Don't you forget about Giannis

We're all rightfully enamored with Victor Wembanyama's freaky play. The original is still putting up ridiculous performances every night, too. Good morning. Let's basketball.

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On with the newsletter, which is primarily weekend reactions today.

Scores

Friday

Bucks 122, Raptors 116 – Ho hum, it's a Giannis 30-20 game. Constant dominance. A total cheat code.

Hawks 111, Magic 107 – Both Paolo Banchero and Desmond Bane were ice cold. The Magic aren't equipped to survive two of their three scorers coming in low, even with a super strong defense.

Here's another Trae Young nutmeg for the montage.

Celtics 95, Knicks 105 – Perhaps no one has to ask Joe Mazzulla to tank. Brad Stevens did the job for him.

Cavaliers 131, Nets 124 – Cleveland is so injury-riddled (how injury-riddled are they?) they started Jaylon Tyson in this game. For those tracking at home, Cam Thomas got two more FGAs than Michael Porter Jr. and six more free throws.

Pistons 115, Rockets 111 – Houston gave up a bunch of threes and, more concerningly, a ton of offensive rebounds. Losing two close games: worrisome. Paul Reed was the sixth Piston off the bench and saved the game with a block on Alperen Sengun in the closing seconds.

Heat 146, Grizzlies 114 – OK, Miami! Eight players in double figures. A horrific shooting night from all Memphis starters other than Jaren Jackson Jr. We may need to start talking about whether Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has lost his mojo. He's only 32 but it hasn't been great since Denver.

Spurs 120, Pelicans 116 (OT) – Fascinating battle here. Zion Williamson dunked on Victor Wembanyama on the opening possession, and put up some good numbers. He had some success getting into Vic's body and drawing fouls – Wembanyama has built his base strength entering this season, but Z is still a different level of strong. But Wembanyama's godly length and quickness also chilled Williamson's ability to score over or around Vic. To wit: Vic had nine blocks.

Again, this is a fascinating battle. VW vs. ZW. Next match-up is November 8.

Wizards 117, Mavericks 107 – Let's not dwell in the Mavericks losing at home to THE WIZARDS in terms of Mavericks panic. There will be time for that. Let's revel in the fact that Kyshawn George looked like the best wing on the floor and is playing very comfortably to start his second season. He's the best Wizards prospect right now, with no offense to the Couliballers out there.

Timberwolves 110, Lakers 128 – Remember how flat the Wolves looked for a long stretch of last season, and how we chalked it up to growing pains with the additions of Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo? Well, the Wolves didn't really make any major additions in the offseason and look ... a little flat. Also, Luka Doncic looks the opposite of flat and even got Deandre Ayton looking to be with the program in this game. An Deandrawakening?

Warriors 119, Blazers 139 – There's a blast of cold water for the Warriors believers following the opening night win over Los Angeles. Portland, who does not project to have a good offense this season, scored at will against Golden State. Maybe it's just an aberration.

Jazz 104, Kings 105 – Domantas Sabonis saw enough and came back from his injury after missing just one game. But it was Zach LaVine (31), Malik Monk (six threes) and a terrible Utah offense that put Sacramento in position to win before Sabonis clinched it with a game-winning putback.

Suns 102, Clippers 129 – That's more like it, Clippers. Except Bradley Beal was totally ineffective again, so despite James Harden and Kawhi Leonard popping off on offense and Phoenix's offense being totally dreadful, I'm not sure exactly how long Beal lasts as a starter over either John Collins or Kris Dunn.

Saturday

Bulls 110, Magic 98 – Another Paolo Banchero cold spell (7/21 from the floor against a team that doesn't project as a top defense). Too many turnovers for Orlando (20) and brutal shooting from deep (3/24). Only nine times in NBA history has a team taken 24 or more threes and made fewer than three.

Thunder 117, Hawks 100 – All-NBA Chet Holmgren remains on track.

Hornets 121, Sixers 125 – Philadelphia goes 2-0 without Paul George and with Joel Embiid not ... looking great. Tyrese Maxey and Quentin Grimes provide!

Pacers 103, Grizzlies 128 – It's still not clear that Memphis is going to be good. But they appear to have found yet another good rookie: Cedric Coward, a late lottery pick who has double-digit points in all three Grizz games so far. He destroyed Indiana in the third and went 6/6 from deep overall. Much needed help!

Suns 111, Nuggets 133 – Oh hell yes. Nuggets are back.

Sunday

Nets 107, Spurs 118 – But seriously folks, what the hell is anyone going to do with Victor Wembanyama ever again? Through three games he's averaging 33 points and six blocks.

Halfway through that clip, Vic gets two blocks on one Nets possession, brings the ball up and hits a logo three. The Spurs are 3-0 without De'Aaron Fox suiting up.

Two other notes:

• The Nets are still resilient and tough for a team built to win 25 games. Feisty rally in the third and fourth.
• Dylan Harper looks quite comfortable on the floor, especially in transition and in the hustle categories. We may someday look back on the Spurs landing the No. 2 pick in 2025 as one of those "everyone else is doomed" moments.

Celtics 113, Pistons 119 – Hugo Gonzalez has gone from a DNP on opening night to starting by Game 3. I'm not sure it will stick: after a good game off the bench on Friday, he had a 0-1-0-2-1 line in 18 minutes on Sunday. He's 19, though, and Boston will take any silver linings they can find.

Jalen Duren shredded dear Neemias Queta: 24 and 18 in 28 minutes. Yeah, everyone who cited Boston's depth issues were spot on.

Bucks 113, Cavaliers 118 – An encouragingly close loss for Milwaukee, who is now missing Cole Anthony due to illness and Kevin Porter Jr. due to a bad wheel. (They are also without Kyle Kuzma. I wouldn't say they are "missing" him, though.) Yet another ridiculous Giannis performance: 40 points on 14/20 shooting (11/16 from the line), 14 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks. Everyone knows what he's going to do and no one can stop him.

Cleveland is still without Darius Garland and Max Strus, and is clearly better than Milwaukee. But I want to see a playoff series here given Antetokounmpo's past exploits on that stage and this Cleveland core's struggles.

Knicks 107, Heat 115 – Masterful Jalen Brunson performance here but the Knicks bench hemorrhaged points and Miami's bench has been surprisingly effective so far. A big part of that: Jaime Jaquez Jr. has been rejuvenated! He's averaging 16-7-4 through three games and shooting 71% from the floor.

Hornets 139, Wizards 113 – Brandon Miller didn't dress for the first time with a shoulder injury that knocked him out of Friday's game. But LaMelo Ball picked up the slack. Quoting Eric Collins: LaMelo Ball is playing with his hair on fire.

That pairing with Kon Knueppel has the opportunity to be deeply mutually beneficial.

Pacers 110, Timberwolves 114 – Anthony Edwards left quite early with a hamstring injury that sent him to street clothes by halftime. The Pacers came in without Andrew Nembhard and Bennedict Mathurin. RayJ Dennis played 27 minutes. Someone get Indiana a first aid kit or something.

Raptors 129, Mavericks 139 – The lack of defense from Dallas remains highly concerning but hey! The offense popped without a traditional point guard in the starting five (Jason Kidd is sticking with this plan, which makes me more skeptical of an early Kyrie Irving return) and Cooper Flagg had a nice game.

Blazers 107, Clippers 114 – Kawhi is establishing his roots in the All-NBA conversation early this season. John Collins really looks good with L.A.

Lakers 127, Kings 120 – Luka took the night off, so Austin Reaves brought his flamethrowers to Sacramento. (Sacramento is the Upper Midwest of California, it's fine.)

Giving up 127 to a Lakers team without Luka and LeBron? That's a good defense right there.

Sabonis is gutting it out but he's clearly not himself, and the Kings need to ask themselves whether it's worth risking a worse hamstring injury at this stage. Losing to the Suns and the undermanned Lakers and beating the Jazz by a point – is it worth the risk right now? Of course, the fact that Sabonis won the Jazz game and that's keeping them from a very soft 0-3 start ... that is probably affecting the math, too.

Schedule

It's a Peacock Monday. What sound does a peacock make? Do they coo like pigeons? I was around some peafowl last spring at a local lake and I feel like they were cooing. Anyways, it's a Peacock Monday. Coo coo. All times Eastern.

Cavaliers at Pistons, 7, Peacock
Magic at Sixers, 7
Hawks at Bulls, 8
Nets at Rockets, 8
Celtics at Pelicans, 8
Raptors at Spurs, 8
Thunder at Mavericks, 8:30
Suns at Jazz, 9
Nuggets at Timberwolves, 9:30, Peacock
Grizzlies at Warriors, 10
Blazers at Lakers, 10:30

Back Tuesday with reaction and lots o' links. Be excellent to each other.