The Weekside: Steph and LeBron battle for NBA supremacy

It isn’t the 2015 NBA Finals, but Steph Curry and LeBron James are again battling for supremacy.

The Golden State Warriors star and reigning MVP has more than picked up where he left off, scoring at an insane rate of nearly a point per minute while leading the league at 31.9 points per game. He already has the two most prolific 3-point shooting seasons of all time, breaking the all-time record by hitting 272 triples in 2012-13 before shattering his own record last year with 286. And through 9 games this season, he is on pace to make 400.

While the world expects him to slow down from that rate (he has to, right?) if he managed to get to 400 in 82 games, that would give him a scoring average of 14.6 ppg — on 3-pointers alone.

Nobody can stop him whatsoever and he does anything he wants on a basketball court whenever he wants to do it. Worse still for defenders, he appears to feel slighted after a few comments from people in and around the league (Doc Rivers, namely) who seemed to suggest that the Warriors title run was aided by some injuries to star players on other teams.

On a normal day, the man is a maniac who defies reason. But he has been out to prove himself in a way that few title defenders and MVPs do the following year in October and November. Most coast a bit after an offseason spent reveling in the fact that they finally showed the world that they have mastered their craft.

But not Steph, who already has a 53-point game and a 40-point game this year to go along with three others of 30+ points. His team is 9-0, and even though we have seen it all before, it is astonishing. And even though we know exactly what he is capable of, it amazes all the more that he often looks like the smallest, weakest person on the court.

LeBron James is the exact opposite.

He always looks like the strongest, fastest, most-imposing player on the court. He has been a bit limited so far this year with a quad injury that threatened to keep him out of the opener. Despite this (and Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving not playing in a single game this year), Cleveland is 7-1 and looks poised to run away with the Eastern Conference, as everyone believed they would.

Until this week, however, LeBron was leading his team in a rather mundane way — for him. He has been putting up averages of 25 points, 7 boards, and 7 assists per game. Ho hum. Just another day at the office. But on Tuesday against the Utah Jazz, LeBron put on a master performance that showed that Curry might not yet be the league’s best.

He did it all in a way that no player, arguably ever, can.

The most LeBron-esque moment came when he stole the ball and headed for a breakaway, only to be bear-hugged by Rodney Hood. The second-year Jazz guard tried as much as he could to prevent James from getting off the shot but it didn’t matter. He just absorbed the contact and casually laid the ball in off the glass.

That wasn’t the end of his feats of strength. LeBron also ripped away rebounds from unsuspecting mortals — both on offense and defense — to get his team points. He made the type of drive-and-kick passes that guys his size should be incapable of. He scored effortlessly off the dribble as if the defender wasn’t there. He made a ferocious cut that turned a half-court possession into something that looked more like a fast break in a way that he and Dwyane Wade mastered. He even took a charge.

Then came the coup de grâce.

With under a minute to go and the Cavs up 2, LeBron took a high screen and raced to the paint. He didn’t use his muscle to score as he had been doing throughout the quarter. He just kept dribbling and threw up a running hook shot in a play reminiscent of Magic Johnson’s “Baby Sky Hook” that won the Lakers a title.

Here, he was ’87 Magic. While muscling Hood in the break, he looked like ’88 Barkley. In stealing away boards with strength, timing, and quickness, he looked like ’96 Rodman. Driving and kicking to Kevin Love, he was ’04 Nash. Blowing by defenders and finishing strong, he looked like ’05 Wade.

All those eras, all those skills, all ’15 LeBron.

Yes, it was just one win in early November. But LeBron scored or generated 26 of his team’s final 35 points while taking over a game — completely and without question on both ends of the floor — in a way that only one guy in the league can. It was the type of outing we saw against the Pistons in the 2007 playoffs or the Celtics in  2012.

He may be 30 now, and Steph Curry is indeed not of this earth.

But when LeBron goes off like this, he is still the best player in the league.

Around the Association

Boston Celtics

Days after Jae Crowder made a “shot” from over 94 feet away, Evan Turner hit this incredible, off-balance, one-handed heave — which also didn’t count. Devin Harris says what up, doe.

Cleveland Cavaliers

If J.R. Smith was part of the GOP debate this week, via The Cauldron.

Dallas Mavericks

Get that Jiffy Pop ready.

Denver Nuggets

Emmanuel Mudiay took over late in a win over Portland, looking much more like a seven-year vet than a rookie point guard playing in his seventh game. His coach saw it, too. With two minutes to go and his team up 3, he played perfect defense on two-time All-Star Damian Lillard, staying with him — and good thing because he had no backside help — and then swatting the bejesus out of Dame’s shot attempt.

Then, a minute later, with his team up 2, Mudiay kept the ball in his hands and went right at Lillard on the other end. He created a crazy amount of space by using both his strength and quickness before burying a fadeaway, off-balance jumper. The confidence was oozing off the 19-year-old on every play down the stretch, and few his age, at his position, make two plays like this in crunch time so early in their career. He might be special.

Houston Rockets

The Rockets lost to the Nets.

Indiana Pacers

Paul George in the last 4 games: 30.3 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 4.8 apg, 1.5 spg, 48.2% shooting (40-of-83), 44.8% 3-point shooting (13-of-29). Meanwhile, the Pacers have won five of their last six, only falling in a hard-fought loss to the Cavaliers on Sunday. I think it’s safe to say his leg is better.

Los Angeles Clippers

The Clippers are incredibly talented and that masks flaws. But one key problem last year was the bench, and coach Doc Rivers continuing to rely on his low-skilled reserves to play together without any of the team’s big three on the floor. Well, that tendency has become even more pronounced early on this year.

“Heading into Monday’s game against the Grizzlies, Doc Rivers was using lineups that didn’t include any of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, or DeAndre Jordan for 10.3 minutes a night, up front 8.1 per game last season,” noted Jared Dubin of The Cauldron. “Not only that, but those units’ collective offensive efficiency was down from 99.1 to 81.4, and their defensive efficiency was up from 104.7 to 107.4. That means their Net Rating in Paul/Griffin/Jordan-less minutes has dropped from an already dismal -5.6 all the way down to an abominable -25.6.”

Stop doing this, Doc.

Memphis Grizzlies

The Grizzlies started off the season 3-5 while scoring just 94.2 points per 100 possessions, worse than all but the NBA-teams-in-name-only that play in Philly and Brooklyn. So after a nail-biting Monday night loss to the Clippers, they traded for Mario Chalmers. Which should fix everything.

Miami Heat

When your facial expression perfectly matches your Beetlejuice haircut. Tyler Johnson was like Lucy with the football, leaving Marcelo Huertas on a sad Charlie Brown trip back home.

New Orleans Pelicans

Injuries can crush any team, and the Pelicans started the year off 0-6, and they possess what has been easily the league’s  defense. Their 1o.3 points per 100 possessions allowed is almost 4 worse than that 28th-ranked Kings. Life just isn’t fair and this happening to Anthony Davis is the bummer of the year so far.

New York Knicks

The Knicks have one of the most promising rookies in a freshman class full of them. The bright future of Kristaps Porzingis has already improved their long-term outlook considerably. So we need to get all the jokes in now before it’s too late. And for now, the Knicks remain the Knicks.

Oklahoma City Thunder

Dion Waiters will forever make no sense.

Portland Trail Blazers

The Blazers were supposed to be awful this year, but so far they have managed to be closer to middling, winning four of their first six games including decisive victories over Memphis and in Utah. Damian Lillard is top five in the league in scoring, at 28 ppg, which was expected but the team at large ranks 7th in points per possession, and that includes the aforementioned early-season matchups with the likes the Grizzlies and Jazz.

The major reason they are holding their own is C.J. McCollum, who started the year scoring 20.9 ppg on a 46.4% shooting while hitting 20 of his first 48 attempts (41.7%) from 3-point land. Chris Mannix of SI spoke with him and McCollum, a 24-year-old who played just 17 mpg last year, credits his improvement to a new diet and some offseason trainings with Steve Nash. “Last summer McCollum traveled to Toronto to work with Nash. They drilled on pick-and-roll. Nash encouraged McCollum to focus on improving his balance and strengthening his core. They worked on the floater, a shot McCollum developed in high school and one that has become one of his go-to moves in the NBA.”

Sacramento Kings

Yikes.

San Antonio Spurs

Kawhi Leonard: The baddest defender on this globe.

Toronto Raptors

Amid all the weird, strange, odd things that happened toward the end of Toronto’s loss to the Knicks, during which Carmelo Anthony stepped out of bounds, the two things that stood out to me were (1) they still lost to the Knicks regardless of shenanigans and that’s not a good look, and (2) what did Dwane Casey spill on himself? I guess it’s just a matter of time before every Raptors coach develops a drinking problem.

Utah Jazz

The Jazz at large, and Rodney Hood specifically, took a LeBron haymaker on the chin this week. To their credit, though, they stayed standing and keep fighting, and Hood is looking like one more great pickup for a rapidly improving squad with a steadily ferocious defense (fifth best in the league as of Tuesday, per NBA.com).

Words With Friends

This week’s five must-read articles about the NBA. Excerpts here — click through to read the full piece.

1.  Kevin Durant can’t avoid ‘elephant in the room’ as he visits Washington
by Michael Lee, Yahoo Sports

Two days before he made his lone visit to Washington – where he is assured of seeing a rabid sellout crowd making its last regular-season pitch for its favorite son – Durant jokingly tried to act oblivious to what was in store. “What game?” Durant said, cracking a smile. What game? The game that Durant has to be relieved will be played in the second week of November, without some long, drawn-out build-up of hype and anticipation. The game that Durant will be able to put behind him so that he and the Thunder can spend the rest of the season focusing on learning the system of first-year coach Billy Donovan and the pursuit of a championship. The game that will serve as one of the most heavily scrutinized of his visits, given its potential as a possible landing spot should Durant elect to leave Oklahoma City. Yeah, that game.

2. For the 76ers, the execution of ‘The Process’ may be their downfall
by Seth Partnow, The Cauldron

Despite ranking third and sixth among all teams over the last two years on this MoreyBall scale, the 76ers have put up the NBA’s two lowest team offensive ratings. So, if the broad strokes are so right, why are the results so wrong? No plan, no matter how solid, can survive poor execution. In the case of Philadelphia, the lack of talent manifests itself in a number of ways. The 76ers have had the highest turnover rate in the NBA in each of the last two seasons. Despite taking the sixth-most 3-point attempts last season, the Sixers were 29th in 3-point percentage, in large part because they lacked the skill and creativity to open up valuable corner threes. The Sixers finished 23rd in corner-three attempts, a category in which Houston led the league. Even with several years to infuse new talent, the Sixers currently sit 28th in offensive rating.

3. New-look Chicago Bulls still searching for answers to old problems
by Sean Highkin, Bleacher Report

Meet the new Chicago Bulls…same as the old Chicago Bulls. The inconsistent energy, the long scoring droughts, the general burnout—these are all things that were blamed on Tom Thibodeau’s uncompromising coaching style. Fred Hoiberg’s more player-friendly approach, as well as his more dynamic offensive system, were supposed to put those issues to bed. So far, that hasn’t been the case.

4. Four NBA predictions that appear to have already gone wrong
by Nate Duncan, The Cauldron

With the San Antonio roots of coach Mike Budenholzer and Atlanta’s ascent to the top of the East standings a year ago, they have (correctly or not) taken on the moniker “Spurs East.” Add another feather to that cap; like the Spurs for so many years, the relatively older Hawks were considered likely to regress this year, but appear to be ready for another highly successful season … Thus far, the 7–2 Hawks (despite a home loss to Minnesota Monday night where they erased a 34-point deficit before losing late) look like a similar machine to a year ago. Kent Bazemore, the latest product of Atlanta’s development system, has stepped right into Carroll’s spot. He will cool off a bit after draining a ridiculous 15-of-27 from three so far, but he certainly appears to be an improved shooter,

5. It’s time for the Kings to consider life after DeMarcus Cousins
by Tom Ziller, SB Nation

The team hasn’t had a player like him since Chris Webber, and a young, homegrown player like him ever. Cousins is the best young player to ever land in Sacramento and is one of only a few undisputed draft successes in modern franchise history. Cousins should break every Sacramento-era record and finally lead the team to glory. He isn’t doing that. He could still do that someday, but he isn’t doing that now. That 121-233 record with him on the floor is still very bad. That record is not entirely Cousins’ fault; his supporting cast has been atrocious as a rule. But it’s there, and it’s now Year 6.

What to Watch For

Basketball fans are in for an absolute treat tonight as the two most-watchable teams in the NBA, the Warriors and the Wolves, square off on national television.

A few months ago, Golden State — with its spread offense and 3-point-bombing arsenal — was the vanguard of basketball, changing the way execs and coaches across the league thought about offense, defense, and personnel. Certainly, they are still the talk of the league. They are and the Dubs’ 8-0 start, building off what was already a historically great regular season last year, has some analysts wondering if they can best the 1996 Bulls’ 72-10 record.

But the Timberwolves has something else cooking. It is early days still, but we appear to be looking at one roster possessing the two best young players in the league not named Anthony Davis.

Andrew Wiggins, fresh off back-to-back games of scoring more than 30 points, and Karl Anthony-Towns, coming off three straight double-doubles, already appear poised to take over the league. Barring injury, what can stop them?

Yes, the Golden State Warriors are the now, but the Timberwolves are the future.

The rest of you teams have roughly two seasons left to enjoy your freedom. After that, the Timberwolves will be nationalizing all your arenas and putting “Anthony-Towns & Wiggins, LLC” on the deed.