Eleven straight one way, nine straight the other: the NBA splits early

Two directions at once

The early NBA season has split into extremes. The San Antonio Spurs have won 11 games in a row. The Milwaukee Bucks have lost nine in a row and sit at 1-12. And Oklahoma City has now dropped three straight despite 40 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the latest loss. m:…0344 m:…0178 m:…0370

Portland is the quieter version of the Spurs' story. The Trail Blazers have won three straight, beating Sacramento 120-107 in an NBA Cup game to move to 9-3, with Deni Avdija scoring a season-high 34 points and Damian Lillard adding 29. The Blazers shot 40 percent from three and 94 percent from the line, and now face a six-game road trip over the next 10 days. m:…0305

The Spurs' latest win was the loudest. They beat the Golden State Warriors 123-85, with Stephon Castle scoring 32 points in 25 minutes and Victor Wembanyama adding 12 points and 12 rebounds. Golden State shot 33 percent from the field. The Spurs are also 2-0 in the NBA Cup group stage. m:…0344

Milwaukee's reset

Milwaukee's ninth straight loss came against Orlando, 107-99, a game the Bucks once trailed by 19. The postgame show's diagnosis was blunt: a half-court offense it called anemic, and free-throw shooting that keeps costing games, 18 of 31 from the line, 13 misses in an eight-point loss. m:…0416 m:…0178

The show framed the season as a long-term reset after the Giannis Adetokounmpo trade, with the roster expected to look very different in the second half of the season. Its numbers pointed to Miles Turner, Ryan Rollins, and Tyler Herro as the team's most impactful players so far, and one host named Nate Ament as a bright spot for the future. The same host argued Turner is underperforming relative to his $107 million contract. m:…0416 m:…0178

The hosts also questioned the rotation, an inconsistent starting lineup and limited minutes for A.J. Green and Yaka Jonas, one of whom is receiving DNP-CDs despite being part of the team's younger core, and said the team lacks an offensive identity. One host called the November schedule treacherous. m:…0178 m:…0416

Oklahoma City's wobble

The Thunder's third straight loss was the narrowest kind: 113-112 to the Clippers, one point, with Gilgeous-Alexander scoring 40 and Isaiah Hartenstein grabbing 16 rebounds and shooting 90 percent from the field. The hosts called it the worst loss of the season, preventable, decided by execution from the team's best players and coaching staff, including a failure to use a timeout on the final possession. m:…0370

The hosts also questioned giving Josh Dix 17 minutes over more effective options, and argued the loss could carry implications for the Thunder's final seeding in April. m:…0370

What the streaks mean

Streaks this early are noisy, but the shapes differ. San Antonio is winning by margins — 123-85 against Golden State — which suggests a team playing above its opposition rather than surviving close games. Milwaukee is losing by process: missed free throws, a half-court offense the team's own show calls anemic, and a rotation still being searched. Oklahoma City is losing the other way, by a point, with its star producing, the kind of loss that reads as fixable if the execution issues the hosts flagged are real. The next few weeks will show whether the Spurs' streak is a statement or a schedule, whether Milwaukee's reset hardens into a plan, and whether the Thunder's skid stops at three. m:…0344 m:…0416 m:…0370