Steph And Klay Splash Down In H-Town

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We hope you had a fun, basketball-filled weekend. We know it's Monday ... but we're giving you an early Black Friday deal!

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ICYMI, this past Friday we did our first NBA team collaboration with the Houston Rockets! Check out the Twitter thread & Instagram Collab post in celebration of Elvin Hayes' #44 jersey retirement! What a LEGEND!

Newsletter Preview

Get Caught Up: Didn't catch any hoops this weekend? No need to worry! We'll fill you in on all the action.

EB Roundtable: The Enjoy Basketball community discusses which player on their favorite team has improved the most in 2022-23.

Two Guard Tandems Battling Injuries: How long will Maxey and Morant be out?

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Highlights From Friday & Saturday

Friday

Have you bought your tickets to the Lauri Markkanen Unleashed tour yet? You haven't? Well, it's coming to your city very soon, so you should grab some before they sell out. 38 points on 15-18 shooting (not a typo!) for Markkanen on Friday as the Jazz beat the Suns 134-133, surviving a 49-point, eight-rebound, ten-assist Devin Booker onslaught. Speaking of surprising teams, the Wizards captured their fifth win in six games with a 107-106 victory over the (very shorthanded) Heat. This is mostly just a reminder that Washington's throwback uniforms are a top-tier NBA jersey.

The young Orlando Magic got 20+ points from the trio of Carter, Suggs, and Wagner--which sounds like the name of a law firm in an ABC Family movie--none more important than Jalen Suggs' step-back game-winning three. Cold!

Elsewhere, Jaren Jackson Jr. is fully back, posting 25 points, 12 rebounds, and three blocks (and this poster) in his second game of the season. Darius Garland & Donovan Mitchell combined for 75 points in a win over Charlotte, and Anthony Davis had another dominant performance to the tune of 38 points and 16 rebounds ... "If he just does that every night, the Lakers will be fine!"

Saturday

The Atlanta Hawks used the very bold strategy of "pick the good player" when they took AJ Griffin in June's NBA Draft, and it appears that approach will pay off for a while! The rook sunk a game-winning layup against Toronto on Saturday, giving Atlanta a 124-122 victory. Minnesota won their third straight game behind 25 points from Anthony Edwards; the Wolves have begun to find their form a little bit. In Indiana, Tyrese Haliburton did a little bit of everything (22 points, 14 assists, two steals, three blocks) as the Pacers won their fourth straight. Indiana is fifth in the East! Seriously!

Sunday's Slate

Suns (10-6) 116, Knicks (8-9) 95: Cam Payne is inevitable! The Suns' backup-turned-starting point guard has been pretty sensational in Chris Paul's absence, putting up 21 points, nine assists, seven rebounds, and two blocks on Sunday. You really can't ask for more if you're Phoenix. Well, you could, but that would be greedy.

Suns Player Stats   Knicks Player Stats

Kings (9-6) 137, Pistons (3-15) 129: Keep. The. Beam. Lit. Sacramento is quickly playing its way to "NBA darling" status, winning their sixth in a row on Sunday thanks to another monster game from De'Aaron Fox (33 points, seven assists), and hey, welcome to the party, Harrison Barnes! His 27 points are a season-high. The Kings are playing exciting basketball every single night, and their fans are loving every second of it--as they should. Just listen:

Kings Player Stats Pistons Player Stats

Wizards (10-7) 106, Hornets (4-14) 102: The Hornets might accidentally be playing themselves into the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes, so ... good for them? Washington got 28 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists from Kyle Kuzma and are now 6-1 in their last seven games. Someone pay attention to the Wizards! They're pretty good!

Wizards Player Stats Hornets Player Stats

Cavaliers (10-6) 113, Heat (7-10) 87: The Cavs recently had a five-game losing streak where it seemed like everything was going wrong, but even watching those games, it was hard to come away thinking that Cleveland was in much trouble. They’ve found their footing in the last two games, being led by Darius Garland’s 25 and some stellar play off the bench from Isaac Okoro (13 points) and Cedi Osman (20 points, 12 rebounds) on Sunday.

Cavs Player Stats Heat Player Stats

Warriors (8-9) 127, Rockets (3-14) 120: It feels weird to say that players who are still really good had "vintage" performances, but, well ... this certainly did feel like a vintage Splash Brothers performance. One of those games where there just doesn't seem to be a break. When the defense can't take their eyes off of Steph Curry or Klay Thompson for even a millisecond if they want any chance of getting a defensive stop. Just silly stuff from these two.

Warriors Player Stats Rockets Player Stats

Nets (8-9) 127, Grizzlies (10-7) 115: Hey, remember when Ben Simmons was a 6'10, 240-pound point guard who ran the court like an angry bull and finished around the hoop with dazzling finesse and power? Well, he might be on his way back to being those things. Simmons has put together three consecutive good games after a brutal start, his best coming on Sunday night in the form of 22 points, eight rebounds, and five assists. And perhaps the most important stat, one very meme-able post-game answer.

Nets Player Stats  Grizzlies Player Stats

Lakers (5-10) 123, Spurs (6-12) 92: Anthony Davis has been an absolute force in the Lakers' last three games. The Lakers have won each of those games. Do we think there's some sort of correlation there? On Sunday, he posted 30 points and 18 rebounds, owning the low post like everyone knows he is capable of.

Lakers Player Stats Spurs Player Stats:

Nuggets (10-6) 98, Mavs (9-7) 97: This game took a very, very odd turn at the end of the second quarter. After a review showed that Luka Doncic stepped out of bounds on a buzzer-beating three, the Nuggets got the ball back with two seconds left. Then, Denver's Vlatko Cancar hit a 60-footer to actually end the half. The Nuggets won by one. Basketball.

Nuggets Player Stats Mavericks Player Stats

Latest Basketball News

Tyrese Maxey Out 3-4 Weeks: Sixers fans, avert your eyes. Maxey suffered a small fracture in his foot when he rolled his ankle during Friday's game against Milwaukee. He now joins the Sixers' other star guard, James Harden, on the sideline for at least the next few weeks. Joel Embiid's already massive offensive load just got even heavier.

Ja Morant Week-To-Week: On a drive to the hoop in the fourth quarter against OKC on Friday, Morant shot a floater, landed, and then rolled his ankle on the foot of Thunder forward Lu Dort. The Grizzlies say they will evaluate Morant in a week; Grizzlies star shooting guard Desmond Bane suffered a toe sprain recently that will keep him out for at least a few weeks as well.

EB Roundtable

EB asks, and you all deliver ... Every time! This community knows ball, simple as that. Welcome back to another installation of the EB Roundtable, where we let you lead the conversation! This week, we want to give the shine to some players who have taken a leap.

Let's check out what you had to say!

Is the Aleksej Pokusevski experiment ... working? Finally? It appears so! The patience Oklahoma City has shown during Poku's development deserves praise; they stuck with him through a couple of rough years, but in year three, he's finally utilizing many of the tools that made him such an intriguing draft prospect. His FG% (49.1), 3PT% (41.7), and virtually every other statistical category are substantially improved from his first two seasons.

Jevon Carter has always been on the fringes of NBA rotations. His stops in Memphis, Phoenix, and Brooklyn had bright spots, to be sure, but in his second year in Milwaukee, the former West Virginia Mountaineer is finally getting consistent minutes on a contending team for the first time in his career. Luckily for the Bucks, he's taking full advantage of those minutes. In Jrue Holiday's absence, Carter has been a blessing for Milwaukee: knocking down 3's, defending at a near-elite level, and exhibiting a level of consistent creation that he's never had the chance to showcase.

When your job is to come off the bench and make shots, you better be really good at making shots. Sam Hauser is really good at making shots. The second-year guard impressed in preseason, and he's carried that momentum into the regular season. After playing very sparingly last season, he's become a pretty important bench piece for the NBA's best team (record-wise.) Shooting 48% from deep will keep you in most rotations.

Good Reads

Other Humblings, Pt. 2 - Katie Heindl (Basketball Feelings)

Kevin Durant Tweets As Signs Of The Zodiac - Claire De Lune (Flagrant Magazine)

Can the Jazz keep this up? NBA scout weighs in on Utah's hot start - Alex Kennedy (Basketball News)

Signing Off

Well, folks, that'll do it for today. Enjoy the basketball this week, and if you're able, give to someone in need this holiday season. Talk soon!

-Quinn Everts

Trivia Answer: The lowest team Defensive Rating in an NBA season ever? That title belongs to the 1974-75 Washington Bullets, who stifled opponents to the tune of a 91.3 defensive rating.

Trivia Question: Three years ago, this current NBA player posted the best single-season assist-to-turnover ratio, a record previously held by Muggsy Bogues. Who is he?