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- NBA's biggest
surprises and disappointments … so far
NBA's
biggest surprises and disappointments … so far
November
20, 2017
Disappointing Sunrises
Can you guess who I am going to say is the 2017-18 season's biggest
disappointment thus far in the season? You guessed it, the Cleveland
Cavaliers. It is supposed to be a simple two-horse race for the #1 spot
in the Eastern Conference but the Cavs had spent the first portion of
the season outside of the east's top-ten.
Sure, they have climbed back up to number four with a 9-7 record, but
that is only thanks to a four-game win streak … they were just 5-7
dropping games to Eastern Conference bottom feeders like the Atlanta
Hawks.
Lebron
and crew just haven’t been meshing as a unit … but it looks like
they are starting to come together, even without Isaiah Thomas. But
that brings up another question: if they continue gelling, will the
addition of the newly added Thomas throw a wrench back in the mix? Each
game lost for adjustments puts Cleveland another game behind the
red-hot Celtics.
The real disappointment is Bulls are also a horrible mess and complete
disappointment. I expected them to be around 10th or 11th in the East …
not a three-win season as we approach December.
Surprising Sunrises
The Celtics are doing exactly what
I figured they would do … pretty much just manhandle the Eastern
Conference competition. I really felt that the Boston Celtics,
Cleveland Cavaliers, Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards would top
the East. But the Pistons … now they are surprising. They opened up the
season as +12500 to win the title in 2018. That's 125 to 1! Talk about
poor expectations.
Since then, the Pistons have moved down to +6600. This drop in price is
due to their 11-5 record and second-place seat in the East. Not only
are the Pistons winning, but they have been coving the spread like mad
as well (11-4-1 for 73.3%). We'll have to keep
an eye on Bovada to check up on the probability-based value of
teams like the Pistons.
Disappointing Sunsets
Is it a 'Mello curse' … or is it just bad luck that wherever Carmelo
goes making it to .500 becomes the goal? The Oklahoma
City Thunder are probably the most disappointing team in the league
right now. It's not even wholly because they are massively
under-achieving on the public expectation … but they aren't even any
fun to watch. At least last season, we got to watch Westbrook take 700
shots a game on his way the MVP.
Now it's like the Thunder chemistry seems completely dead.The race for
the playoffs is definitely a long-distance run … but the Thunder need
to find themselves quickly or they will be battling it out just to get
a berth.
Surprising Sunsets
Who would have thought that the T-wolves would be playing this well?
The franchise is definitely headed in the right direction, but I didn’t
quite think that the improvements would be so drastically apparent so
quickly. Not only are the Minnesota
Timberwolves outpacing the Trail Blazers and the Nuggets to sit on
the North West Divisions first-chair, they are outpacing the most of
the Western Conference, sitting comfortably in third. Not only are they
winning, but doing so by double-digits on many a night.
Can the Timberwolves keep this up and keep teams like the Blazers and
Spurs at bay? That is yet to be seen, but Minnesota is a fairly young
team (with the exception of the ancient, Jamal Crawford.) It is going
to be a battle but the Blazers tend to hit a slump that sets them back
around two-thirds to three-fourths of the way through the season. If
the Wolves stay healthy they have a solid shot at entering the
post-season with at the #3 seed.