NBA Weekly: De'Aaron Fox goes to another planet for 24 hours, Rockets take off
Team of the Week
Watch out, the Houston Rockets are a serious team. Serious enough, in any case, to be near the top in the West. Making their way up in such a tough conference is a testament to their ambitions, which were stated at the start of the season but often ignored because of the competition around them.
However, with a run of five wins in a row and a record of 10-4, the Texans are going to have to be taken very seriously by all.
Having an unchanged starting five from one season to the next is a definite advantage. And yet, it still seems as though Jalen Green hasn't clicked into gear, Fred VanVleet is holding back, and Alperen Sengun could go for much higher stats to get closer to the man he's most often compared with: Nikola Jokic.
Despite all this, they have lost just two of their last 11 games, and only against the two teams ahead of them in the West (the Warriors and Thunder).
Ime Udoka's side are beginning to reach their best, with incredible bench depth and draft picks all paying off. Better still, their next two weeks are pretty light so the Rockets could end the month on top of the conference. That'd be quite a message to the chasing pack.
Underperformer of the Week
Washington are already out of sorts. Sure, the team is rebuilding still and sure, the hunt is on for college star Cooper Flagg but it's hard to understand where this team is going.
Bilal Coulibaly's progress, which we saw at the start of the year, has been totally hampered by the return of Kyle Kuzma, who is taking 17 shots a game - and not all of them good ones. One can only imagine that the reason he's taking so many shots is because the franchise wants to finally transfer him, but who knows?
Despite the presence of Alexandre Sarr and Jonas Valanciunas, the team are second-bottom in rebounds. They are also bottom of the table when it comes to passing, which makes sense given that the ball is in the hands of Kuzma or Jordan Poole most of the time and they are mainly creators in their own right.
A reconstruction is needed all right, but with a game plan, please. With the 29th offensive rating and 30th defensive rating, we haven't seen anywhere near the best of the Wizards.
We can add a line here about the Mavericks, who have got back on track but let a victory slip away to Utah on an apocalyptic final play during which Luka Doncic was singled out for blame. Whether it was an individual or collective problem is up for debate but it was anything but glorious.
Player of the Week
There's no debate here. There's only one contender for Player of the Week and that's De'Aaron Fox. The Kings may still be mired in the doldrums of the Western Conference and still searching for their best form, but their playmaker found another level during a 24-hour period in which he made history.
On Friday night, he left his mark on the Sacramento Kings by breaking a franchise record when he scored 60 points in an overtime defeat to the Wolves. Against Minnesota, Fox had 22-of-35 shooting from the field, his personal best and done with a hell of a lot of ease for a player who is so easy on the eye.
And the next night, it was the same story. This time, he poured in 49 points against the Jazz, with less shooting success, but still with that inimitable style of play that makes him one of the fastest players in the league. Fox also provided one of the most surprising moments of the week when he put his shoe back on mid-play.
It's quite simple: in 24 hours, De'Aaron Fox scored 109 points. In back-to-back games, only one player in the last 50 years has done better: Kobe Bryant in 2007. It's a page of history that's bigger than the Sacramento franchise, as it concerns the entire NBA and this is a chance to finally shed some light on a player who is consistently underrated.
Play of the Week
What could be better than a good old-fashioned buzzer beater? And in a match between two conference contenders? And in a rematch of a playoff series in which the Wolves crushed the Suns last April!? Minnesota, despite Devin Booker's 44 points, beat Phoenix again thanks to Julius Randle on Sunday.
With 2.7 seconds on the clock, you'd expect the ball to go into the hands of Anthony Edwards. However, it was the former Knickerbocker who took responsibility for the shot, sending Josh Okogie tumbling before the swish.
It was the perfect way for him to be permanently adopted by Minnesota, having been shipped there in the transfer of Karl-Anthony Towns, the local idol he's been tasked with replacing. This was an important first step in that direction.
Story of the Week
It was a moment we had been waiting for since the calendar came out. After 13 years at the Warriors, four rings and several hundred three-pointers, Klay Thompson left for Dallas in the off-season, returning to the Chase Center for the first time last week. Emotions are always guaranteed when something like this happens.
With everyone wearing a sailor's cap to greet the so-called 'captain', there was no doubt that this was prime NBA. 'Killa Klay' had a good game, too, and allowed himself a bit of teasing which woke up a certain Steph Curry, who was as clutch as ever in the Warriors' victory. Everyone hugged each other at the end but this one still had a deeper meaning.