The Bucks' New Strategy Is To Win Every Game

Plus, you react to your team's performance through three weeks

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Milwaukee Simply Refuses To Lose: Honestly, it's pretty smart if you ask us.EB Roundtable: How is the Enjoy Basketball community feeling about their squads thus far?

Happy Monday, and a warm welcome to all of our new subscribers! We really appreciate each and every one of you that's along for this ride with us. Let's talk some hoops!

If you looked like the Mr. Krabs meme while trying to keep up with every good NBA game over the weekend, don't worry because so did we. But don't stress, Enjoyers of basketball. We're here to catch you up on all the most exhilarating moments from yet another breakneck weekend of hoops. Let's ride!

The Best Of Friday & Saturday

Friday: If you crossed Indiana off of your NBA team watch list before the season even started, hopefully, you did it in pencil, because Tyrese Haliburton (22 PTS, 9 AST) and Bennedict Mathurin (23 PTS, 5/11 FG) are a show. The Pacers' young backcourt balled out in a 101-99 win against the Heat. Speaking of young, small-market tandems, the Spurs fell to the Clippers 113-106 because Paul George is unguardable, but Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson are both enjoying splendid starts to the season in San Antonio. Vassell scored a career-high 29 Friday and is firmly situating himself in any early Most Improved Player discussion. 

Elsewhere, a triple-double from Giannis kept the Bucks undefeated(!), and a Jerami Grant mid-range buzzer-beater gave the Lillard and Simons-less Blazers an impressive win in Phoenix, 108-106. In Boston, bucket-getters got buckets. It's poetic, really.

Saturday: If you thought the excitement would subside on Saturday, then you must be new here. You want a De'Aaron Fox 40-foot buzzer beater to cap off a season-high 37-point outing? You got it. Anyone want a three-point barrage from the Celtics (27, to be exact?) It's all yours, and now Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown both have four 30-plus point games in just nine total games. You want a Bucks loss? Well, sorry, you can't have that, actually. They beat the Thunder 108-94, becoming the first 9-0 team since the 2015-16 Warriors.

Sunday's NBA Action

Cavs (8-1) 114, Lakers (2-7) 100: Covering the Cavs is pretty easy at this point; you basically just have to copy and paste. Donovan Mitchell scored 33, the rest of the squad contributed a balanced attack, and they used a big run to win convincingly. Yep, sounds familiar. For LA, Russell Westbrook looks great in his newly-assigned role coming off the bench (19 & 10 in this one), but the team just does not have enough shooting to stay in games if they fall behind.

Grizzlies (7-3) 103, Wizards (4-6) 97: Desmond Bane is a top-5 shooter in the NBA. Full stop. The third-year guard just keeps updating his shot-making profile, and it seems any way he takes a shot--off the dribble, in transition, off of a catch--it's going in. 28 points for Bane in the Grizzlies win.

Raptors (6-4) 113, Bulls (5-6) 104: Now that looked a lot more like the real Fred VanVleet. After playing a disastrous game in Philadelphia and then missing three games with lower back stiffness, FVV returned and played his best game of the season, posting 30 points & 11 assists.

Jazz (8-3) 110, Clippers (5-5) 102: Whatever brand of basketball the Jazz are playing, they should keep it up because it's awesome. Collin Sexton scored a season-high 22 points, and he's slowly creeping back to being the explosive scorer he was starting to become in Cleveland. For LA, Paul George was sensational again (34 points), but the "other" guys--namely Nic Batum, Norman Powell, and Reggie Jackson--struggled. They must return to the level they're capable of playing at if this Clips team wants to live up to the (admittedly lofty) expectations so many people had for their preseason.

EB Roundtable

Welcome back to the EB Roundtable! The league is off to a frenetic start, so closely following every team has been tough for more casual viewers. Luckily, the Enjoy Basketball community is full of passionate fans. Let's hear how y'all (in three words or less) describe your team's performance nearly three weeks in!

Once again, you delivered! Common Enjoy Basketball follower W.

This might be the craziest part of Milwaukee's early-season dominance--they're doing it without their second-leading scorer! 3X All-Star Khris Middleton has yet to play this season, but the Bucks haven't missed a step. If you're wondering who is filling the Middleton-sized void, it's pretty much everybody. Giannis is--of course--Giannis. But Jrue Holiday had four straight 25-point games, Bobby Portis brings energy and consistent scoring off the bench, and Brook Lopez has quite possibly been the NBA's best rim protector so far. Now 9-0, the Bucks are winning games by almost 12 points on average. If you don't fear the dear ... it may be time to start.

Turns out, drafting the 6'10, 250-pound power forward who moves like a guard and finishes like a center (70% shooting at less than five feet from the rim) is a smart move for your franchise. Number one picks have an incredible burden placed on them the moment Adam Silver calls their name on draft night; luckily, Paolo Banchero has some really broad shoulders, so that hasn't been a problem. He's averaging 23 & 8 through ten games. The Magic won't make any noise in terms of a playoff push this season, but they're building something real down there in Florida. And something tall.

Pascal Siakam good, indeed. Pascal Siakam very good. Coming off his first All-NBA selection last season, the former New Mexico State Aggie is averaging more points, rebounds, and assists through nine games early in the 2022-23 campaign. Siakam is dealing with an adductor strain (that's a hip injury, FYI), but it doesn't seem like it will keep him out longer than about two weeks. Toronto isn't thought of as a superstar-driven team, but the Raps might go as far as #43 goes this season.

Enough said. SGA has improved his scoring output each of his five seasons in the league, so his scorching start (30.5 PPG, 54% FG) is anything but a fluke. He already has five 30-plus point games, basically keeping the Thunder competitive on his own. Eventually, Shai will have a second star at his side--he might already have one in Chet Holmgren, who we sadly won't get to see until next season--and it will be glorious.

Good Reads

Screen Time, Vol. 2: Highlighting the NBA's best and worst screeners - Nekias Duncan (Basketball News)

NBA Twitter is dying but we still have the friends we made along the way - Seth Pollack (SB Nation)

Signing Off

Have a great week, folks! If you need some motivation to make it through, just think of the Philadelphia man who ate an entire rotisserie chicken for 40 straight days. The world is yours. Talk soon!

-Quinn Everts

Trivia Answer: The most points per game in the month of November? Wilt Chamberlain! His 30.3 career PPG in November just beats out Michael Jordan, who averaged 29.9, and Elgin Baylor, who averaged 28.0.

Trivia Question: Which current NBA player owns a bowling team and claims to have bowled a 256?