Early-season surprises include Lakers, Bulls
As we near the end of the first month of the NBA season, we look at the league’s five most pleasantly surprising teams. Meaning, these teams are playing at a level very few expected. (Records and stats entering Tuesday.) 5. Philadelphia 76ers (4-10)
Don’t look now, but the Sixers — a team that won 10 games last season and 18 the season before — are on a winning streak. With Monday night’s 101-94 victory against the Miami Heat, the 76ers won their second consecutive game for the first time since March 2015 — a 108-game span, per Elias Sports Bureau. They’re a long way from any sort of relevancy, but with runaway rookie of the year leader Joel Embiid leading the way, Sixers fans finally have something to smile about. 4. Atlanta Hawks (9-4)
The Hawks hold the league’s second-longest streak of consecutive seasons with a playoff appearance with nine ( behind the San Antonio Spurs’ 19). But after losing two starters, Jeff Teague and Al Horford, in the offseason, their second-place standing in the East is one of this young season’s most unanticipated story lines. Not only are they on pace for a 57-win season, but the Hawks also boast the NBA’s top defense (95.9 defensive rating) and are one of two teams to have taken down the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers. 3. Charlotte Hornets (8-5)
Charlotte’s expectations were tempered slightly after the team parted ways with Jeremy Lin, Courtney Lee and Al Jefferson over the summer. But with the return of defensive stalwart Michael Kidd- Gilchrist (limited to seven games last season) and the emergence of Kemba Walker (averaging a career-high 24.7 points and 47% shooting) into the upper
echelon of point guards, the Hornets have all the makings of a postseason team. 2. Los Angeles Lakers (7-7)
At long last, the Lakers — who combined for a franchise-worst 38-126 record over the past two seasons — are fun to watch. A product of the continued development of D’Angelo Russell and Julius Randle, as well as the resurgence of Nick Young and Lou Williams, the Luke Walton-led Lake Show is on pace for 41 wins, the most since the 2012-13 season. Perhaps most impressively, they are third in the NBA in points per game (109.8) and fourth in team field goal percentage (46.8%) after finishing 30th in both categories a season ago. 1. Chicago Bulls (9-5)
Deemed doomed since July because of chemistry concerns and the lack of three-point shooting, the Bulls have swiftly silenced the skeptics by jumping to the thirdplace spot in the East. Led by surging Jimmy Butler (averaging a career-high 25.1 points and 6.6 rebounds) and ageless Dwyane Wade (averaging 18.1 points and shooting a career-high 37.8% from three-point range), could the Bulls be the real deal?