Basketball Intelligence For 1/9/24, PART ONE
Today's Best NBA Reporting And Analysis
LEAGUEWIDE
NBA Rookie Power Rankings 3.0: Heat's Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Warriors' Brandin Podziemski crack top 5
Krysten Peek, Yahoo Sports
When do the NBA's best players actually play? Notes on rotation patterns, and what they might mean
Jared Dubin, Last Night In Basketball
The NBA’s best players tend to play around the same number of minutes. Most stars get somewhere between 30 and 36 minutes a night. But just because the play the same number of minutes, doesn’t mean they’re actually on the court at the same time.
Sure, they all usually start and end each half (barring blowouts), but the middle portion of the first and second quarters typically yields at least one rest period for these guys, and it’s there where things get different.
Rookies Primed for an Anthony-Edwards-Style Turnaround
Jacob Sutton, JSutt Hoops
In 2021, we saw one of the best post-All-Star turnarounds by a rookie, ever. Could one of these rookies do it this season?
NBA Power Rankings: Knicks on the rise after big trade, Bucks in free fall, Mavericks crack top five
Colin Ward-Henninger, CBS Sports
Power Rankings: The Nuggets are rising and awake
Zach Harper, The Athletic
The 1 Fun Stat power rankings of the NBA's championship contenders
Ben Rohrbach, Yahoo Sports
NBA game notes for games that were played on January 8
Justin Kubatko, Statitudes
TEAM-SPECIFIC
BOS: Derrick White on what makes a perfect role player: “You’ve just got to get over yourself”
Noa Dalzell, Celtics Blog
BOS: A late reversal against the Pacers leaves the Celtics feeling foul, wondering how they got to that point
Adam Himmelbach, Boston Globe
DAL: Irving finds redemption and Mavericks discover a new level in win over Timberwolves
Tim Cato, The Athletic
GSW: Film Breakdown: How the Raptors “Flexed” their muscle over the Wiggins-Kuminga starting lineup
Joe Viray, Golden State Of Mind
It’s a pairing that hasn’t worked all season — and it didn’t work against the Raptors
HOU: The indecisive flamingo: Şengün's substance has caught up to his style
Mike Shearer, Basketball Poetry
Şengün is mounting a credible (probable?) All-Star campaign as the propulsion system of the Houston Rockets, and thankfully, he’s lost none of his flash along the way
IND: On Bennedict Mathurin's shot less taken
Caitlin Cooper, Basketball She Wrote
After defeating the Boston Celtics, 133-131, in what was a game that went from heart-stopping, when Tyrese Haliburton had to be carried off the floor after slipping on the court, to heart-pounding, as his teammates came up big in the second half despite not having their usual big, late-game playmaker, Rick Carlisle said the following of the go-ahead shot that resulted in free throws for Bennedict Mathurin to perform in the clutch at the line:
"We have no one else on our team who can create that kind of a look and that kind of a foul situation."
IND: 'I think we'll be alright': Pacers better prepared to win without Tyrese Haliburton
Dustin Dopirak, Indy Star
Links to the rest of the team-specific stories as well as draft-related pieces follow for paid subscribers