The NBA is taking a break on Thanksgiving, one of the few days on which the league goes dark.
Earlier this season, the NBA also didn’t hold a single game on Nov. 5, election day, encouraging Americans to go out to the polls.
But the action returns Friday, with the marquee game of the night being a west coast nightcap that features the first-place Oklahoma City Thunder facing the Los Angeles Lakers.
Saturday offers a solid showdown between the Golden State Warriors at the Phoenix Suns, though the gem of the weekend will be Sunday evening when the Boston Celtics head to Cleveland to face the Cavaliers.
Here are some takeaways from the sixth week of the NBA regular season.
Bucks are catching fire, and the defense has been key
Since opening the season 2-8, the Milwaukee Bucks have completely flipped their pace and have won seven of the last eight, including the last five.
And, yes, both Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard have had scoring outbursts, but the Bucks have their defense to thank for the winning. During this most recent eight-game stretch, the Bucks have posted the seventh best defensive rating (108.9). By comparison, in October, Milwaukee ranked 24th in defensive rating (116.3).
Antetokounmpo and Brook Lopez have intensified their rim protection, forcing slashing players to adjust their shots; Over the last eight games, the Bucks are allowing all opponents to shoot just 56.9% on field goal attempts of five feet or fewer. In October, that number was 61.8%.
Most importantly, the Bucks (9-9) are sitting at fifth in the Eastern Conference.
Rockets surging to new heights – and somehow still flying under the radar
Houston, perhaps inexplicably, is rarely mentioned as a legitimate threat in the Western Conference. In some way, that makes sense; the conference is stacked and traditional powers have remained competitive.
But the Rockets (14-6), winners of nine of their last 11, have unquestionably arrived. Houston already clinched West Group A in the NBA Cup, after closing out the Minnesota Timberwolves, on the road, with an 11-0 run in overtime.
In many ways, that run was a perfect encapsulation of who the Rockets are as a team: defense led to breakneck offense in transition, the ball zipped around the floor off of pick-and-roll actions and the Rockets didn’t settle – they prioritized high-percentage shots.
As ever under an Ime Udoka-coached team, defense and rebounding have been the focus. Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards, guarded mostly by Amen Thompson and Dillon Brooks, went 0-for-8 on field goal attempts, missing all five 3-point tries, in the fourth quarter and overtime.
Celtics were already looking like threat to repeat. Then they got Kristaps Porziņģis back.
This is the scary thing about the Celtics.
For the first month of 2024-25, they were without center Kristaps Porziņģis, a stretch big who spaces the floor with his shooting range and who offers rim protection. All they did was go 14-3 and mow through most opponents with ease.
Jayson Tatum was playing like an MVP candidate. Jaylen Brown was steady, and Derrick White occasionally popped off for big offensive games. Now, Porziņģis is back in the fray after recovering from his offseason foot surgery, and his debut Tuesday night against the Los Angeles Clippers showed just how much better Boston will be with him back in the lineup.
The Celtics won by 28, and Porziņģis scored 16 in 23 minutes. But he also added six boards and two blocks, bolstering Boston’s interior defense. The Celtics had entered their game against L.A. ranked 14th in blocks per game (5.1); the 11 they swatted away Tuesday night were a season high.
That season average should only climb higher.
The case against high-volume scoring in Charlotte
There’s an interesting thing happening with the Hornets. LaMelo Ball is unquestionably their most gifted offensive player. Yet, when he goes off on the stat sheet, Charlotte tends to underperform.
Ball is averaging 31.1 points per game – second in the NBA. Over the last three Hornets games, that figure is 42 points per game. He’s also leading the league in field goal attempts (24.9 per game), though here’s the issue: he’s shooting just 43% from the field.
Ball has led the Hornets in scoring in 14 of the team’s 18 games.
They have 12 losses; Ball has been the team’s leading scorer in 11 of those.
To be clear, all of Charlotte’s issues are not on Ball and this is a roster that needs a massive influx of talent.
Yet, Ball has led the team in scoring in only half of Charlotte’s six victories, all of which points to a need for more efficiency and far more ball movement.
Several stars return from injury – to mixed results – with more on the way
The Suns had a schedule quirk that led to six nights off, allowing Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal to both return from their respective calf strains. Their first game back was a 27-point triumph over the Lakers in which Durant and Beal each poured in 23 points.
Their second game back, however, was a 10-point loss Wednesday to a Brooklyn Nets team that entered the night with just eight victories.
Elsewhere, Ja Morant returned to the Memphis Grizzlies, and he scored 22 points and added 11 assist in a victory over the Portland Trail Blazers, immediately infusing more athleticism and playmaking to a Memphis roster that weathered his absence fairly well.
Dejounte Murray played 25 minutes in his first game since the season opener, a 26-point loss to the Toronto Raptors. The New Orleans Pelicans are still battling massive injury issues, though the red-hot Orlando Magic should see the return of star forward Paolo Banchero within the coming weeks.