At this point in the NBA season, every team has hit double-digit games, so it's perfectly fine to take the numbers from early in the year to determine what will happen for the next few months.
OK, not really. But there are always interesting and odd numbers that come from a small sample size. Let's dive into the deep end of the stats pool and see what weird trends we can find in a piece inspired by the great "What Up With That?" skit featuring none other than Diondre Cole. (Of course, this wouldn't be possible without the NBA.com stats pages and the indispensable Basketball-Reference.com.)
POWER RANKINGS: Celtics ride defense to top spot, Cavs keep stumbling
Warriors look golden in third quarter
The Warriors have a net rating of 10.1 in the first quarter, 9.1 in the second quarter and 12.3 in the fourth quarter. That's impressive enough from the best team in the Western Conference, but Golden State goes nuclear in the third.
| Offensive rating | Defensive rating | Net rating | Assist % | True shooting % |
| 124.0 | 95.8 | 28.2 | 70.2 | 67.5 |
Turnovers drop, more buckets come courtesy of assists and the Warriors' shooting somehow gets even better. Stephen Curry is leading the way with 9.6 points per third quarter, tied with James Harden for the best mark in the league. If teams don't come out of the locker room ready to play, Golden State is landing a haymaker right on the chin.
Give credit to the Celtics here as well, as they have dominated the third quarter using defense (112.3 offensive rating, 87.3 defensive rating and 25.0 net rating). Not quite as insane as the Warriors, but you know, it's the Warriors.
Kyle Lowry's (lack of) touches in Toronto
The Raptors own an 8-5 record on the season, but Lowry still doesn't look like himself. He has admitted the changes in Toronto's offensive style aren't clicking for him just yet.
"Last couple years, Coach [Dwane Casey] would give me the game for the first five, six, seven minutes," Lowry said (via the Toronto Star). "I could feel out the game and get passes off and get everyone involved and now it’s like everyone has to be involved from the jump. For me, it’s getting off the ball, moving and cutting, and it just hasn’t been there for me yet."
Lowry isn't wrong. He's only averaging 13.8 points per game after a career-high 22.4 points per game last season, a product of his touches and time of possession dropping considerably.
| Season stats | Touches per game | Dribbles per touch | Ball possession (minutes) | Passes received | Pick-and-roll possessions |
| 2016-17 | 85.0 | 4.37 | 6.5 | 69.1 | 8.0 |
| 2017-18 | 72.5 | 3.85 | 5.4 | 56.5 | 4.2 |
Casey is trying to employ more of a read-and-react system as opposed to the isolation, pick-and-roll heavy sets of the past featuring Lowry and DeMar DeRozan. It's been a difficult adjustment for Lowry, but he can be a capable spot-up shooter off the ball (1.28 points per possession in spot-up situations last season, 96.1 percentile). There will always be some element of the old Raptors when it comes to offense, but this needs to happen if the team hopes to advance in the playoffs. We've already seen how that style can lead to ugly possessions when the game gets tight.
Donovan Mitchell helps Jazz run smoothly
Utah is near the bottom of the league in offense after losing Gordon Hayward in free agency, and a significant injury to Rudy Gobert certainly won't help on the defensive end. Looking for a bright spot? Just check out No. 13 overall pick Donovan Mitchell.
He is one of only four players on the Jazz roster with a positive net rating, and things go downhill when he takes a seat on the bench (100.3 offensive rating, 99.7 defensive rating when on the floor vs. 97.1 offensive rating, 102.8 defensive rating when off). He's only shooting 38.1 percent from the field and 31.3 percent from the 3-point line, but he's making an impact and not letting his struggles destroy his confidence.
Mitchell is also carrying a heavy burden for a 21-year-old. He's the second-leading scorer on the team behind Rodney Hood, and more than 70 percent of his makes have been unassisted. He has the highest usage percentage (29.3) for the Jazz and ranks 17th in the league overall. His usage is second among rookies to Mavericks point guard Dennis Smith Jr. (29.8). Since the 2001-02 season, only seven rookies have logged a usage percentage greater than 29.0 with a minimum of 13 games played (Mitchell, Smith, Joel Embiid, Julius Hodge, Ben Gordon, Ronald Murray and Rodney White). In that group, only Gordon sustained that rate for a full season.
Quin Snyder is a terrific coach and will do everything in his power to make life easier for his rookie. But it doesn't appear Mitchell's workload will get lighter any time soon.
Dion Waiters, Heat's clutch time hero
You can yell this into a crowd right now and be 100 percent correct: Dion Waiters is the top clutch scorer in the NBA.
Waiters is scoring 5.8 points in clutch time (last five minutes of the game with a margin of five points or less) while shooting 64.7 percent from the field and 60.0 percent from 3-point range. He's capable of scoring from every level in any situation, and he's not shy about taking the big shot.
When it comes to clutch time, Waiters helps the Heat put up a 129.2 offensive rating, 117.2 defensive rating and 12.0 net rating. Miami has only played 27 total clutch minutes on the season, so of course several star players could take the clutch crown from Waiters' head. But it's all his for now. Let's enjoy the moment.
Domantis Sabonis, Myles Turner keep rolling for Pacers
The Pacers have been surprisingly fun in 2017, and the performances from their offseason acquisitions of Sabonis and Victor Oladipo have made the Paul George trade a little easier to digest.
Sabonis in particular is excelling as a roller, and his fellow big man, Myles Turner, is right there with him. Sabonis (6.8 points per game, 1.25 points per possession) and Turner (6.6 points per game, 1.18 points per possession) lead the NBA in scoring as roll men in pick-and-roll situations. Turner's sample size alert is high with only seven games played, but Sabonis has shown deft footwork as well as a good timing in working with Indiana's guards.
The Pacers lead the league in roll plays per game (13.6) as a team but currently sit in the bottom half in terms of efficiency (1.08 points per possession). Still, the use of Sabonis and Turner as roll guys creates different options and forces the defense to make tough choices. Nate McMillan should be able to add different wrinkles and options to put the opposition in compromising positions.
