This is why we love the NBA, am I right?
After last night’s loss against Miami, the 76ers have now dropped to 2-11 while the Cavs continued their unbeaten streak to 15 games, beating the Hornets Sunday. While we can definitely make the meta-world argument that everything seems upside down in some manner or form since the Harambe incident (experts have said), I firmly believe that we are currently living the peakest of peak-NBA seasons in a while.
First up, Philly is doing very Philly like things. They say trust the process? Homey, I’ve been trusting the process for almost a decade simply because of the quality of content provided. It’s not a simple question, for sure (and we’ll add fantasy content to tie it all in together) but in your leagues and in real basketball, who would you want on your team right now; James Harden or Paul George?
Just from a pure standpoint of this season, the answer would seem to be Harden (his terrible efficiency but great at everything else aside) over George and I don’t think it’s close now or will be later. And when you really think about it, both with the fantasy lens and the actual league, when has Paul George ever been a better player than James Harden? Just a thought I had and perhaps one that Daryl Morey didn’t…?
Do I think this continues for the Sixers? I mean, I want it to just for the entertainment value, but no, I think they are an okay team with a center that isn’t ready to play NBA minutes and a pivotal point guard on the mend.
On the bright side, Sixers’ rookie Jared McCain is averaging 19.8 PPG on 48/43/100 shooting in November. And on the funnier side, he has more 20 point games this season than the aforementioned Paul George and Joel Embiid, ahem, combined.
On the flipside, you have the Cleveland Cavaliers going where literally no NBA team has gone before. While the always more impressive feat for me are the Cavs actually arriving the arena on time (I’ve heard Cleveland lacks paved roads), what seems to be catching the news nowadays is the fact that they’ve now built double-digit leads over four teams and outside of the Celtics, no one is within 6.5 games.
While you could simply say that the East is pretty bad and a good team is feasting (not a bad argument), this is still a historic start and what Darius Garland has done in this stretch and most recently (scoring 109 points in two games, topping Kobe Bryant) is nothing short of awesome.
All this to say, maybe check out the Celtics/Cavs tonight? Should be a doozy.
Here are some other things I’ve opined upon:
Speaking of Harden and inefficient but awesome everywhere else, check out his statline from last night – 12 PTS, 6 REBS, 16 ASTS, 2 STLS, 2 BLKS on 4-15 FG, 2-6 3PT and 2-2 FT in 41 minutes. Crazy.
Franz Wagner went 32/5/8 on 12/24 and 4-8 3PT in a win against the Suns. The Paolo absence hurts, so the six game win streak seems shaky which seems to be a testament to their defense and Franz doing stuff like this.
Trae Young had 19 ASTS in 35 minutes last night, that was pretty crazy. Hallliburton is still struggling too, 5/19 shooting with just 16 points.
And I’ll just say, Kevin Durant was really having an MVP-type-of-year and it shows even more with him off the court. Before his injury, the Suns were 8-1. Since then? 1-5.
Jay is a longtime Razzball everything who consumes an egregious amount of Makers Mark as a vehicle to gain wisdom and augment his natural glow. Living in the DC area, he also likes spending time visiting the local parks and feeding lettuce to any turtles he encounters, including Mitch McConnell.
