This week’s must-watch Eastern Conference games as Joel Embiid, NBA Cup return

It’s NBA Cup aka In-Season Tournament aka Emirates Cup aka Weird Courts Cup week. The surprisingly successful mid-season competition is back for its second season. Hopefully, the intensity of last season’s games carry over and we get a bit of oomph as we head into month two of this year’s already dramatic campaign.

For some teams, the last thing they’ll worry about is a trip to Vegas to hold a trophy. The Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks find themselves at the bottom of a so-far weak Eastern conference. At least the Sixers have Joel Embiid’s return to look forward to on Tuesday.

For other teams, the NBA Cup could be a good momentum builder, as it was for the Indiana Pacers last year. Maybe the Detroit Pistons will go all out to get to the competitive and high-profile knockout stages of the tournament.

Transcending all worries at the moment though, is Cleveland. The Cavaliers are undefeated and already separating themselves from a large swath of the conference (the Celtics are hanging with them).

All these narratives and storylines will merge throughout the week and change by next Monday. These games below will help you keep a gauge on the shifting tides of the conference. As always, it’s one game a day. Nice and easy. Snack up, couch up, and enjoy.

Nov. 11:
Chicago Bulls @ Cleveland Cavaliers
I will continue to put the Cavaliers on this list until they lose a game. Their 11-0 start is the best in franchise history and is the third 11-0 or better start of the new millennium. The 2002-03 Dallas Mavericks started 14-0, losing in the Conference Finals, and the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors started an NBA record 24-0, famously losing in the NBA Finals. Of all the teams that have started 11-0 or better, only two have not made the Conference Finals. If the Cavs start 13-0, history says you can book ‘em in to be one of the last two Eastern teams.

The 1996-97 Chicago Bulls started 12-0 on their way to winning the championship. Their 2023-24 roster is not quiiite comparable to that team, but surely they want to defend the franchise’s history and give the Cavs their first loss. They’ve been playing at the fastest pace in the league and assisting at the second-best rate. That means it’s fun basketball.

Bulls center Nikola Vučević is shooting 47.7% from deep so can draw Evan Mobley or Jarrett Allen out of their comfort zone, the paint. In fact, Chicago has three starters shooting better than 40% from three: Vučević, Zach Lavine and Josh Giddey. With those three firing away, and other capable shooters surrounding them, the Bulls score 40% of their points from three.

The Cavs shoot less than the Bulls but lead the league in 3P% and are in the top 10 of reducing opponent’s three-point attempts. Something’s gotta give. If you don’t like thinking of the numbers, enjoy the ridiculous guard play on display: Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Zach Lavine, and Coby White.

Nov. 12:
New York Knicks @ Philadelphia 76ers (NBA Cup)
Normally I don’t include Philly games in this weekly column as I want it to be a way to keep track of the rest of the East. But Embiid’s return is unmissable. It’s at home against the New York Knicks on the first day of the NBA Cup. That’s cinema.

Hopefully, Paul George is healthy so we can see how he fits with Embiid. But the most important thing will be how the big man looks and plays. On media day, he claimed he slimmed up and the eye test from him in street clothes during games concurs with those claims. And we all know how abysmal the team has been without their MVP. Will this ugly start be just a faint memory come July, or will it be a hole already so big the 7-footer can’t even climb the team out of it?

Even if it’s not as disastrous as the Sixers’, the New York Knicks have had their own disappointing start to the season. Sitting at 4-5 after a one-win and three-loss week, they’ll want to make a point and beat their old rivals. The last time they were on national TV against a division rival was their opening night spanking by the hands of the Boston Celtics. They’ll want to cleanse the memories of the more casual watchers.

Nov. 13:
Detroit Pistons @ Milwaukee Bucks
I’ll keep on putting Milwaukee Bucks games on this list for the opposite reason I’m keeping Cavs games here: The Bucks suck right now. They’ve had the most embarrassing start in the conference and it’s fueled the fire causing Giannis Antetokounmpo trade smoke.

They’re old. They can’t defend. And star-guard Damian Lillard is inconsistent, following up 33-point games with four-point showings, or a 111-point three-game stretch with 19 and 14-point games. And they barely own any of their picks. Every loss brings them closer to a complete reset and a fallback to pre-Giannis irrelevancy.

And the Detroit Pistons, who were relevant for the wrong reasons last year, are fighting to be rightly relevant this season. They currently sit 10th in the conference with a 4-7 record. That includes a 0-3 start and two two-point losses to the Houston Rockets and Charlotte Hornets. So their 4-4 run since is a little hot streak, for their standards anyway. Detroit has already won as many times in 11 games this year as they did in 40 games last season. That’s relevancy, baby.

Nov. 14:
Dallas Mavericks @ Utah Jazz
Today’s only game is Utah Jazz vs Dallas Mavericks, which might be fun but has nothing to do with the East. Maybe spend this time with family… or watch some games you missed yesterday.

Nov. 15:
Miami Heat @ Indiana Pacers (NBA Cup)
The Indiana Pacers have started 5-5. That’s below the expectations for a team that made the Conference Finals, but they’re still the three-seed. The East is wide open after Boston and Cleveland, and Indiana wants to be in the conversation.

Last year, their exceptional run to the In-Season Tournament championship game was them butting into the discussion and perhaps foreshadowed their deep playoff run.

Can they recapture that magic and separate themselves from the rest of the conference beneath them? To do so, Tyrese Haliburton will have to improve drastically. He did have 35 points and 14 assists in a recent win over New York but only had six points in a loss to the Hornets the game before. Your star guard can’t be that inconsistent. Maybe it’s a back injury, as reported by Yahoo’s Kevin O’Connor, or it’s just a wacky start. Either way, these hyped-up NBA Cup games should be a good test.

The Miami Heat have lost all the aura their ‘culture’ and 2023 Finals run gave them. Their 4-6 start has them as the sixth seed but it’s just been so ‘meh’ in South Beach. They’re 18th in offensive rating, 15th in defensive rating, and 17th in net rating. Talk about average.

Bam Adebayo has been weirdly ineffective to start the season, averaging 14.8 points on 45.2% true shooting. That TS% ranks #369 for players averaging over 15 minutes per game. Big yikes. He shouldn’t be that bad for the rest of the season and could get back into the groove against Indiana, who allow the fourth most points in the paint per game.

Nov. 16:
Toronto Raptors @ Boston Celtics
As they personify mathsball and the prevalence of the three-point shot, the Boston Celtics should be required to view at least once a week. They’re not simply jacking up threes. They force weak defenders into actions and mismatches, attack the paint, and then kick out and rotate the ball to the open shooter, which there always is. They’re one of those teams so good that you think about rejecting basketball’s basic tenets: Maybe it’s better not to send help and force them to shoot… open layups.

And the Raptors have some fun characters. RJ Barrett now has the steering wheel with Scottie Barnes out for weeks. Immanuel Quickley is back from injury and will have one of the greenest green lights in the league. Owning the third-highest assist rate in the league, coach Darko Rajaković has them playing a fun brand of basketball. It’s just that they’re also the league’s worst defensive team. So, the Celtics could put up 200 points.

Nov. 17:
Brooklyn Nets @ New York Knicks
To round out the week we’ve got the Battle of the Bridge. Mikal Bridges will go up against the team he asked out of this season. And those Brooklyn Nets have fared better than expected to start the season.

It should be a fire show, with the Knicks having the second-best offense in the league and the Nets having Cam Thomas who is averaging 25 on 56%TS.

Karl Anthony-Towns vs Ben Simmons was once a highly-touted battle between friends who were also No. 1 picks (and sometimes ended in a chokehold). Unfortunately, along with Simmons’ games played, it’s died down. However, if anything could set it off, it’s a hostile Madison Square Garden Crowd.