It’s still early in the NBA season, which means there’s still time to reel off a few more overreactions.
If you missed Part I of this story, check it out here. Here is Part II:
For all the talk surrounding the Cleveland Cavaliers (13-0) — point forward Evan Mobley, Darius Garland’s and Donovan Mitchell’s binge scoring, Jarrett Allen’s relentless mission to contest every shot at the rim — a lot of smaller narratives are playing out, too.
You don’t maintain an undefeated record nearly a month into the season because only a few elements are working. Isaac Okoro is hitting a surprising number of his 3s. Dean Wade was a revelation in the starting lineup. Caris LeVert is off to the best start of his career. And Garland looks like a different player, independent of his scoring.
It wasn’t long ago the Cavs planted two towering rim protectors down low because they deployed two sieves at the top of their defense. Garland was one of those guys. The Boston Celtics exposed him during a second-round playoff series last season, running him into screen after screen. There wasn’t much Garland could do.
By that point, he was weak — and it wasn’t all his fault. He suffered a jaw injury in the middle of last season, couldn’t eat as much as he needed and lost weight. Come the postseason, larger opponents could bully him, and physical screeners could place him wherever they wanted.
However, Cleveland didn’t lose faith in Garland’s defense, even if he was never an all-world stopper. The team’s internal metrics painted his performance before the injury as middling, dragged up to acceptable levels because he gets steals. But his improvement this season, one of the significant factors in the Cavs’ stampede of victories, has little to do with forcing turnovers.
Garland is stronger. He’s fighting through those same screens he got hung up on only months ago. He’s staying in front of defenders.
In the play below, look at how Garland steps up above the screen on this play against the Chicago Bulls, then holds strong against 20-point scorer Zach LaVine, guiding LaVine to a difficult part of the court and forcing him into a low-percentage shot:
Garland is better, but of course, he is. Everything seems to be going right in Cleveland.
Defend KAT with centers at your own risk
The New York Knicks’ problems do not include Towns, who is off to a roaring start during his first season with the franchise.
He’s already gone for 40-plus points twice, 30-plus five times and has more made 3-pointers than missed ones. His greatest moments so far have come while attacking slower big men.
Defenses have taken various approaches to Towns. More versatile defenses will throw smaller players on Towns and deploy their centers on Josh Hart, an active cutter and screener whom they feel comfortable leaving open beyond the 3-point arc. In those scenarios, the center will roam and clog up the paint and a smaller defender will attempt to get into Towns’ legs, hoping to goad the All-Star big man into less efficient post-ups.
But recently, teams have tossed conventional centers at Towns, and it has not gone well for them.
Physical drives are taking Towns to the rim, one of the Knicks’ few ways of consistently forcing free throws. Most recently, he picked the Chicago Bulls’ Nikola Vučević apart during a 46-point outburst. Chicago never sent help Vučević’s way, which only encouraged Towns to field passes on the perimeter and then take off for the basket.
He slaughtered the Milwaukee Bucks’ Brook Lopez, a defensive-minded 7-footer who is most comfortable in the paint, the same way a week earlier. Lopez had to step beyond the 3-point arc to defend Towns. Once he did, Towns would slam a shoulder into Lopez, meet his brawn and chug to the basket.
The new-look Knicks are in a transitional phase, sitting at 5-6 without a league-average defense and with other elements that scream they need more time to get comfortable together. But Towns’ first impression could not be better — and it’s not just because he’s off to his best shooting start ever.
Jalen Johnson elevates for a fadeaway jumper over Boston’s Jaylen Brown earlier this week. (David Butler II / Imagn Images)
Hawks letting Jalen Johnson fight through growing pains
Not even a minute into the Atlanta Hawks’ miraculous win in Boston this week, Johnson grabbed an offensive rebound and pushed the basketball up the court to teammate Dyson Daniels, who whipped the ball back to Johnson once Johnson crossed half court. Johnson caught the pass but also got his feet tangled, dragging a foot and committing an obvious travel.
One quarter later, with the clock winding down in the second period and the Hawks hoping to put up one final shot, Johnson deflected a pass and then trekked the other way, hoping to set up for a 3-pointer before the buzzer. He received another pass as he was approaching the arc and squared to the basket. But he took four obvious shuffle steps.
Another travel.
This has become a theme for Johnson, who got off to a cold shooting start over the first couple of weeks but has improved. The Hawks believe he is more than just a shooter or athletic lob threat. They want him to control the ball in transition and have put the basketball in his hands more than ever. He’s leading fast breaks and is averaging 5.3 assists per game, comfortably a career high.
Atlanta believes it can turn him into more of a hub. An athlete of his ilk with an intimidating 6-foot-9 frame is a horror story for any team trying to get back on defense, especially if Johnson grows more and more comfortable as a distributor — and especially if he gets his footwork right.
The first step, though, is those feet.
Johnson is traveling a disproportionate amount on those types of plays. He committed two walking violations in the win over Boston. He’s walked on four step-through moves so far this season and has 12 travels — twice as many as anyone else in the NBA — through 12 games played.
The Hawks won’t shy away from him, though. This is all part of a 22-year-old’s learning process, and his other numbers (19 points, 10 rebounds, five assists) tell you why.
For what it’s worth if you are particularly worried about Johnson’s traveling, here’s a bit of trivia: The same player has led the NBA in travels committed for six consecutive seasons: two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Nets are too frisky for their own good
The Brooklyn Nets employ good basketball players when too much of the Eastern Conference does not.
Simultaneous with trading away Mikal Bridges this summer was another deal. Brooklyn reacquired the rights to its 2025 first-round pick, giving the organization an opportunity to sink to the bottom of the standings before a draft with talent loaded at the top.
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Then Dennis Schröder showed up to training camp with floaties.
Schröder won’t continue to drain 46 percent of his 3s. The offense is a surprising 12th in points per possession at the moment. Chances are, that won’t continue. And the tippy-top of the organization likely will make sure defeats come more commonly than they have during the 5-7 start. But the East is a slog — only 3.5 games separate the fourth-place Knicks from the last-place Raptors — and new head coach Jordi Fernandez has this group playing hard.
Schröder, Cameron Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith and Nic Claxton are all solid players. Ben Simmons has been a reliable distributor. Cam Thomas scores in droves. Ziaire Williams makes three energy plays per game that make you think Brooklyn could have found something.
Not all of those guys will last the season with the Nets. Finney-Smith is on an expiring contract. Johnson can help a winning team. And so on.
But the Nets have competitive basketball players and participate in an uncompetitive basketball conference. That’s not the greatest formula to end up with Cooper Flagg.
Dyson Daniels is bound for All-Defense accolades
One more Hawks point, because no one who enjoys this sport should look away from Daniels right now.
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He has 23 steals in his past four games, 19 in his past three and is in the midst of a three-game streak in which he’s totaled at least six steals during each of those matchups. He has deflected 76 passes already this season, 31 more than anyone else, and is averaging 7.6 a game, which would set a record for most in a season since the NBA began tracking that stat in 2015-16. And it would epically set that record, doubling the number that led the league in some seasons.
There has been a shift away from steals as an essential part of defense in recent seasons. If a player piles up a ton of takeaways, he must be a gambler. But that’s not always true. And when you’re knocking away as many passes and dribbles as Daniels, the critiques begin not to matter.
If he keeps up this pace, Daniels has a chance at the single-season steals record: 3.7, set by Alvin Robertson in 1985-86. Daniels sits at 3.6.
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(Top photo of Darius Garland and Stephen Curry: Jason Miller / Getty Images)
