With Week 1 of the 2018 NBA season behind us there have been some things that everyone expected, and some major surprises, so let’s break down what we have learned from the first week.
LeBron James and the Lakers have a lot of work to do
The Lakers have LeBron James and he is surrounded by a bunch of veteran talent, but so far those two things haven’t resulted in a win. James needs shooters around him and although some of the Lakers can shoot they are very inconsistent.
The team is averaging 9.7 three-pointers made a game but they are only shooting 28.7 percent from the field. The Lakers also don’t really have a true center and when JaVale McGee gets into foul trouble opponents go inside and kill them. It’s too early to panic for this team but the last two times that James started his season 0-3 those teams missed the playoffs.
Maybe the Raptors can keep Kawhi Leonard
No one really knew what to expect with Kawhi Leonard coming over to the Raptors but so far it seems to be working out just fine. The Raptors have won their first four games of the season including wins over the Celtics and the Raptors.
Leonard is averaging 25.7 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 2.7 assists and he is proving again why he is one of the best defenders in the league.
Lakers and the Rockets are going to be a fun rivalry this season
The Lakers and the Rockets faced off for the first time in week one and there is already some very bad blood. After Brandon Ingram shoved James Harden it appeared that Rajon Rondo spit into Chris Paul’s face which caused the two to throw haymakers.
Rondo has always been an instigator and it’s going to make the Rockets and the Lakers much watch television. Don’t expect that this is the last time that these two exchange words.
The Pelicans love to score
The New Orleans Pelicans have only played two games so far this year but their offense is clicking. The Pelicans are averaging 140 points per game and it appears that the trade with the Bulls for Nikola Mirotic was working. He is currently averaging 33 points per game while shooting 64.7 percent from the field.
Now it’s going to be hard to keep scoring 140 points per game but with the way the offense is going things are looking good for the Pelicans.
The Pelicans defense hasn’t been great this year but when you keep scoring like that it doesn’t seem to matter. Maybe the Pelicans are trying to use the Golden State philosophy to win games.
Maybe Kevin Love isn’t the answer for the Cavaliers
Kevin Love seems to be doing what he did when he was with the Wolves, putting up the good stats but not leading the team to many wins.
So far this year Love is averaging 20.7 points and 14.3 rebounds per game but the team is still 0-3. Maybe the Cavaliers will pull a Clippers and trade him midway through this season.
