NOBODY Could Have Predicted THIS In The NBA...

Download the Gametime app (https://gametime.co/) and redeem code HEATCHECK for $20 off your first purchase (terms apply) Out of these 2 players, who are you picking? Player A has a slight advantage in points, and more rebounds but has a lot more playing time to get all of his stats. While player B, is still there in scoring despite playing less, and much more efficient at getting his numbers. 56, 46 and 93%. I’m sure you’ll be shocked as I was to find out that A is one of the franchise cornerstones for Minnesota- Karl Anthony Towns, and B is none other than his backup. Naz Reid, who’s doing all of this off the bench playing behind both KAT and Gobert. This is an astonishing stat, and this next one might be even crazier. I’m not gonna make you pick here, but instead I’m just gonna compare Dillon Brooks and Kyrie Irving. Brooks is known as a below average shooter and one that often takes horrific shots when he should have passed the ball. While Kyrie is widely regarded as one of the best shot makers that this game has seen. Going from inside the paint- with his magical layups, to the killer midrange, and of course a 39% shooter from downtown. Well, things are flipped at the start of this season as Dillon is having an unbelievably efficient opening. 59% from the field and 56 and a half percent from the three point line, meanwhile Irving is struggling especially from outside, shooting a measly 24%. Of course this is 7 games into the season and I expect things to come back to normal, but I do believe that Brooks will have a nice season shooting the ball. Speaking of having a nice season- Lebron is going god mode game after game just to keep the Lakers afloat. Ever since that first game where Darvin Ham said he’s going to keep him at 29 minutes per game, James is averaging 37 minutes per game from then on. And look at the numbers with, and without him on the floor. With him they have the equivalent of the 7th best offense in the league and with Lebron on the bench, the Lakers are playing like a G-League team. That’s the best comparison that I can make. The story is similar on defense as well. 5th best defense when James is playing, and by far the worst defensive rating when he’s not. The responsibility that a 39 year old guy has on his shoulders to drag an entire team yet again in his 21st season in the league is unfathomable. But he does it anyways, and always in style- giving the fans exactly what they paid to see. Moving on to another guy that’s doing the unthinkable. At age 35, not only is Steph Curry showing no signs of slowing down, but he’s shooting a mind blowing 47.5% from downtown and at the moment, he’s actually on pace to break his own record of 402 three pointers made by nearly 80. Wait what? Yeah well it is still very early to make predictions, but this post on reddit breaks down just how that could become a reality. If he plays all 82 games, he's on pace to make 481.75 3's this season. But if he wanted to break his record of 402 3's in this season, he would need to average 4.81 3's a game for the remainder and not miss a single game. In the season that he broke the record, he missed just three games and averaged 5.1 3PM a game. And the games played seem like the toughest assignment here for Steph. Other than that, I believe that he’s capable of knocking down around 5 threes per game, which would make this an absurd accomplishment at age 35. Moving on to my fellow lefty Mike Conley, who had a turnover just 43 seconds into game 1 of the season. And if you thought that this would be that kind of a year for Conley you’re way wrong because Mike has not had a single turnover since that point. Entire 5 games without a turnover, and you can say 6 if you take away those 43 seconds at the start of the first one. And just to go crazy with the small sample size numbers here- right now Mike has 26 to 1 assist to turnover ratio which is impossible and will definitely not hold of course, but this has been a phenomenal stretch for him at the start. The same can not be said for the Bucks however who look horrible on defense. Last season they had the 4th best defense in the league while now they’re 24th. Near the bottom of the NBA. The drop in rebounding is even more glaring. 48 and a half rebounds per game last year that made them the best team in this category. Going from that to 40 and a half per game at the moment which makes them second to last. Unbelievable. It’s still early but Giannis, Dame and company have some work to do to improve. A guy that’s improved a lot is Tyrese Haliburton, who is generating 56 points per game this season. With an average of 24 points and 11 and a half rebounds on insane shooting percentages. By doing this, Tyrese is the leader of the best offense in the league at the start of the season with an offensive rating of 120 for the Indiana Pacers.