NFL
By: Stephen Garner
Welcome to Friday Five’s, happy holidays to you and yours first and foremost!
We’re now six weeks into the NBAs 75th season.
Tiers are beginning to carve themselves out amongst the league, as we’re now more able to accurately gauge which exactly matchups can be deemed big-time pertaining to early successes as well as level of play.
The NBAs scheduling has been on point in terms of providing that early, and this weekend is a big example of that. Here are my five games to watch for this weekend 👀.
1.) Suns @ Nets Saturday, 6:30 pm EST on NBA TV
The Suns will either come in on a 15-game win-streak or hungry to regroup on the second night of a New York back-to-back with the Knicks and Nets.
They come into the weekend 7-1 on the road and humming at as high a frequency as a team can, amassing more wins amidst this win streak than 90% of the league has on the season.
The Nets are quietly 6-1 over the last two weeks and are averaging 116.8 PPG. Kevin Durant is still off to a career-best start and James Harden has awakened.
Over this seven-game stretch, Hardens has seen two 30+ point outings and has found his way back to the free-throw line with consistency too, with four double-digit nights from the stripe.
He’s averaging 26.1 PPG, 9.9 APG, 6.9 RPG, 2.0 SPG.
This will be as Marquee of a matchup as we see, with both teams ranking top-10 in offensive and defensive efficiency on the season.
2.) Heat @ Bulls Saturday, 7pm on NBA LP
An old rivalry resurfaces, this time with a familiar face returning to his first NBA home as Jimmy Butler and the Heat square off with the Bulls.
Butler and the Heat come in with a 12-7 record with the leagues 5th best defense and 8th best offense.
The Bulls present the highest-scoring duo in the league with LaVine (26.1 PPG) and DeRozan (25.8) tandem pyrotechnics.
This game will be fun in terms of big names, but the ancillary names like Herro, Caruso, Tucker, Ball will be the players to watch here. Three of those four names are on the radar for all-defensive team selections, while the former in Herro is in the running for Sixth Man of the Year as well as Most Improved.
Defections and loose ball recoveries will be aplenty here as both teams get after it from the point of attack as well as in the passing lanes, then ay in transition with top third frequency.
3.) Wizards @ Mavericks Saturday, 7:30 NBA LP
Very quietly the Wizards continue to impress. They won a big back-end of a home-and-home series with the Heat on Saturday in comeback fashion and continue to play a solid brand of basketball.
Key match-up: Deni Avdija will likely be assigned the Doncic responsibility for good stretches of the game. The latters name speaks for itself so you don’t need me to know what he brings, the former, however, is enjoying an all-defensive team level of success on the less glamorous end.
Opponents are shooting 34.9% when guarded by Deni Avdija, the lowest mark in the league by any player with 150+ shots defended.
That’s 9.1% lower than the opponent’s normal FG%, also the best mark in the league.
The Wizards have the 5th best defensive rating in the NBA.
— StatMuse (@statmuse) November 24, 2021
The 6’9 stalwart has opponents shooting 5.1% worse at the rim, -2.9% worse from the mid-range, and -3.2% worse from 3 when he’s in the floor.
Team defense for the Wizards is where they’ve carved an identity however, with a leagues sixth-best allowing just 105.2 PPG (best eFG% allowed of 49.0) running teams off the 3-point line effectively, and stopping them consistently (allowing just a 32.5% clip against).
4.) Timberwolves @ Hornets Friday, 6pm NBA LP
The Hornets get a lot of shine for being the youthful team primed for a bright future behind LaMelo Ball, but the runner-up for ROTY in Anthony Edwards has been unbelievable amidst the Wolves 5-game win streak averaging 22.6 PPG on 48.9% from the field and 43.8% from the deep.
5.) Hawks @ Grizzlies, 7pm NBA LP
This one here screams exuberance and highlight-worthy play. Young, Collins and Capela travel to Memphis for a showdown with Ja, Jackson, Jr, & company for what’s sure to be extremely entertaining as both continue their climb upward 👀.
That’s a wrap for this week’s Friday Five’s, enjoy the weekends games and be on the lookout for the entities I wrote words on to unfold.
