If somebody told you Kyle Korver would begin the season by making 8 of his first 10 3-point attempts, you’d probably shrug your shoulders and say: “Yeah, he could do that.” But if someone told you Korver’s 80 percent shooting from long-range would only leave him second in the league’s 3-point shooting statistics behind Tony Parker, you’d say — in your best French accent — “Excuse Moi?” Parker has opened the season 6-for-6, and he’ll match his marksmanship against Korver’s on Wednesday night when the Spurs finally get around to playing their third game of the season, against the Hawks. Parker’s perfection is unlikely only because he has been a 31.9 percent shooter throughout his career. But you get some statistical anomalies after just one week of the NBA season, and they can be surprising. With that in mind, I discussed the top surprises of the young season with CineSports’s Noah Coslov. More details below the video player.
_ The biggest surprise in the Eastern Conference is that the Miami Heat emerged from Week One as the lone unbeaten team, starting 3-0 and leading the conference in points per game (109.2) and point differential (+11.7). Chris Bosh is third in the league in scoring, right behind LeBron James, and the oddsmakers who predicted the Heat would be barely better than a .500 team are hiding their heads (those same oddsmakers have been missing on setting the point spreads on Sixers games. Philadelphia is 0-4 against the spread, too.) _ In the West, the Sacramento Kings are the surprise team after bouncing back from their debacle of an opening night (against Golden State) with wins against the Trail Blazers, the Clippers (on the road) and the Nuggets (also on the road). They need a shooting guard, but a few very good pieces are in place with DeMarcus Cousins, Rudy Gay and a very effective Darren Collison as the newcomer at point guard. Even Reggie Evans produced a vintage Reggie Evans night against the Nuggets, grabbing 14 rebounds in 23 minutes. _ The Mavericks are more than 6 points per game ahead of the 4-0 Warriors (and their league-leading +15.3 point differential) for the strongest offense in the West. They dropped 67 first-half points on the Celtics on Monday night, opened a 31-point lead that they nearly gave away and ended up winning by 5. Their points totals have been 120, 109 and 118 in their three victories. If Chandler Parsons had made a last-second 3-pointer in their opening night 101-100 loss to San Antonio, they’d be 4-0. Chris Sheridan is publisher and editor-in-chief of SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter.
I’m not surprised by Miami’s burst out of the gate. D. Wade & C. Bosh are still elite players(more so Bosh)and they,along with the rest of the tested team are prideful men who have circled the wagons and have their sights set on a big year. That’s of course if both remain healthy.