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The NBA is speeding. An up-and-comer is bruising. And an All-Star believes he can lift his teammates — both literally and figuratively.
For the first time this season, let’s open up the notebook to run through three trends that have caught my eye during week one:
Bennedict Mathurin’s physical drives
Somewhere, as you read this article, no matter when you do it, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is zigzagging into someone’s defense.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are playing a basketball game right now, at this hour, mired in never-ending matches that are their apparent punishment for a championship season. Each of their first two contests has fallen into double-overtime, an NBA first. And especially during Thursday’s victory over the Indiana Pacers, the reigning MVP couldn’t stay away from the hoop.
Gilgeous-Alexander went for a career-best 55 points in a rematch so competitive, it seemed like the 2025 finals hadn’t actually ended yet — and he did it by slicing to the hoop in his uniquely deceptive fashion. He drove to the rim 35 times during the game, the most in a single performance for any NBA player in two seasons, according to Second Spectrum.
And yet, he wasn’t the guy whose onslaught of the paint stood out the most.
Even on an evening when the 2024-25 scoring champion scored more than ever, Gilgeous-Alexander, as always, looked like an easy-going cat, not some possessed version of himself.
The same can’t be said for a gentleman on the other side, Bennedict Mathurin, who finished the night with 36 points, only a couple short of his career high.
The outburst was special, not just because it came from a young player thrust into an increased role, but also because of how it occurred. Like Gilgeous-Alexander, Mathurin lived in the paint. But unlike the superstar who weaves around defenders like a figure skater, the Pacers’ wing chose a more violent option — especially in the second half.
Mathurin never lacks confidence, but every so often, the purpose of his drives will slip away as he gets closer to the hoop. He picked up his dribble before arriving in the paint throughout the first half. But come the third quarter, the Pacers began to get Mathurin the ball as they streaked upcourt. Instead of initiating against a set defense, he could act as if he were in transition, when he’s at his best.
That’s when Mathurin turned downright vicious.
It started with an and-1, when he flew by Oklahoma City rookie Brooks Barnhizer for a righty finish. It didn’t stop there. On six consecutive drives to the hoop, Mathurin drew fouls. And these were not cheap.
Look at him ratchet up the verve to blow by Gilgeous-Alexander, a strong defender, on this fourth-quarter play. Then watch as he steps past Lu Dort, an all-defensive first teamer, and barrels into the 7-footer, Isaiah Hartenstein, a top-notch rim protector:
Now, check out the next possession. Few scorers are physically (or mentally) capable of matching Dort’s physicality.
On this play, Mathurin does.
The step-through requires a mix of skill and strength. Few guys can look suave while absorbing a foul from Dort.
Mathurin started to mess around with pace on his drives near the end of the game. His final basket of the evening swished through the net after he went 60 to zero during a split-second jump stop, then floated up an eight-footer for a couple of points.
There’s a reason Mathurin’s teammate, Andrew Nembhard, who hurt his shoulder on opening night, entered the season as a Most Improved Player contender. The Pacers provide ample opportunity. Tyrese Haliburton is done for the season. T.J. McConnell is injured, too.
Indiana requires offense from sources other than its steady, All-NBA forward, Pascal Siakam.
But Mathurin can take over this situation, too.
His preseason, when he scored 66 points in 71 minutes, dropped a few jaws (among those whose jaws are capable of loosening over games where the results don’t count). But the exhibitions weren’t quite like opening night. He drove to the hoop 15 times during the preseason, per Second Spectrum. He did it 16 times just against the Thunder, when he shot a career-best 17 free throws.
No matter the context, someone always seems to step up on the Pacers. Maybe this season will be Mathurin’s turn.
Ja and Jock
This was not just Ja Morant believing in Jock Landale. It was Morant believing in a literal higher being.
During the third quarter of the Memphis Grizzlies’ victory over the New Orleans Pelicans, Morant tossed a no-look lob to his burly new center. The two hadn’t played at all together. Morant missed the preseason with an ankle injury. But he knows the veteran big man from his half-decade in the NBA. And there is a reason his surname starts with “land” and not “leap.”
The alley-oop attempt was ambitious, far from the hoop and to a 7-footer known more for brute screens and craftiness than springy knees. And yet, the play ended in beauty. Landale gathered himself, pivoted and pushed in a floater for two points.
Few point guards lift their teammates like Morant, a pick-and-roll maestro who is back in business. Plays like this, when he acts as if any of his teammates are physically capable of his own superhuman feats, are often a signal he’s in his comfort zone.
The Grizzlies famously got away from Morant’s bread and butter last season, veering from pick-and-rolls and into other types of offense — a decision that eventually led to a last-moment coaching change and stylistic adjustment that was too late to help. Now, head coach Tuomas Iisalo is installing more ball screens.
Morant shot out of a rocket on opening night, when he went for 35 points. And often, he rushed past Landale, a versatile pick-and-roll partner.
Landale can set all types of screens — and he understands how to take advantage of a defender’s footwork.
For example, take the aforementioned Landale bucket. The lob doesn’t open up because of the speed of Morant, who is more pragmatic here. It’s because of a clever pick from Landale, who notices the defender on Morant, all-world stopper Herb Jones, backpedaling and out of a defensive stance only for a moment, then treks near halfcourt to set an unsuspecting back screen on him.
Jones detaches from Morant; Pelicans center Yves Missi has to help on the drive; Landale frees himself; and Morant finds him in his periphery for the basket.
Morant ran 34 pick-and-rolls against New Orleans, according to Second Spectrum. Not once did he top that number last season. Memphis is running stuff it didn’t rely on for most of 2024-25. Landale would screen for a teammate, who would sprint to the top of the key and lay a pick on Morant’s man. Memphis ran lots of double-drag screens, when two teammates line up to set consecutive picks for Morant.
It worked swimmingly. The Grizzlies annihilated the Pels in the paint en route to 128 points.
As is the unfortunate case in Memphis too often, the Grizzlies are beginning the season with too many important pieces hurt. Zach Edey and Brandon Clarke would be impact screeners for Morant but are both out. Yet, Morant and Landale look smooth to start.
Rev it up
Every season, coaches and players commence training camp with the same objective: They want to play faster. Some accomplish the feat. But most bog down once winter arrives.
It’s always difficult to tell this early in the season if the league has picked up in pace. Each autumn produces the same trend. Offenses speed from one end to the other in October. Come November, games get a little slower, though they are still more frantic than in other months. In December, the line continues downward. Same in January. And so on.
But maybe, just maybe, this season won’t curb as much.
The X’s and O’s conversation of the summer was about how the Pacers changed the NBA, how their high-paced, exhausting style helped them to the finals a season ago. The phrase “It’s a copycat league” is used too often, but only because every league is a copycat league (why would anyone not replicate a formula that works?) — not because it’s untrue.
No one can mimic the Pacers. You need Haliburton to do that. But coaches can rip some of their concepts.
Leaguewide pace wasn’t much different during this preseason than it’s been during other preseasons. However, the possibility teams maintain their speed into December and beyond is worth monitoring.
The Toronto Raptors and Atlanta Hawks played a blazing, 113-possession game to begin the season. Fourteen teams averaged under four seconds to cross halfcourt during the preseason, according to Second Spectrum. In 2024, only eight teams moved so quickly during the preseason. The year before, only five did.
We live a copycat life.
It’s possible a few more teams than usual sustain what’s normally just an early-season pace.
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Fred Katz The Athletic, is a senior NBA writer for The Athletic.
