.png)
People don’t often like to admit when they’re wrong however in sports, sometimes you don’t need words at all.
The play of Lonzo and LaMelo ball have propelled their respective teams to the top of the Eastern Conference while subsequently proving their father, LaVar right.
In the West, a familiar face may be back to challenge for an award he has already won twice in Golden State’s Steph Curry.
Meanwhile, a new face may be staking claim for the award just three games into the new year.
Chicago’s back on its Bull
The City of Chicago can party like it’s 1997 because the Bulls are off to their best start since that year.
In case you were wondering, that was the year Hall-of-Famer Michael Jordan captured title No. 6, the final of his career.
The team has been boosted this season by a complement of all-stars and role players to join an already developing young core.
Olympian Zach LaVine did enough last season to entice some free agents to choose the Central division landing spot.
Guard Lonzo Ball has come over and excelled as the lead point guard and ball-handler for the team.
Center Nikola Vucevic, acquired at the deadline last season, has been the anchor needed for this Chicago offense and defense.
Forward DeMar DeRozan has now fallen into the role of elder statesman and has relished in fulfilling the closer role for this young Bulls’ team.
In fact, Ball and DeRozan led wins against their respective former teams, New Orleans and Toronto.
Ball tallied a triple-double with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in a 128-112 win for the Bulls over the Pelicans Friday, Oct. 22.
DeRozan hit a clutch shot that pushed his Bulls past the Raptors in Toronto, closing with a game-high 26 points.
Not to mention, showtime is back as guard Alex Caruso has brought the “Caru-Show” to the Windy City.
The team is playing so well it’s hard to believe it gave LaVine his first four-game win streak of his NBA career.
Buzz City is buzzin’
Sitting just below the Bulls are the Charlotte Hornets, which may surprise some casual fans considering how last season ended for the young team.
A loss to Indiana in the play-in tournament ended the Charlotte season this past May.
A game in which the team may not have been playing had guard LaMelo Ball not broken his wrist near the end of March.
That broken wrist forced the rookie to miss six weeks of action, going down when the Hornets were fourth in the East.
He returned in enough time to push the team toward the play-in tournament but not enough to get into the playoffs.
This year, he’s picked up where he left off, averaging 22.8 points per game to go along with 6.8 assists per contest and 5.5 rebounds per contest.
The tandem of Ball and forward Miles Bridges has electrified almost every night on the floor together since its inception last year.
Bridges leads the team with 25 points per game on 53% percent shooting from the field.
With the help of forward Gordon Hayward and Kelly Oubre Jr. on the wings, the Hornets have rounded out into a pretty deep team for the Eastern Conference.
Their team play has made up for the absence of guard Terry Rozier Jr., who missed the last two games after missing the season opener.
Rozier scored six points in the lone game he’s played so far this season.
Chef Curry back open for business
After falling just shy of making the postseason after losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in the play-in tournament, the Golden State Warriors have returned to a familiar position in the standings.
After the first week of action in the league, Golden State sits atop of the West with a 4-0 overall record.
It’s the first time since the 2015-16 season, where the team made the NBA Finals.
Of course, guard Steph Curry is at the forefront of the re-takeover by the team closest to the Bay.
Curry appears to be vying for another MVP award, averaging 29 points per game on 40 percent from three-point range and 8.2 assists per game.
He even notched a triple-double in the season opener, his first in the regular season since that 2015-16 campaign.
That triple-double came in the first of two big wins for Golden State to open the season.
The first was a win over the new-look Lakers where Curry and company had to overcome a combined 67 points from forwards LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Forty-eight hours later, Curry helped the Warriors oust the all-star Kawhi Leonard-less Clippers by two points despite being challenged to a shootout of sorts by fellow all-star Paul George.
The other two wins came against Sacramento and Oklahoma City.
This may be a scary thing for the league as the Warriors are still without three-time champion Klay Thompson, who is recovering from a torn achilles.
As if he didn’t already, Thompson will be returning with a special fire after being left off the NBA’s 75 greatest players of all-time list released the past couple of weeks.
Ja’s back on his grizzly
Memphis guard Ja Morant leads the league in scoring through the first week of games in the Association.
Morant is averaging 35 points per game while adding eight assists per contest.
From the start, he proved he was out to turn heads with a 37-point performance in front of the FedEx Forum faithful.
Three nights later, he followed that up with a 28-point outing on the road in Los Angeles.
Morant had a season-high 40 points the next night, tallying his first double-double of the season with 10 assists.
More importantly, the Grizzlies are winning.
The team started 2-0 against Cleveland and the LA Clippers before falling to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Despite his 40 points, Morant could be seen accepting blame for the loss to the Lakers after missing a clutch free throw despite going 9-of-11 from the line.