November 4, 2023 Games

Not summarizing every game today, instead just my top 3 highlights from today.

Lebron: The +/- (plus-minus) stat is in simple terms: an indicator of how impactful a specific player was when they were on the floor vs. on the bench. Typically, if a person has "+" (positive) followed by a number (i.e., +10) that means they were more impactful toward the game and their team when they were playing vs when they were on the bench. The team was good when this person was playing, and the team was bad when he was on the bench. Vice versa for the "-" (minus).

Lebron James was a +12 in a game that the Lakers lost by 19 points. Meaning the Lakers gave up 31 points when Lebron was on the bench. That is an embarrassment for the rest of the team, it has seemed like Lebron has been the only one that has been trying to win games for the Lakers. There have been a few glaring issues with the Lakers to start this season, and a lot of it boils down to effort. In the periods when they looked like a championship team, they were able to out-effort their opponents.

The Celtics: They continue to impress. They are the only undefeated team remaining in the whole league to start the season with a record of 5-0 after yesterday’s 124- 114 victory over the Brooklyn Nets. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have been impressive to start the season, with Jayson averaging 30 points so far and Jaylen averaging 23. Their new additions of Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday have been great as well, it feels like it was a match made in heaven for them. They provide defensive abilities and hustle (mostly Jrue), combined with offensive firepower to add to the team that was missing before. Their biggest area for improvement as we go through the season will be consistency, all of the players above have shown their ability to go ice-cold for games at a time, even months. The Celtics are heavily reliant upon their top 6 players so if either of them are injured or just start to suck, then they’ll have to find out how to cover those holes, as their bench still has to prove they can hold it down themselves.

The Hawks?: They’ve won four in a row after losing their first two games (they beat the Pelicans today 123 - 105). Are they showing that they’re a serious team? The duo of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray have been playing great over this 4 game stretch with Trae averaging 23 points and Dejounte averaging 25 points. One issue with Trae however, and has been an issue last season and so far this season, is his shooting percentages. I love how the role players have been contributing as well these past few games, mainly Jalen Johnson and DeAndre Hunter who have been giving effort which has translated to their wins. Let’s see if this is a fluke of a run or if they’ll end up being serious contenders. They’ll need to maintain their defense and take care of the ball.