This season's NBA regular season is very different from previous seasons, especially since the Western Conference has presented a very different landscape than fans expected before the season begins. The teams leading the top few teams in the West are not the Lakers, who have built on the original foundation, nor the Suns who have formed the three super offensive stars Durant and Booker, and Beal. Even the defending champion Nuggets have experienced ups and downs in the rankings during Murray's injury, but fortunately, the Nuggets have recently won three in a row and are in second place in the West. The most unexpected teams were the Thunder and Timberwolves, who did not expose all kinds of holes due to the deepening of the regular season, and thus fell sharply in the rankings.
On the contrary, the Timberwolves still played the league's No. 1 defensive efficiency of 106.8, and they also completed a big comeback to win the game against the Mavericks. The Timberwolves' overall record is tied with the Celtics, who are the first in the East, and both are at the top of the East and West with 18 wins and 5 losses. Alexander, the core guard of the Thunder team, has both offense and defense, averaging 36 points, 4.5 rebounds and 6.8 assists per game in the last four games, while completing 4 steals on the defensive end, with a shooting rate of 57.6%. Alexander's ability to break through the basket and make fouls for free throws has also become more and more popular, and Kings reporter Mark Haynes even lamented that Alexander's performance is like Harden in his prime, always creating free throw line opportunities. So far this season, Alexander has averaged eight free throws per game.
Of course, what teams want to make it to the end depends on the ability of the stars to control the court, as well as the overall depth of the roster, including the ability of the bench to fill the gaps in the starting lineup on both offensive and defensive ends. Unlike other powerhouses that have built up a star roster this season, the Warriors started the regular season with a 6-2 record. But now it has fallen to 10-14 and has slipped to 11th place in the West. Green's multiple suspensions also reflect how difficult the Warriors' situation is at the moment, and even the main players are no longer able to keep their composure. Curry has also kicked the bench in recent games.
When the absolute leaders of a team start to react with obvious dissatisfaction, it's time for the Warriors to consider making massive roster changes and even trading reinforcements. Booming 6 straight wins! From bottom of the league to championship favorites! The trade was immediate, and the supergiant king returned! The opposite of the Warriors was the Clippers, who were even lower than the current Warriors. In response to the injury concerns of Leonard and George, the Clippers did not abandon the trade because of the good start to the season, and they completed the Harden trade early. But for a long time after Harden joined the team, the Clippers performed extremely poorly, and it wasn't until the head coach finally demoted Willis to the bench that the Big Four's ball distribution problems were alleviated.
After the last heavy defeat to the Warriors, there was despair of the star-studded supergiant, as the Clippers dropped to 12th in the West. The Clippers' complete counterattack began with George's key three-pointer and Harden's quick steal to reverse the Warriors' victory. After that game, the Clippers beat the Nuggets, the Kings, and the Warriors again, winning six in a row, and their record rose to 14-10 and ranked 7th in the West. The key factor that made the Clippers turn so much was Harden, and head coach Tyronn Lue wanted Harden to fit into the system of George and Leonard when Harden first joined. But Harden has had his own playbook since his career, and that system can also subtly affect the way his teammates play on the court.
Obviously, the reason why the Clippers have won six in a row is that other players have gradually integrated and adapted to Harden's system, and Harden's individual performance has also exploded. Averaging 16.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 7.3 assists per game this season, Harden is very efficient offensively. In particular, he shot 41.8 percent from the perimeter, the highest three-point shooting percentage of Harden's career in a single season. In the past five games, Harden has averaged 19 points and 9.6 assists per game, with an outside shooting rate of 48%. And with Harden's control on the playmaking end, Leonard was further motivated. Leonard has not missed a game so far this season, and his minutes are ranked in the top 15 in the league, which is a real shock to the player who has been labeled as a "rotation representative" in the past.
And Leonard's performance this season has almost exceeded his career average, with Leonard averaging 23.5 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. Of course, a spate of inexplicable injuries over the past few seasons has ruined Kawhi Leonard's career, so it's only fair to be skeptical about how long Leonard will last this season. But at least now that Leonard has played in the top 10 of the league, his paws are climbing back to the top of the league. In the last eight games, Leonard averaged 28.4 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, shooting 61.2% from the field. Defensively, Leonard's consistency of being named to the All-Defensive Player of the Year and seven All-Defensive Team selections is gone, but when the Clippers need him to give it his all on the defensive end, Leonard remains among the top in the league in this area.