This season's NBA regular season has been played one-quarter of the time, and the strength of each team has been shown in enough games. At this point in the regular season, it was also the starting point where he was allowed to join a trade after signing a free agent last season. For teams that have struggled so far this season, they can make a trade in time to make a full-fledged push for the playoffs. Of course, most teams still want not to spoil the existing team atmosphere, after all, there is still a long way to go before the trade deadline and they still have a lot of opportunities to test all of the team's viable rosters. This is the case with the Lakers and Suns, as well as the four favourites of the Clippers and Warriors, despite the fact that these highly anticipated teams have repeatedly played in stunning performances this season.
But the team's own star base also gives them confidence, and the Clippers and Lakers are the quickest teams to find a solution. After bringing in Harden, the Clippers have been looking for a lineup that maximizes Harden's potential. In the end, head coach Tyronn Lue matched Harden with Leonard, while Westbrook naturally led the bench with George for the most part. The shift was immediately positive, with Leonard averaging 28.4 points per game over the past nine games, shooting over 62.5 percent from the field. Harden also shoots a career-high 41 percent from the outside, and his playmaking ability has also allowed the Clippers to become more fluid on both ends of the floor. After a seven-game winning streak, the Clippers improved their record to 15-10 and moved into sixth place in the West.
Of course, that doesn't mean the Clippers are absolutely perfect right now, and they still have a lot to improve. As a new signing, Harden's run-in period with his teammates has not yet fully passed. There have been a few teams that have avoided this frustration and have shown themselves to be competitive enough to produce surprising results after a few seasons of grinding and improving their squads. Hit 8 blocks! No. 1 in the league! Another future supergiant is born, and gold will eventually shine! The Thunder have been improving at a blistering pace after several seasons of rebuilding, not just this season.
The Thunder had a 40-42 record in the regular season last season, and of course, there is a significant upgrade on paper to play a tough game in the real game. Obviously, this season's Thunder team is not limited to the former, and the Thunder have a 16-8 record so far in the regular season, ranking second in the West. And this is inseparable from the contribution of the core Alexander, who was in the game against the Nuggets. Against the defending champions, he showed an extremely mature side, and in the last 0.9 seconds advanced from the backcourt to throw a quasi-lore. Since that game, the Thunder have gone from being a dark horse team that rose to prominence at the start of the season to a team with real playoff prowess.
Rookie Holmgren is a key pivot in that transition, averaging 16.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game so far this season, and he's playing as perfectly this season as the Thunder envisioned when they drafted him with the No. 2 pick. To sum up Holmgren's strengths in one sentence, it's that he's the two-way big man inside player every team is looking for with mobility and outside shooting threat. Early in the season, Holmgren's size disadvantage frustrated him frequently, whether it was against Valanciunas against the Pelicans or against the Bulls interior Vucevic and Drummond.
In his first matchup with the Nuggets, Jokic's experience and size advantage almost completely overpowered the rookie big man. And after the game, Jokic also said bluntly, he bluntly said that Holmgren needs to be a little heavier. But for Holmgren, it's the size that underpins his mobility on both ends of the floor, not forgetting that Holmgren has shot 37 percent from three-point range this season. So as the regular season progressed, Holmgren blended his rich offensive and defensive arsenal and quickly settled into the rhythm of the league. Against the Nuggets again, Holmgren had 17 points and 11 rebounds on 50% shooting, and most importantly on the defensive end, Holmgren hit eight blocks in one fell swoop, including a block against Jokic under the basket.
Holmgren's eight blocks in a single game also tied the record for the most blocks in a single game this season by Lopes and Wembanyama, ranking first in the league. Many fans are Xi to comparing it to the champion Xiuwenbanyama, which is actually a very tricky question. After all, the two players are on different teams with different competitive foundations, and Holmgren plays in a more well-rounded and mature lineup, but it must be admitted that Holmgren was one of the key factors in the Thunder's early break into the top two in the West this season. It's not easy to be a big man inside in the league in the current era, and for a tall player like Holmgren at 2.16m, being able to master so many offensive skills is already a standout. Especially when the 21-year-old centre-forward learns to make the most of these skills in his first season of career, Holmgren is definitely the embryo of the future supergiant.