The Lakers are out to a fast start, and the biggest reason is sitting in plain sight: Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves are torching opponents from the backcourt.
Los Angeles improved to 3-0 behind a duo that’s piling up numbers early. Doncic is putting up 34.3 points, 8.0 assists and 7.3 rebounds per game after dropping 52 on the Jazz. Reaves has chipped in 26.7 points and 6.3 assists while shooting 63.9% from the field and 61.5% from 3-point range.
That kind of production isn’t sustainable forever, especially not those Reaves percentages. Even so, the Lakers aren’t in any hurry for him to slow down.
Their injury report also hasn’t changed much. Adou Thiero and Cameron Carr remain out for Tuesday’s home game against the Trail Blazers, according to Ryan Ward of Lakers On SI.
Thiero is dealing with swelling in his left knee, while Carr has a right oblique strain. Neither player has appeared this season.
Both guards earned Western Conference Player of the Week consideration, though the actual award went to Grizzlies guard Ty Jerome. Now the Lakers turn to a matchup with Damian Lillard, Ja Morant and Portland, a game that should keep their backcourt busy on both sides of the floor.
In Brooklyn, the record hasn’t matched the effort.
The Nets have opened 0-3 after trying to make themselves more competitive, a result that obviously wasn’t the goal. Still, as Ivan White of Nets On SI points out, there’s a clear difference between an ugly opening week and a season that’s already gone off the rails.
Brooklyn’s first three games have included close losses to the Hornets and Cavaliers, followed by a lopsided defeat to the Pacers on Sunday. That last one got away, but the night before, the Nets pushed Cleveland all the way to the end.
That’s the version Jordi Fernandez has to bottle more often. The challenge now is turning those stretches of fight into wins instead of moral victories.
The Cavs are dealing with a different kind of issue: they need James Harden to steady the offense, but he has helped create some of the mess.
Through two games, Harden has 12 assists and 10 turnovers while shooting 6-of-20 from the field, according to Mack Perry of Cavaliers On SI. His line of 14.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 6.0 assists looks solid on paper, but the giveaways are undercutting the production.
There have been some productive links with Evan Mobley and Peyton Watson, and Harden still commands enough defensive attention to open things up for teammates. The passing itself isn’t the problem.
The concern is what happens when the pressure rises. Cleveland has already blown one massive lead and nearly gave away another, and the Cavaliers need cleaner possessions in those moments. That responsibility starts with the player running the offense.
In Other News...
Nets Already Face A Frustrating Problem Three Games Into This Slide
The Nets rough stretch deepened with another lopsided loss, this time in Indianapolis, where the Pacers controlled the game with efficient offense and plenty of pace. Tyrese Haliburton orchestrated it with 24 points and 10 assists, helping Indiana shoot 58% from the field while the Pacers built their advantage in the second and third quarters.
For Brooklyn, the bigger concern may have come after the game started to get away from them. Ivica Zubac was removed from the contest with a left ankle sprain, leaving the Nets to wonder about the status of one of the interior pieces they can least afford to lose while this slide continues to snowball. [Read more 🡒]
Nets Already Face An Early Trust Problem Under Jordi Fernndez
Brooklyns season opened with the kind of uneven stretch that can test a new coachs message early, as the Nets dropped their first three games and spent much of that time chasing their own mistakes. Jordi Fernndez has already been pushing the same themes in the wake of back-to-back losses to Cleveland and Indiana, pointing to defensive lapses, shaky consistency and the need for better effort and execution as the group tries to find some traction.
The encouraging part is that Brooklyn at least showed some fight in nearly pulling back against Cleveland, which suggests the response is there when the focus sharpens. But the next game brought a different problem, and one the Nets cannot afford to let linger, because the same issues keep showing up in different forms and are beginning to raise an early trust question around how quickly this roster can absorb Fernndezs demands. [Read more 🡒]
Nolan Traor Is Making Brooklyns Backcourt Decision More Interesting
Nolan Traor has made Brooklyns early backcourt picture a little more interesting with the kind of all-around showing that sticks in a coachs mind. In a recent loss, the guard put up a team-high 17 points and did a little of everything, blending shot-making with playmaking and defensive activity after also showing growth last season and carrying that into a solid preseason.
As the Nets get healthier in the backcourt, the real question is not whether Traor can help, but how often he can stay on the floor when the rotation tightens. His path to steady minutes off the bench will likely come down to one thing: whether his outside shot keeps falling enough to make him hard to ignore. [Read more 🡒]