Monday 28 October 2019 15:34, UK
Just as we did last season, every Monday we will look back over the previous week of NBA action and put five teams under the microscope as we grade their recent performances.
With the new NBA campaign just having got underway, Week 1 is now in the books and we look at which teams have got off to flying starts and which have stuttered out of the blocks.
Few more logical places to start than with a look at how the reigning NBA champions have done to start off the defence of their title.
Not many people expect Toronto to repeat their triumph given the departure of franchise star and Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard to the Clippers but the Raptors can be pleased with how they've started the new season.
They took care of business against the New Orleans Pelicans on the opening night after an emotional ceremony to present the title rings and unfurl the banner in the rafters of the ScotiaBank Arena.
Pascal Siakam, who has taken over the mantle of being the Raptors' main man following the departure of Leonard started off the season on fire, scoring 34 and 33 points respectively in his opening two outings. That's a very encouraging sign for the team.
The fact the second of these performances came in a 112-106 defeat to the Boston Celtics at the TD Garden does not in any way diminish it.
Boston is expected to enjoy a resurgent year with the locker room and their roster itself now looking more in harmony after the team moved Kyrie Irving on so Toronto's loss in that one was not a major blow, especially given the ease with which they dispatched the Chicago Bulls on the wrong end of a back-to-back on Saturday.
Only two Bulls managed to score in double figures in that one as the team as a whole was limited to just 84 points, suggesting that the Raptors defensive intensity remains undiminished.
The chances of another title may be limited but Toronto still looks set to have a good season and should comfortably make the playoffs if they continue to perform at the same level they have in the opening week.
The Golden State Warriors, vanquished by the Raptors in six games in last year's NBA Finals, have had a disastrous start to the new campaign.
It was hoped that the loss of Kevin Durant to the Brooklyn Nets and Klay Thompson through injury would be somewhat mitigated by picking up D'Angelo Russell and the fact Stephen Curry and Draymond Green are still there as experienced anchors for a much-changed young roster.
The early signs, though, are not good. Much has been made of what the Dubs have lost offensively, but it's their failure to key in defensively which has seen them trounced in both their opening games of the season.
Good defense was a hallmark of all of Steve Kerr's championship teams but a 141-122 defeat by the LA Clippers in their first ever game at their state-of-the-art new home, the Chase Center, was followed by a 120-92 defeat at the Oklahoma City Thunder last night.
The latter of these results is particularly notable as OKC traded away Paul George and Russell Westbrook and has just entered a full-scale rebuild, so for the Warriors to be so porous defensively once again is troubling for the team.
"I don't think we even know what good defense is at this point," said Green after the game and it's hard to argue.
In terms of defending their Western Conference title, or even making the playoffs, the signs don't look good either. Russell was limited to just six points and two assists in 22 minutes on court against the Thunder.
There has to be an immediate improvement from Golden State because, if they continue in this vein, the perennial contenders of the last few years will even not be playing postseason basketball.
Nobody expected too much from the Minnesota Timberwolves to start the season but Ryan Saunders has adjusted the style since he was made permanent coach in the summer after a successful interim period.
His heavily analytics-based approach now has the team playing quicker and shooting more threes and, despite no marquee roster additions during the summer, the results have been superb.
The Wolves have won their opening three games of the season to match the second-best start in franchise history (they were 6-0 in 2001-02 and 3-0 in 2013-14).
Perhaps even more impressively, the Wolves have trailed in all three games and have shown the resolve to come back and take the win.
But maybe most impressive of all is that Andrew Wiggins, the first pick in the 2014 draft and long-declared a bust despite still only being 24 years old, has produced clutch contributions in two of them.
Saunders has declared himself as "in Wiggins' corner" and perhaps his new style he's imprinting on the team could be the key to unlocking the Canadian's undoubted potential.
Wiggins made key baskets during overtime as the Timberwolves squeaked past the Brooklyn Nets 127-126 in their season opener and then made four three-pointers and scored 16 of his 25 points in the final six minutes against the Miami Heat last night.
In the other win, against the Charlotte Hornets, members of the Timberwolves presented their head coach with a game ball and the assistant coaches gave him a large sheet cake to help honour the memory of his father, Flip Saunders, who died four years earlier. No doubt he'd be proud of the start his son has made since being installed as permanent coach.
Last season, the rapid-fire style of the Sacramento Kings made them one of the league's most entertaining teams to watch and, although their playoff drought stretched to 13 straight seasons, the progress was tangible as their young team finished 39-43 and looked primed for having a real good push towards the playoffs this season.
So, to start the new season with three consecutive defeats by double digits must have sapped much of the enthusiasm and confidence of the Kings' young group.
A surprising 29-point loss in Phoenix against the Suns and a 32-point loss against the Utah Jazz were sandwiched either side of their only home game to date against the Portland Trail Blazers, which was lost 122-112.
The injury to Marvin Bagley III has certainly been a factor but the sheer margin of these losses will be worrying to the staff and Luke Walton must be very disappointed at how his tenure in Sacramento has begun after he was hired, somewhat controversially, to replace David Joerger.
The stacked Western Conference will be hard to get out of this year and unless there is a drastic turnaround, it looks like the Kings' seemingly endless playoff wait will continue.
The Philadelphia 76ers are among the favourites to win the Eastern Conference this year and in their opening two games, Brett Brown's team have looked every inch like contenders.
Philly have the strongest starting five in the league and they all scored in double figures in the impressive 107-93 win over the Boston Celtics which opened their season.
The new duo within that quintet, Al Horford and Josh Richardson, both looked settled within Brown's schemes and that is potentially ominous for the rest of the league, definitely the rest of the teams in the East.
The Sixers then probably struggled more than they should've (hence the minus) in Detroit against the Pistons but prevailed without Joel Embiid, which was important as their depth is lacking slightly due to the strength of that starting five.
Rookie Matisse Thybulle is a superb defender, winning defensive player of the year honours twice in college, and certainly adds to the length and versatility on that end of the floor for the Sixers.
Nobody will be getting carried away with just a couple of victories to open the season but it's a good way to start and a number of signs exhibited in the opening two games, particularly how well the roster fits and the fact the bench players are contributing on both ends already, seem to bode well moving forward.
