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The NBA Is Back in Full Swing

Breaking down a wild two nights of hoops

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Hump Day: The most important storylines from Wednesday's 12-game bonanza

Fear the Deer: Bucks grab a win in Philly as Battle of LA heads down to the final minutes

Best of the Best: Highlighting the best performance of the week

Welcome back, fellow basketball enjoyers! Isn't this just the best time of year? Great fall weather, the holiday season right around the corner, and, of course, nonstop NBA basketball for the next 7+ months. So watch it, drink it in, and take a moment to appreciate how lucky we are to enjoy such talented hoopers every night.

And a big thank you to everyone who stopped by our first Twitter Spaces of the season, including our guys over at Pick a Side podcast! Keep tuning in every Thursday to talk hoops with the Enjoy Basketball crew and some exciting special guests. 👀

Anyway, let's talk ball.

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Wednesday Night Notes

The basketball gods blessed us with 12 games of high-octane NBA action on Wednesday. But that blessing is also a curse. No sane person can watch 30 hours of NBA basketball in one day, so we’re here to bring you the most important facts from a riveting night of hoops. Let's get into it.

First-overall pick Paolo Banchero lived up to the hype with an NBA debut to remember. The Duke grad picked apart a stingy Pistons defense to the tune of 27 points (11-18 FG), eight rebounds, and five assists. Sounds good, right? Well, let’s put it this way: the only other players in the past 30 seasons to finish with at least 25/5/5 in their NBA debut are LeBron James and Grant Hill. Not bad company if you ask us. Also, we’d like to send our condolences to Cory Joseph, who was unfortunately sent to the shadow realm during the fourth quarter.

Speaking of rookies … Shaedon Sharpe looked great in his first bit of real NBA action! The former top-ranked high school prospect came in clutch off the bench with 12 points, including a perfect 3-3 performance from deep, in just 16 minutes during the Portland Trail Blazers' back-and-forth victory against an upstart Sacramento Kings squad. As long as he keeps shooting like this, Portland’s future is in good hands.

Here’s a fun stat from the Toronto Raptors' well-rounded victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Toronto’s starting lineup of Fred Van Vleet, Gary Trent Jr., OG Anunoby, Scottie Barnes, and Pascal Siakam became just the second starting five in history to each record 15+ points, 1+ made steal, and 1+ made three-pointer. The first? The exact same lineup, which did the same thing last season in a January 29th victory against the Miami Heat!

Oh, and in case you missed it, the primetime game in Memphis was absolutely bonkers. Ja Morant was busy doing Ja Morant things like this, and this, and almost this, but the Knicks nearly stole the show after a late surge and some last-second Cam Reddish heroics. Luckily for the Grizz, they were able to hang on in OT thanks to this massive Tyus Jones bucket. And a quick shout-out to the Spanish sensation Santi Aldama, who followed in the Gasol brothers' footsteps with 18 points and 11 boards.

The Phoenix Suns took a step towards exorcising their Game Seven demons with a gutsy 22-point comeback against Luka Dončić and the Dallas Mavericks. Even with Chris Paul having an off-night, Phoenix stormed back into the game led by Devin Booker (28 PTS, 9 AST) and some timely shooting from Damion Lee (11 PTS, 3-5 3PT). In fact, it was Lee who saved the day with his late-game heroics, burying two timely threes in the final four minutes before sealing the W with this unbelievably clutch bucket.

Yeah … this New Orleans Pelicans team looks absolutely terrifying. Everyone was firing on all cylinders in a dominating statement win against a Brooklyn Nets squad that looked lost at sea. The Pels dominated on the glass (61 REB to 39), looked wholly unselfish with the basketball (11 players with 2+ AST), and got great performances from CJ McCollum (21 PTS, 6 AST), Brandon Ingram (28 PTS, 7 REB), and Jonas Valančiūnas (15 PTS, 13 REB). But the story of the day has to be the return of former #1 overall pick and all-around basketball demigod Zion Williamson. The fourth-year forward got right back to his old habits by bullying his way to 25 points, nine rebounds, and four steals. Watch out NBA world: the Pelicans are for real.

Collin Sexton is him, that is all.

And let’s end things off with a nice Rudy Gobert buzzer-beating palate cleanser.

Last Night's Action

Milwaukee Takes Down Philly 90-88

After a tough opening night loss to the Celtics, the Philadelphia 76ers were hoping to snag a statement win at home against a Milwaukee Bucks team with serious title aspirations.

But that's before Brook Lopez locked Joel Embiid in a cell and threw away the key.

The former All-Defensive team member had Embiid's number all night, especially in the second half, when last season's MVP runner-up dropped a donut on 0-for-7 shooting to go along with three turnovers. It was a great night for Lopez (17 PTS, 2 BLK), and he capped it off with a block so good we wouldn't be surprised if he got a picture of it framed and hung above his mantle.

Even though they ended up losing, the Sixers shouldn't feel too bad about themselves. Embiid had one of his worst nights of the past few years, and they were still able to go toe-to-toe with former champions, even whittling down a 13-point deficit in the 4th quarter to make it a close game.

A lot of that had to do with the man, the myth, the beard, James Harden. The former Houston Rocket caught fire down the stretch, scoring 22 of his game-high 31 points in the second half through a healthy diet of mid-range jumpers and floaters.

Clippers Eclipse Cross-Town Rival Lakers 103-97

The battle for Crypto.com Arena (still feels weird to say that) got off to an entertaining start this year, as the Los Angeles Clippers fended off a Los Angeles Lakers second-half run to secure the win.

It's always uplifting to see players return from injury, and even more so when they're such an important figure in the modern game like Kawhi Leonard. The former Toronto Raptor came off the bench on a minutes restriction and put up an efficient 14 points and seven boards regardless. Also, Ivica Zubac (14 PTS, 17 REB, 5 BLK) might have been the best player on the court.

For the Lakers, it was a move in the right direction from opening night, especially on the defensive end. But they still need to find more reliable scoring options outside of LeBron James (20 PTS, 10 REB, 6 AST) and Anthony Davis (25 PTS, 8 REB). Lonnie Walker IV played great with a game-high 26 points, but the rest of the supporting cast combined to score just 26 points on 20% shooting.

Performance of the Week

DeMar DeRozan

Can you believe people thought Chicago trading for DeMar DeRozan was a bad idea?

After a couple of up-and-down seasons in San Antonio, DeRozan has breathed new life into his career in the Windy City and showed no signs of slowing down during an exemplary performance on Wednesday night against the Miami Heat.

The former Toronto Raptor cooked the Heat's vaunted defense with 37 points on 64% shooting, six rebounds, and nine assists to only one turnover. And he did it in typical DeRozan fashion, with mid-range jumper after mid-range jumper. Most of them were right over the outstretched hand of Caleb Martin, who is sure to have nightmares about this game for years to come.

The middle of the Eastern Conference is set to be an absolute dogfight this season, and the Chicago Bulls will need as many performances like this as they can get from DeRozan in order to secure a playoff spot.

Good Reads

Ranking Every NBA Team's Top 3 Trade Assets This Season - Zach Buckley (Bleacher Report)

Meet Overtime Elite's Alex Sarr, a future darling of NBA Draft Twitter - Gilbert McGregor (Sporting News)

How the Trail Blazers’ season-opening win stemmed from a conversation over wine - Jason Quick (The Athletic)

Signing Off

What a time to be a sports fan. NBA basketball is back, the NHL is on again, the NFL is in full swing, and the MLB playoffs are coming down to it. Oh, and we have a World Cup in a month.

Life is good right now y'all. Enjoy it.

Until next time,

-Spencer Poole

Trivia Answer: #32 is the most retired number in NBA history! It's been retired a total of 11 times for players like Magic Johnson, Bill Walton, and Kevin McHale.

Trivia Question: Not every opening night game ends up going down to the wire. Let us know -- what was the biggest opening night blowout in history, and which two teams were involved? (Hint: It happened in the past decade)