Posted 2 days ago | By Pat Heery
Years from now, when we look back at the 2020-21 NBA regular season, what are we going to remember? Unfortunately, we will probably remember a lot of the negatives aspects of the year like the mass influx of injuries caused by the condensed season, the covid-19-related absences, and the general unpredictability of teams around the league. But we should also remember some of the excellent individual and team performances like the leaps made by Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, and Zion Williamson, and the great seasons by the Jazz and the Suns. It will be a mixed bag for sure, but regardless of whether you tend to remember the positives or negatives, here are the 25 trends that help explain the crazy six months that were the 2020-21 NBA season.
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The NBA is on pace for its highest-scoring season in 50 years
This season NBA teams are averaging an astounding 112.0 PPG. If that stays the same or increases, it will be the highest-scoring season since 1970-71. Why is this happening? For one, almost every team plays a spread-out, modern brand of basketball which allows their best players ample space to beat their man off the dribble for easy shots or passes to open shooters. Another factor is that teams are not only shooting more three-pointers than ever (34.6 attempts per game), they’re shooting with the most accuracy ever (36.7 percent). Finally, the NBA is more talented than ever. Gone are the days of defensive specialists and glue guys on offense – if a guy is on the court, he has the skill set to score 20 points on any given night. In fact, right now, there are 32 players averaging at least 20 PPG this season. 2021 is the year of the bucket.
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The defending Western Conference Champion LA Lakers are the six-seed
The Lakers’ season started out so promising as they jumped out to a 28-13 record through the first 41 games despite not having Anthony Davis for a number of those games. Unfortunately, LeBron James suffered a high-ankle sprain in Game 42 and the season took a turn for the worse as they fell from the one-seed in the West to the six-seed (and could even have to appear in the Play-In Games). Like the Heat, the long stay in the bubble combined with the record-short offseason may ultimately do them in and lead to an early playoff exit. However, unlike the Heat, the Lakers have two of the best players in the world who know how to elevate their respective games when it matters the most, so this low playoff seeding may not matter if LeBron and AD start firing on all cylinders again.
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The defending Eastern Conference Champion Miami Heat are the seven-seed
After putting on arguably the most impressive performance in the Orlando Bubble, the Miami Heat have had their 2020-21 season nearly derailed by injuries and Covid-19-related issues. Jimmy Butler has missed 18 games; Tyler Herro has missed 18 games; Goran Dragic has missed 21 games; and Victor Oladipo, a sleeper midseason acquisition, has only appeared in four games. 20 different players have appeared in at least three games for the Heat this season. This inconsistency has caused the team to be about as streaky a team as any in the league – going on multiple five or more-game winning streaks as well as five or more-game losing streaks. Perhaps Miami will turn it around come playoff time, but if they don’t, we’ll remember this post-Finals Heat team for having the season from hell.
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Last year’s Eastern Conference Finalist Boston Celtics are the sixth-seed
Noticing a trend here? The Lakers, Heat, Celtics, and until a recent hot streak after losing Jamal Murray, the Nuggets have had rough years after deep playoff runs in the bubble last summer. Boston has had a strange season. On one hand, they have Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown playing like All-Stars, if not All-NBA players. On the other hand, Kemba Walker (26 missed games) and Marcus Smart (21 missed games) have struggled to stay on the court, and their big free-agent signing Tristian Thompson has played poorly. It’s all lead to an uneven year and likely a Play-In Games appearance. And while the Celtics should win and make the playoffs, this team seems to have a first-round ceiling unless the roster around Tatum and Brown perform much better than they have all year.
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The Brooklyn Nets have the highest offensive rating in NBA history
Your first reaction to this stat might be to scoff and say “they have Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving – of course, they have a record-setting offense!!” While I agree with that premise after seeing the three of them play together, the fact of the matter is that they’ve only played together seven times this season. Heck, half the time, they only have one of their superstars, yet they still keep scoring at a historically great rate (118.0 points per 100 possessions). Doesn’t matter who’s playing, the Nets are scoring at an elite level.
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