The Spire

Jack Faggiano ’27

Staff Writer

The 2023-24 NBA season is underway, and there has been no shortage of excitement. Let’s start off with the reigning champion Denver Nuggets. They’re off to a 3-0 start and have torched everyone who has stood in their way in the first week. Nikola Jokic has picked up right where he left off in the playoffs, averaging 26.3 points, 13 rebounds, and 7.7 assists in the first three games. He’s still blowing everyone’s minds with his superhuman passing ability. In their game against the Grizzlies, Jokic threw an insane lob to Aaron Gordon from the opposing side’s three-point line. You might as well just give him his third MVP award already! But he hasn’t been doing it all by himself: Jamal Murray has shot the lights out as always, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Michael Porter Jr. have been killers behind the three-point line. Aaron Gordon continues to provide intensity on the defensive end, and has made some tough finishes at the rack as well in the first three games. Michael Malone’s Nuggets still look like the best team in the league.

Denver isn’t the only team that has looked red-hot right out of the gate. The new “top six” of the Celtics has been everything the Boston faithful could have hoped for. In Porzingis’s debut against the Knicks, he scored 30 points and hit the game-winning three-pointer over his old club. His pick-and-roll game with Jayson Tatum looked unstoppable. In Boston’s second game against Miami, Derrick White led the way with 28 points, helping the C’s get their revenge on a team that knocked them out last season. Jrue Holiday has looked terrific on both sides of the ball so far, averaging 13 points and 2 blocks over the first two games. Jaylen Brown hasn’t looked quite like himself yet, but Boston shouldn’t be worried. This team is deep enough that when one of their stars has an off-night, they will find other ways to win.

For the Milwaukee Bucks and new acquisition Damian Lillard, their first two games have been drastically different. In their season opener against the 76ers, Lillard looked right at home, dropping 39 points and hitting clutch shots late to seal a 118-117 win for his new team. Giannis Antetokounmpo recorded a double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds, while Brook Lopez contributed in typical fashion with 13 points and a couple of timely three-pointers. When fans saw they were hosting the 0-2 Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night, they expected a blowout. Trae Young, however, had other things in mind, and his team obliterated the Bucks on their own floor, 127-110. What should we make of an inconsistent first two games of Lillard and Antetokounmpo’s partnership? Probably not much, but it’s worth noting that this new-look Bucks team is definitely going to need time to adjust to playing with a different offense under new head coach Adrian Griffin.

When it comes to the Sixers, all anyone seems to care about is James Harden’s drama with Daryl Morey and his subsequent trade to the Clippers, but forget that. Philadelphia already looks better than they did a season ago. Joel Embiid is still Joel Embiid, the reigning MVP who averaged 33.1 points and 10.2 rebounds a game last season. But Tyrese Maxey’s improvement and ability to run the offense is the biggest reason why this Sixers team is better than last year’s. In the absence of Harden, Maxey has averaged an absurd 30.3 points off of 56% shooting from beyond the arc in his first three games. His passing has been incredible, and he’s using his elite agility to move without the ball at an extremely high level. With Harden finally gone, Maxey has taken things into his own hands, and that’s something Philly fans have to appreciate.

Enough about the overachievers, let’s look at the team who has already put themselves into a significant hole just a week in. The Memphis Grizzlies, coming off back-to-back years in which they were the second seed in a talented Western Conference, have their first 0-3 start since the 2004-2005 season. Losing Ja Morant for the first 25 games due to a suspension has clearly hurt them. Jaren Jackson and Desmond Bane have been phenomenal, but they can only take this Grizzlies team so far. They rank twenty-first in rebounds per game after ranking second last season, and that’s mainly because of the loss of Steven Adams to a season-ending knee injury. They recently signed Bismack Biyombo in hopes that he can be a solid replacement, but this team is quickly becoming desperate to win games so that they can at least have a chance when Morant returns.