrapped up their home games against Golden State this season, picking up two wins. They visit the Warriors in San Francisco on Nov. 25 and return to the Bay Area on March 28.
Danilo Gallinari was a bright spot in the loss at San Antonio, scoring 27 points on 7-of-10 shooting, knocking down 5-of-6 from long range to go with five rebounds and two steals. Gallo is averaging 18.6 points per game on the season, shooting a nearly identical 43.8 percent overall and 43.7 percent on 7.1 3-balls per game.