3 NBA title contenders with a disappointing start to the season
Following the end of Week 1 of the 2022/23 NBA season, some teams have already emerged as playoff contenders, while others have made a disappointing start.
Teams like the Utah Jazz (3-1) and the Portland Trail Blazers (4-0) have exceeded expectations early on and are on top of the Western Conference.
Other teams, like the LA Lakers, are still winless (0-3) and seek to create a winning streak and build their confidence.
In this article, we take a look at three title contenders that are off to a poor start to the NBA season after the first four games.
1. LA Lakers
The 17-time NBA champions are one of the worst teams in the league at the moment. They remain winless, having lost all three games so far (0-3) and are trying to solve their issues on the court.
The most important ones are their shooting woes and the performance of Russell Westbrook. The Lakers have failed to bring in elite shooters and their 3-point percentage is one of the lowest in the NBA.
The LA Lakers are shooting just 21.2% from 3, having made 25 3-pointers in 118 attempts. Hence, despite playing well defensively (14th in defense, 110.7 ppg), they can't take advantage of it offensively (29th in offense, 103.3 ppg).
Their second problem is Russell Westbrook. It's obvious that Westbrook is playing with no confidence at the moment amid uncertainty over his future with the team.
Coach Darvin Ham wants to bring him off the bench, but this is not something that has worked effectively so far.
Westbrook is averaging 10.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists, shooting just 8.3% from beyond the arc, with opponents taking the risk of not guarding him when he is on the perimeter.
"The mood right now is you just lost," LeBron James said ahead of Wednesday's clash with the Denver Nuggets. "If you're around a group of guys that are excited after a loss then that's the worst business that you can be in so that's the mood right now.
"But I'll leave my frustration and what I have here. Once I drive out the tunnel, I'm going to leave it here. That's it."
Despite their poor start to the NBA season, the Lakers still have time to turn things around. To do so, they will need a better role distribution and a vast improvement in 3-point shooting.
2. Miami Heat
Another NBA title contender who has been off to a disappointing start early in the season. With just one win in four games (1-3), the Miami Heat are struggling on both ends.
Like the LA Lakers, their biggest issue is their poor offense, with just 103.5 points per game.
If you combine this with Bam Adebayo (13.8 points, 8.5 rebounds) and Kyle Lowry (10.8 points, 4.5 assists) not playing at the highest level yet, the Heat need to have more players stepping up as soon as possible.
At the same time, they are an average team on defense (10th in the league, 108.5 ppg) and seem to lack their refuse-to-lose mentality.
"This is an opportunity for us to really start connecting and face some adversity on the road," coach Erik Spoelstra said ahead of Miami's three-game road trip, with visits to the Portland Trail Blazers (Wednesday), Golden State Warriors (Thursday) and Sacramento Kings (Saturday).
The veteran NBA coach wants to see improvement and a return to the winning track, which will allow the Miami Heat to build confidence moving forward.
3. Minnesota Timberwolves
The addition of Rudy Gobert brought excitement to the Minnesota Timberwolves, but the franchise has not shown much improvement early in the season.
The T-Wolves are just 14th on offense with 115.8 points and 18th defensively, allowing their opponents to score 115.3 points per game. This comes as a surprise given the presence of Gobert, a three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year. Gobert spoke ahead of a game versus the San Antonio Spurs in Minneapolis:
"We know it's a back-to-back and all of that, but I don't think it takes more energy to just decide, instead of just lingering, just running back. It doesn't take much energy to talk, you just got to want to do it. We're not there yet."
Minnesota suffered a 115-106 loss to the Spurs on Monday in a game where they trailed by as many as 34 points.
"We knew they're a hard-playing team and they made more effort than us," coach Chris Finch said. "Those aren't things that we certainly can tolerate. But we've got to figure out why and a lot of it is our connectivity right now has got to be better, both ends of the floor."
In a season of high expectations, the T-Wolves have experienced ups and downs so far, with defeats to the Utah Jazz and Spurs highlighting the team's inconsistency.
Trying to find the right formula to succeed with a talented roster, the Minnesota Timberwolves are under pressure to start winning. The question remains whether they can take a step forward and challenge for the NBA title this season.
