A lot to like so far. In no particular order:
- Being 6-1 and on top of the east. Always a good thing to get off to a good start.
- Having beaten Milwaukee, Toronto, and Charlotte. Without their losses to the Celtics, those teams are 6-1, 5-2, and 4-3, respectively. Those are quality wins for this crew.
- Getting it done on the defensive end. 5th in the NBA in points per game allowed at 102.1. 9th in turnovers caused at 17.4. 6th in blocks at 6.3. 10th in steals at 8.1. 6th in opponents' FG% at 42.1%.
- Hayward looks healthy, finally, and is playing free and easy. Looks like a completely different player than last year.
2018-19: 46.6% FG, 33.3% 3FG, 4.5 reb, 3.4 ast, 11.5 pts
2019-20: 56.4% FG, 44.4% 3FG, 7.9 reb, 4.6 ast, 20.3 pts
- The big four are playing like it:
Kemba: 24.3 pts, 5.1 reb, 4.0 ast, 1.0 stl
Tatum: 21.6 pts, 7.7 reb, 1.9 ast, 1.6 stl
Hayward: 20.3 pts, 7.9 reb, 4.6 ast, 0.7 stl
Brown: 16.0 pts, 6.3 reb, 1.8 ast, 0.8 stl
Kemba and Tatum's FG% aren't good yet, but Brown and Hayward are killing it. That's a very difficult foursome to match up with, as any of them could go off for 30 in any given night. This is what we envisioned last year looking like, but with Kyrie doing what Kemba's doing. Well, it didn't turn out that way sadly. Now we're getting to see it.
- Marcus Smart is an absolute beast. Still can't shoot but man is he one tough MoFo.
- Grant Williams. His individual stats aren't impressive, but it's so clear that he makes a big difference for this team on both ends of the floor. Really adds a lot and is contributing in so many ways.
There's more, but this is a good start.