NBA's Best Games of the Week
Believe it or not, we're a quarter of the way through the 2016-17 NBA season.
And as BBALLBREAKDOWN's James Holas put it: "we're at about the 20 game mark, guys! Small sample size / "it's early in the season" no longer applies! Stuff matters now!"
At around this point, we start to have a decent grasp of which teams are actually good, which players are for real and which trends might be more than just trends.
With that in mind, it's easier to know the games and players to pay attention to. And this week features some fun ones.
The best matchups follow. Be sure to head to the comment section after you read to share the games you're looking forward to, as well as picks for the ones listed here.
Bulls at Pistons, Tuesday, December 6
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The Bulls spent much of the season looking like the Cavs' toughest competition for Central Division dominance, but the return of Reggie Jackson to the Detroit Pistons could change that.
Detroit has been able to hover around .500 without Jackson due to balanced scoring from Tobias Harris, Marcus Morris, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Andre Drummond, as well as solid leadership from Ish Smith.
But the return of Jackson makes this a different team. Last season, Jackson led Detroit in points and assists, and the Pistons outscored opponents by 2.1 more points per 100 possessions with him on the floor, per NBA.com.
Putting arguably their best player back in the lineup could have the Pistons leapfrogging the Bulls in very little time, especially if they manage to win on Tuesday.
Cavaliers at Knicks, Wednesday, December 7
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On Wednesday, familiar foes LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony will square off in the world's most famous arena.
For Melo and the Knicks, it's a chance to beat the Cavs for the first time since October 30, 2014. Cleveland has won the last seven in this series by an average of 12.4 points.
And while the Cavs will still be heavy favorites, this looks like the best Knicks team in a while. They're in playoff contention, in large part because Anthony is starting to defer to Kristaps Porzingis.
The second-year big man from Latvia is taking three and a half more shots per game. And he's actually seen an increase in efficiency coincide with that increase in usage.
He or Melo will have to have a huge game to keep pace with the Cavs, though. Cleveland has the fifth-ranked offense in the league, per NBA.com, and James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love are all averaging over 20 points.
Warriors at Clippers, Wednesday, December 7
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The Los Angeles Clippers, long seen as perhaps the only team in the Western Conference that can derail the Warriors' title plans, could have revenge on their minds on Wednesday.
The last time they faced off with the Warriors, they were thrashed. Matt Moore of CBS Sports put it in even more extreme terms:
"The Golden State Warriors defeated/destroyed/annihilated/humiliated the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday night, 120-75, in a game that somehow, miraculously, was not that close. Golden State led by as many as 53 points in the second half and dropped 71 on the Clippers in the first half. They dominated the Clippers in every phase of the game and looked like the super team they were billed as when Kevin Durant joined the Warriors on July 4.
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A lot has happened since that preseason meeting on October 4. Despite recent struggles, the Clippers still hold the second-best net rating in the NBA, and their recently assembled bench looks better than any second unit in the Doc Rivers era.
Even with the improved depth, it'll take L.A. playing over its head to keep up with the Warriors offense. If the season ended today, Golden State would hold the record for team effective field-goal percentage, according to Basketball-Reference.
Warriors at Jazz, Thursday, December 8
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Win or lose, the Warriors won't get any rest before having to fly to Utah to take on one of the toughest defenses in the league.
The Jazz are currently ranked third on that end, per NBA.com, and represent essentially the opposite of what the Warriors do.
While Golden State has sped most of the league up over the last few years, Utah is avoiding the trend. It's dead last in pace of play and 28th in assist percentage, per NBA.com. The Warriors rank third and first, respectively, in those two categories.
If the Jazz can slow the game down, make it ugly and hit a few threes, they'll give themselves a chance.
Raptors at Celtics, Friday, December 9
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After landing the second-biggest free agent of 2016's crop, the Boston Celtics were considered by many to be a near-lock for the No. 2 seed in the East.
Now a quarter into the season, the prize acquisition, Al Horford, has only appeared in half the team's games. When he plays, Boston has looked solid, going 7-3. In the games he's missed, the Celtics are 5-5.
In the meantime, the Raptors picked up right where they left off last season, one in which they reached the Eastern Conference Finals.
DeRozan is having the best season of his career, and Lowry is quietly having an even better campaign than the All-Star one he put together in 2015-16.
Rockets at Thunder, Friday, December 9
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Former teammates Russell Westbrook and James Harden are putting up astronomical numbers this season. To wit, they're on pace to finish with the first- and 30th-best single season box plus-minuses in NBA history, per Basketball-Reference.
Their basic stats read like something from a bygone era. Westbrook's averaging a ho-hum 31.2 points, 11.3 assists and 10.5 rebounds. Harden's putting up your run-of-the-mill 28.3 points, 11.8 assists and 7.6 rebounds.
The numbers don't even sound real. And the men behind them will meet for the second time this season on Friday. Westbrook's Oklahoma City Thunder won the first matchup, 105-03 on November 16.
Hornets at Cavaliers, Saturday, December 10
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The Charlotte Hornets have cooled down a bit since a 6-1 start, but they may have shown enough then to put themselves in the conversation for the race for No. 2 in the East.
Beating the de facto No. 1, Cleveland, on Saturday would give Charlotte a mighty strong talking point in that conversation.
Doing that will require a massive performance from Kemba Walker, who's already playing at a level we've never seen from him before.
Coming into this week, Walker's scoring average of 23.8 and effective field-goal percentage of 54.6 were both career-highs.
Warriors at Timberwolves, Sunday, December 11
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Golden State is one of the major forces driving a basketball revolution that has pushed several teams to shoot more threes, abandon positions and move the ball.
The Minnesota Timberwolves, specifically Karl-Anthony Towns, could represent the next revolution.
Forget stretch 4s. Forget playmaking 4s. Forget all the scoring point guards. The do-everything 5 is next. And Towns could one day be the leader of that pack.
Against the Warriors on Sunday, he should be able to put his full repertoire on display against a shaky group of centers that includes Zaza Pachulia and JaVale McGee.
The problem for Minnesota is that, even if Towns does go off, it's still tough to imagine the Wolves keeping pace with Golden State's ultra-efficient attack.
