Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics, the Utah Jazz and more have their efforts assessed
Tuesday 22 January 2019 16:36, UK
Every Tuesday, we'll look back over the previous week of NBA action and put five teams under the microscope as we grade their recent performances. Who will be hailed as high-achievers and who needs to do better?
This was the week the defending NBA champions finally became fully engaged with the regular season, reeling off four wins (and extending their current streak to seven straight victories while scoring an average of 131 points per game) to take top spot in the Western Conference.
What sharpened their focus? Firstly, a meeting with West rivals the Denver Nuggets. Secondly, the long-anticipated debut of summer signing DeMarcus Cousins.
The Nuggets have led the West for long periods of the season but were put firmly in their place by the visiting Warriors, who ended the contest early with a record-breaking 51-point first quarter as they rolled to a one-sided 142-111 victory. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson scored 31 points each, Kevin Durant added 27 and a re-energised Draymond Green recorded 13 assists.
On Friday night, Cousins took his Warriors bow, starting against the Los Angeles Clippers and scoring 14 points (kicked off by a monstrous dunk of a pick-and-roll) in 15 minutes in a 112-94 Golden State win.
Cousins' presence allows coach Steve Kerr to select a starting line-up featuring five All-Star players. Curry and co seem motivated by the challenge of adapting their style to accommodate the former Sacramento and New Orleans center.
The Warriors began week 15 with a bang, thrashing the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center to extend their winning streak to eight game.
Despite an injury crisis robbing them of all three of their point guards (Ricky Rubio, Dante Exum and Raul Neto), the Jazz recorded a perfect three wins in week 14, dispatching the Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers at home and overcoming the Los Angeles Clippers on the road.
Donovan Mitchell took the reins at point guard and led the way for Utah, rediscovering his offensive efficiency and pouring in 28, 28 and 24 points in the Jazz's three wins. Mitchell has been ably supported by Rudy Gobert who has recorded seven straight double-doubles, including an 18-point, 25-rebound performance against Detroit and a 23-point, 22-rebound effort against the Clippers.
With Gobert as the foundation, the Jazz have shored up their defense since the turn of the year and now rank third in the league with a defensive rating of 105.3 (points conceded per 100 possessions).
Last season, the Jazz were dominant in the second half of the campaign, powering their way into the playoffs. They will need Rubio and co back and firing as their schedule gets tougher over the next week, but the signs are there that they could be set for another strong second-half-of-the-season push.
Kyrie Irving's unique take on team leadership - including criticising team-mates publicly over their lack of experience despite them reaching last season's Eastern Conference finals without him - has ensured what Gennady Golovkin would call a "big drama show" has surrounded the Celtics for much of the season.
But whatever you think of Irving's public utterances, it is impossible not to be impressed by his clutch displays on the court. Inactive as Boston lost 109-102 in Brooklyn to start their week, Kyrie returned with 27, 38 and 32-point outings to lead 'Gang Green' to wins over the Toronto Raptors, Memphis Grizzlies and Atlanta Hawks.
Irving's fourth-quarter scoring was at the fore as he inspired an 11-0 late run to seal the win against the Raptors.
He came through in the clutch again - making three vital buckets down the stretch - as the Celtics resisted a late rally to beat the Grizzlies.
The Lakers are 5-9 since LeBron James went down with a groin injury on Christmas Day, but four of those wins have come in their last eight games, suggesting their young stars are learning how to step up in 'The King's' absence.
The Lakers lost a truly awful game in Cleveland 101-95 to kick off week 14 but the performances that followed gave their fans plenty of reasons for optimism.
Lonzo Ball top-scored with 19 points as the Lakers made hard work of beating the Chicago Bulls 107-100. Kyle Kuzma poured home 32 points to lead them to an impressive 138-128 overtime win over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Kuzma had 32 and Brandon Ingram added 21 as the shorthanded Lakers were again competitive but fell short in overtime to lose 138-134 against the Houston Rockets, for whom James Harden scored 48 points.
The Lakers lost Ball to a sprained ankle in that Rockets loss, and the point guard will be sidelined for 4-6 weeks. Having eventually proved they can compete without LeBron, the undermanned Lakers now need him to return as soon as possible. A thrashing at the hands of the Warriors to kick off week 15 has only compounded that sense of urgency.
The Eastern Conference feel-good story of the season continued apace in week 14 as the Nets reeled off three impressive wins - a 109-102 victory over the Boston Celtics, a 145-142 overtime triumph on the road in Houston and a narrow 117-115 'W' over the Orlando Magic - to rise above .500 and into sixth place in the East.
Spencer Dinwiddie's contributions off the bench have paced the Nets on winning streaks earlier this season and he was at it again in Houston, scoring 33 points and handing out 10 assists to lead Brooklyn to a memorable win.
Against Boston and Orlando, it was starting point guard D'Angelo Russell who came to the party, earning himself Eastern Conference Player of the Week honours in the process. The former Laker scored 34 points, including 18 in the third quarter, and made seven three-pointers in the victory over the Celtics. He was even better against the Magic, pouring in a season-high 40 points as Brooklyn erased a 21-point deficit to eke out the win.
Against the odds, and without their best player Caris LeVert, the Nets have won eight of their last 10 games and are in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff mix.
