NBA Week 6 Rewind: So, no one can stop the Warriors?
By Tom West
Who’s Struggling?
Besides the tank-champ 76ers and their 1-20 record, here’s a look at a couple of teams who struggled in week 6.
The Phoenix Suns may have one of the best scoring backcourts in the NBA, but that isn’t enough to carry their entire team. Last week, that was evident once again. They lost all four of their games to wind up at 8-13 on the season and just 11th place in the West. Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight are both having career-years and are combining for 43.6 points per game, and have done all they can to rank the Suns 11th in offensive rating. No matter how much they can do, though, the rest of the team hasn’t quite followed suit. Specifically, they’ve been coming up short on defense.
The rank 22nd in defensive efficiency, and it’s mainly due to their inability to protect the paint. Even with the acquisition of Tyson Chandler this offseason, they’ve allowed opponents to shoot a far too generous 59.9 percent within five feet (placing them 25th in the NBA in that category). Their bench has been letting them down the most, but seeing as no one of the roster has a defensive rating below 101, it’s safe to say it’s the weakest part of their team as a whole.
Last week was a new low point as the Suns lost to the 5-15 Nets, allowed 127 points in a loss to the Pistons, lost to the struggling Wizards, and fell in a close game to the Grizzlies, too. Even though three of those losses were only decided by 3 points or less, the Suns still showed their inconsistencies.
It’s going to take more than decent offense and a great backcourt to win consistently, and Phoenix well and truly realized that with an 0-4 record in week 6.
The Cleveland Cavaliers do not need to worry. They’re still 2nd in the East and have only dropped from 1st after losing three straight games last week. But that’s the problem, and that’s what they showed us last week: in basketball, anything can happen. Specifically, a 108-114 loss to the Pelicans in overtime proves that anything can happen. Unfortunately for the Cavs, that was a loss to one of the worst teams in the NBA.
It’s not been easy for Cleveland, though, despite the fact they had LeBron until he sat for rest against the Heat on Saturday. Kevin Love is getting more touches in the post and his numbers have improved to 18.3 points and 11.3 rebounds because of it, plus Mo Williams has been a great stand in at point guard while Kyrie Irving is out. However, while the Cavs excel offensively as the 4th best team in the NBA in that regard, they’re in the middle of the pack at joint 11th in defensive efficiency.
Last week was somewhat of a rarity, though, as they won’t be losing to the Wizards and lowly Pelicans every week. That being said, it does show that, despite their injury issues, that they have a far tougher time cruising past their opponents than the Warriors. Once Kyrie is back to provide more offensive punch, maybe they’ll start seeing less surprising losses.
Next: The NBA's Best Highlights of Week 6