Donovan Mitchell Is A Treat To Watch

Plus, the Suns have been scary good recently, and the Lakers finally leave the Land of Winless Teams!

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A Full Weekend Of Hoops: Get caught up on a fun three days of NBA basketball.Unsung Heroes: This Magic center may finally be finding his footing in the league...

Happy Halloween y'all!

We want to thank everyone who came out to the Enjoy Basketball x Shopify Pop Up Shop & Talk on Friday evening. We had 150+ Enjoyers in the house to hear Kenny and the team talk about brand & community building, followed by an amazing meet & greet. We’re extremely grateful for all the love & support, and this is just the beginning! Stay tuned for tons more exciting stuff in the near future.

NBA Action from Friday & Saturday

If you didn't catch any NBA action over the weekend, you missed ... a lot, actually. But Enjoy Basketball is here to remedy that! On Friday, A Trae Young masterpiece powered the Hawks past the Pistons, and any worries about the effectiveness of a Young/Dejounte Murray backcourt have definitely been put to bed. Up the coast in Boston, the Cavs got 40-pieces from both Donovan Mitchell and Caris LeVert in a thriller against the Celtics. Cleveland has been running the "Donovan go score" play a lot in the early season, and it's been working really well! Sixers young star Tyrese Maxey also put up a career-high 44 in a win for Philly. Everybody was getting buckets.

Saturday was your run-of-the-mill night in the Association; the Hornets beat the Warriors, the Kings beat the Heat, the Thunder beat the Mavericks, and the Jazz beat the Grizzlies. Wait ... something's not right here. If we've learned one thing from the first two weeks of the NBA season, it's that we haven't actually learned anything at all. Did anyone see this Kevin Huerter/Tyler Herro duel coming? Probably not, but it was great nonetheless. Every night is an adventure!

Sunday's Games

Pelicans (4-2) 112, Clippers (2-4) 91: This Pelicans team had a lot of hype surrounding it going into the season, and with each game, it looks a little more like they may live up to some of their loftier ambitions. The Pelicans used a balanced scoring attack in this one to top the Clips (five players scored 15+.)

Pistons (2-5) 128, Warriors (3-4) 114: All aboard the Beef Stew train! Hmm, that sounds a little odd: let's try it again. Isaiah Stewart had another great game! Much better. The former Washington Husky posted a career-high 24 points along with 13 rebounds as the Pistons knocked off the Warriors. It's not panic time in The Bay, but the reigning champs are certainly slumping in the early season.

Celtics (4-2) 112, Wizards (3-3) 94: One team made 21 three-pointers. The other team made 7 three-pointers. You won't believe which team is which (okay, you probably will. The Celtics made more.) Malcolm Brogdon had his best game yet for the C's, scoring 23 on 6-12 from the field.

Cavaliers (5-1) 121, Knicks (3-3) 108: You all heard of this Donovan Mitchell guy? Seems pretty good! Pretty, pretty, pretty good. After his 41-point explosion on Friday, Mitchell gave the Knicks 38 points (8-13 3PT) and 12 assists on Sunday. That's about the best encore you can ask for. Mitchell has been playing at an MVP level in the first two weeks of the season, and the Cavs have needed pretty much all of that magic while Darius Garland works his way back from injury. This Cleveland team is no joke. High-level scoring from their guards, versatility from their big men, and bench players who can make real impacts in games. Watch out!

Mavericks (3-3) 114, Magic (1-6) 105: Luka Dončić is 23 years old, and his 44-point performance on Sunday is the sixth-highest-scoring game of his career. Just think about that for a second. Luka is inevitable. He is also playing at an MVP level.

Spurs (5-2) 107, Timberwolves (4-3) 98: The Spurs kind of just ... keep winning games. Are we sure they want to do that? For the time being, they're a surprisingly enjoyable team to watch. Keldon Johnson led the way here with 25 points.

Suns (5-1) 124, Rockets (1-6) 109: The Suns are on a four-game winning streak right now. They won those games by 15, 13, 29, and 27. Is Phoenix still a legit contender out West? They've certainly looked like it the past week. Devin Booker had 30 in this one.

Lakers (1-5) 121, Nuggets (4-3) 110: Everybody clap it up for the Lakers! They finally get the pumpkin off their back (that's a stretch, sorry) and win their first game of the season. Russell Westbrook was very good off the bench, putting up 18/8/8 on 50% shooting. If the Lakers want to salvage this season, they have to start somewhere. And a win against a solid Denver team is a good place to start.

Unsung Heroes

Welcome back to Unsung Heroes! This week, we're turning our attention to the Orlando Magic. It may seem a little odd to call any player on a 1-6 team a "hero," but the Magic certainly didn't plan on competing for an NBA championship this year, putting their effort towards player development more than actual wins or losses. And this player has shown heaps of development.

It's Bol Bol! The former Nuggets second-round draft pick didn't see the floor a ton in Denver, and when he did, he looked lost. But apparently, a change of scenery was all the 7'2 Bol needed to come out of his shell a bit. He's currently top-5 in the NBA in blocks per game (2.3) and averaging a career-best 10 points per game. He posted his first-ever double-double on Sunday, too. The Magic might have another intriguing youngster on their roster.

Good Reads

Ben Mathurin's Hot Start Is No Fluke - Zach Kram (The Ringer)

Clippers must catch fire before their season is extinguished - Helene Elliott (LA Times)

Signing Off

Everyone have a fun, safe Halloween! Go get a king-sized version of your favorite candy. You deserve it. Talk soon!

-Quinn Everts

Trivia Answer: The most 20-rebound games since 2000? Andre Drummond with 88! He barely beats out Dwight Howard, who has 82. Interestingly, Dwight overtakes Drummond (92-88) if you include the playoffs!

Trivia Question: Which NBA player holds the record for most points in a game played on Halloween?