Around the NBA: Week 5 (11/17 - 11/23)

[ShelC]

Nationally televised games this week
Monday, Nov 17th
Bucks @ Cavs at 7:00PM EST on Peacock

Tuesday, Nov 18th
Grizzlies @ Spurs at 8:00PM EST on NBC/Peacock
Suns @ Blazers at 11:00PM EST on NBC/Peacock

Wednesday, Nov 19th
Rockets @ Cavs at 7:00PM EST on ESPN
Knicks @ Mavericks at 9:30PM EST on ESPN

Thursday Nov 20th
Thunder @ Pacers at 7:30PM EST on ESPN
Nuggets @ Warriors at 10:00PM EST on ESPN

Friday, Nov 21st
Pacers @ Cavs at 7:00PM EST on Amazon Prime - NBA CUP
Nuggets @ Rockets at 9:30PM EST on Amazon Prime - NBA CUP

NBA News
Starting 5: An OT overload as an epic week awaits
https://www.nba.com/news/starting-5-nov-17-2025

Tiers for all 30 NBA teams: Real contenders to play-in dreamers
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/469 ... 026-season

Power Rankings, Week 5: Pistons, Warriors take step forward in Top 10
https://www.nba.com/news/power-rankings-2025-26-week-5

#16 Phoenix Suns
Last Week:17↑
Record: 8-6
OffRtg: 117.3 (9) DefRtg: 113.2 (12) NetRtg: +4.1 (11) Pace: 100.4 (21)

After taking advantage of a soft stretch of schedule to win five straight games, the Suns were looking legit with a 22-point, fourth-quarter lead against the similarly streaking Hawks on Sunday. But that lead quickly disappeared and the Suns’ streak came to a resounding end.

Three takeaways

The Suns’ schedule has been relatively soft overall, as Phoenix and Oklahoma City are tied with the most games (10) against the 14 teams currently at or below .500. But there’s value in taking care of business against the bottom half of the league. At this point last season, the Suns had just one win by double-digits (they finished with 10). They’ve got six double-digit wins this season, having handled the Pelicans and Pacers pretty easily last week.

The Suns rank higher on offense, but the much bigger improvement from last season (especially when you take the league average into account) has been on defense, where they’ve seen the league’s third biggest drop in points allowed per 100 possessions. But they have been tested much on that end of the floor, with 11 of their 14 games having come against teams that rank in the bottom 10 offensively.

The Suns are pressuring the ball much more than they did last season, having seen the league’s second-biggest jump in average pick-up distance, per tracking data. That has helped them see the biggest jump in opponent turnover rate, from just 12.3 per 100 possessions (28th) last season to 16.3 per 100 (seventh) this season. They’ve still committed more turnovers than their opponent in seven of their 14 games.

Coming up: The Suns will visit the 6-7 Blazers on Tuesday and then play eight of their next nine games against teams with winning records (seven of the nine against top-10 offenses). Going back to a first-round sweep in the 2024 playoffs, they’ve lost eight straight games to the Wolves, who will be in Phoenix for an Emirates NBA Cup game on Friday.

Week 5: @ POR, vs. MIN*, vs. SAS

[Kryptonic]

Got a good laugh out of this.

[Mori Chu]

Giannis apparent groin injury.

[ShelC]

Wouldn't mind seeing Jevon back here given he style of play we have now

[Split T]

I wouldn’t either, but Goodwin kinda takes the same role. I haven’t followed Carter much recently, but he was a more reliable 3pt shooter than Goodwin has been. Goodwin is hitting 3s so far though.

[Superbone]

Wouldn't mind seeing Jevon back here given he style of play we have now

Doesn't sound like he's going anywhere.

[Mori Chu]

Update on Giannis groin injury.

[Charlie Smithy!]

Wouldn't mind seeing Jevon back here given he style of play we have now

Doesn't sound like he's going anywhere.

There's a good chance we can get him for Devin Booker

[Mori Chu]

Even JeremyG wouldn't greenlight THAT trade.

[ShelC]

Maybe if they threw in Patrick Williams.

[In2ition]

Update on Giannis groin injury.

[Wally_West]

Any interest?

[Split T]

Sure, depending on the price

[pickle]

Wtf?

[Superbone]

I take it they didn’t have any reviews remaining? I don’t get it. Did he push off? Stick his legs out? I didn’t see anything.

ETA:
Apparently, other views showed it.

The offensive foul was called on Mavericks guard Brandon Williams for hooking Knicks defender Landry Shamet with his left arm while driving to the basket for a game-tying layup. The whistle blew as Williams was going to shoot, negating his basket and sealing the Knicks' 113-111 victory.

[pickle]

That’s just not a call you make at the end of the game. That’s really bad.

[ShelC]

Guarantee if that wasn't an ESPN game they'd call that a foul on Shamet and give a FT to Williams.

[Superbone]

That’s just not a call you make at the end of the game. That’s really bad.

I think you can make the call and review it though. The announcers thought the bump was before the hook.

[BKinSJC]

I take it they didn’t have any reviews remaining? I don’t get it. Did he push off? Stick his legs out? I didn’t see anything.

ETA:
Apparently, other views showed it.

The offensive foul was called on Mavericks guard Brandon Williams for hooking Knicks defender Landry Shamet with his left arm while driving to the basket for a game-tying layup. The whistle blew as Williams was going to shoot, negating his basket and sealing the Knicks' 113-111 victory.

That's correct, Dallas was out of timeouts and so they couldn't initiate a review of the play. The hook with the left hand was pretty blatant, but they for sure could have called Shamet for bumping Williams on the way in - I think the beginning of the contact was before he went into his shooting motion, though, so the correct call might have been no basket, two free throws to try to tie.

Dallas is just in that place some teams get to where everything goes wrong and you just can't catch a break.

[ShelC]

9/10 times that's a defensive foul.