HeatCheck – Week 1

A rebirth has already begun in Philly, and Michael Carter-Williams is the future.

On Fire

I honestly can’t even believe that I’m having to write this.  It’s easily the Philadephia 76ers who are on fire this week.  After being declared ineligible to compete this season by countless analysts and an essential lock for the #1 odds in next year’s Lottery, Philadelphia came out and shocked the hoops world by taking down the consensus best team in the world by 4 points at home.  It was the perfect storm: an older Heat squad, an unexpected competitor in the Sixers, and the best night of Carter-Williams’ whole career to this point.  David would be proud at how the Sixers, aka Michael Carter-Williams and Co., stood up to this Goliath.

Let’s start with “and Co.” and we’ll finish with MCW.  Evan Turner was 10-13 from inside the arc and 6-6 from the charity stripe, finishing with 26 points as well as 4 rebounds and 5 assists.  He wasn’t the only statsheet stuffer though; Thaddeus Young had 10 points, 6 rebounds, and a pair of assists and steals each, Spencer Hawes had 24 points, 9 boards and shot over 70% from the field, and in total, the team had 40 rebounds, 24 assists, and 16 steals.  Read that again.  16 steals.  Granted, 9 of them came from Michael Carter-Williams, a phenomenal feat that fell only 2 shy of the NBA record.  MCW’s final stat line was 22 points, 7 rebounds, 12 assists, 9 steals, and only 1 single turnover.  He shot 60% from the field, 66.7% from 3, and 75% from the free throw line.  MCW: Where efficiency meets gaudy statlines.

The Sixers then went on to beat the Wizards at Washington, a much more impressive feat this year than last, and edged the Bulls in Philly off of another double-double by MCW.  Golden State delivered the first loss of the season to the Sixers on Monday night, a 20-point blowout at home, however Golden State is likely to run several teams out of the building this year.  Evan Turner is averaging 22 points per contest, and Hawes has a cool 16/10 double-double average going right now.  MCW is putting up great stats nearly every night, and looks to have solidified the controversial trade that sent Jrue Holiday to the Pelicans this offseason.

Lottery Spin: For the young Sixers, this hot start is exactly what the fan base should honestly want to see from them.  It’s very likely to unravel at some point during the year, but this kind of start is extremely encouraging for a city that is rich in basketball tradition.  The 76ers were fully expected by most to end up with the highest odds for pick number one, but I believe that there’s a strong possibility that they’ll end more in the 3-7 pick range based on standings.  This team is much more talented than people will give credit for, but they’re still a few players short of a contender.

Ice Cold

The Boston Celtics haven’t been 0-4 since the 1969-70 season.  Let that sink in.  It’s been over 40 years since the Celtics lost the first four games of the season.  That team finished 34-48, however that might be a lot to ask this squad, led by a first-year NBA head coach in Brad Stevens (who I think was a great choice to lead the new Celtics into the future) and a fairly young roster without a healthy superstar.  Considering this team had 4 All-Stars starting just a few years ago, it’s quite a change for Boston fans.  Until Rajon Rondo returns from injury, I don’t know how well this roster can really gel together.  Avery Bradley is an insanely good man-to-man defender, but he’s not even close to a true point guard.  Jeff Green is the best player on the roster that’s currently playing, and he can’t do it all by himself.  Gerald Wallace is aging and is now calling out the team publicly, Brandon Bass is good as a compliment 4 but maybe not as a star for the team, and there’s a logjam of youth and a former Kardashian family member at center.  Kelly Olynyk doesn’t seem ready to grasp the reins of the starting center position, especially now that Vitor Faverani is quickly making a name for himself (see our All-Rookie Team for Week 1), and Kris Humphries had a nice outing in his only game off the bench in the opener versus Toronto, grabbing 9 boards, scoring 8, and swatting 2 shots in only 21 minutes of play.

The Celtics started the season with an ugly, but close, loss to the Raptors in Toronto by losing the ball 22 times and shooting only 23.1% from deep.  They followed that up with another poor shooting performance in their home opener versus the Milwaukee Bucks, hitting only 4 threes in 16 attempts, plus only tallying 68.4% from the charity stripe.  Despite Faverani’s superhuman effort (12 points, 18 rebounds, 6 blocks), Boston squandered a 12-point 3rd quarter lead by allowing the Bucks to score 34 to their 15 in the final quarter of the game, including the last 10 points of the game over the final 2:28.  The schedule didn’t get any easier as the Celtics traveled to Detroit, promptly shot even worse from 3 and from the FT line, and then to Tennessee to lose to the Grizzlies after yet again having a lead in the 3rd and 4th quarters.

Lottery Spin: As expected, the era of Brad Stevens started on a rocky road that will be their 2013-14 regular season.  Their expected Lottery positioning is mostly hinged on the return of Rajon Rondo.  The sooner he returns, the higher they’ll rise in the standings and thus, the lower they’ll fall in the Lottery chances.  I’m not a fan of tanking in any fashion generally speaking, but it may be wise to ease Rondo back as carefully as the Bulls handled Rose last year, especially given the fact that the Celtics may be very far out of the playoff race by late December/early January.  I expect the C’s to fall into one of the top 4 Lottery positions by April and have a legitimate shot at a big time playmaker such as Julius Randle or Andrew Wiggins.

By Jon Elliott
Follow @TheJontlet