NBA Stock Report extended<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udcc8\u00a0New York Knicks (16-7). <\/strong>The Knicks have won seven of their last eight despite some injuries. During this stretch, OG Anunoby, Mitchell Robinson and Karl-Anthony Towns have missed time. The Knicks also have had a soft schedule, as they\u2019ve beaten up on the Brooklyn Nets, Charlotte Hornets (twice), Milwaukee Bucks and Utah Jazz. They also have two very good wins against the Toronto Raptors and Orlando Magic. New York is up to second in the Eastern Conference and is virtually unbeatable at home (13-1).<\/p>\n Its offense has been out of this world. The comfort in Mike Brown\u2019s new system has been yielding results all season, but it\u2019s at an even more elite level right now. The Knicks have a true shooting percentage over 60 during the last couple of weeks. More importantly, they\u2019re finally finding some comfort in a shifting style of defense. With Anunoby back, they should get even better on the defensive end. Mikal Bridges is playing like a borderline All-Star<\/a>. This team can still get a lot better.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcc9\u00a0Chicago Bulls (9-14). <\/strong>The Bulls are spiraling, and there\u2019s not much they can do about it<\/a>. They just got housed by the Golden State Warriors and have dropped seven straight. It was one thing when they lost four straight road games to begin this streak. Then they dropped three at home. We\u2019re talking losses to Brooklyn, the New Orleans Pelicans, Charlotte, the Indiana Pacers and a Warriors team that was missing Stephen Curry and Draymond Green. The Bulls can\u2019t stop anybody, and they can\u2019t score enough. Aside from cool stat lines for Josh Giddey, there isn\u2019t any substance in what Chicago is trying to do. It\u2019s a stark contrast from the first two weeks of the season.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcc8\u00a0Boston Celtics (15-9). <\/strong>The Celtics beat the Raptors on Sunday to run their win streak to five straight. They\u2019ve also won 10 of their last 12 and look a lot like the Celtics we\u2019re used to seeing, even though they gutted the core and Jayson Tatum is still in street clothes. They\u2019re mostly doing this with offense right now. They have had the best offense in basketball for nearly the last month, putting up a ridiculous 128.9 points per 100 possessions. Just to put that into context, their offensive rating was 122.2 when they won the championship in 2024. Their defense has been slightly below average, but the offense is so good that it doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n Jaylen Brown, Payton Pritchard and Derrick White have become a three-headed monster. They just keep pelting you with quality shots and dribble penetration. Neemias Queta has been excellent as pretty much their only big man. And Anfernee Simons has found his footing with scoring and shooting the ball from deep. Boston is making 43.6\u00a0percent of its 3-pointers over this 12-game stretch.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcc9\u00a0Cleveland Cavaliers (14-11). <\/strong>I mean no offense when I say this, but Jarrett Allen and Max Strus can\u2019t be this important to this team\u2019s success. The Cavs are nowhere close to what we saw a year ago, and that was further driven home by their home loss to the Warriors on Saturday night. Normally, losing to the Warriors wouldn\u2019t be a bad mark on your r\u00e9sum\u00e9, but the Dubs were missing Curry, Green and Jimmy Butler. Pat Spencer took them down, and it should have been a wake-up call for Cleveland.<\/p>\n Yes, they\u2019ve missed some guys, but Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley look excellent. This team has lost five out of its last seven, though. Its offense and defense are pretty middle-of-the-road during this bad stretch, so it\u2019s not like the Cavs have fallen off a cliff in that respect. But they\u2019re 0-5 in clutch games during this stretch, and their defense is getting demolished in tight games. The attention to detail has not been there, and you have to wonder if Kenny Atkinson\u2019s message is even getting through.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcc8\u00a0Jalen Johnson. <\/strong>The Atlanta Hawks\u2019 forward is playing out of his mind. If he\u2019s not a first-time All-Star this season, then something is very wrong with the selection process. It took him a few games after Trae Young went down with his knee injury, but Johnson has found his groove as the primary initiator for the Hawks. Over his last 14 games, Johnson is averaging 25.0 points, 11.6 rebounds, 9.6 assists and 1.7 steals with 51.3\/44.9\/79.8 shooting splits. The Hawks are 9-5 in that time.<\/p>\n During this 14-game stretch, the Hawks have outscored opponents by 9.2 points per 100 possessions with Johnson on the court. When he\u2019s on the bench? They\u2019re getting smoked by 16.2 points per 100 possessions. He\u2019s having the type of impact you\u2019d hope someone like Young would have, and it should raise some questions for the Hawks\u2019 front office about what the makeup of their team should be. Maybe Johnson isn\u2019t a franchise starter like many still assume Young can be. But this team has played better without its \u201cbest player.\u201d It doesn\u2019t have to mean you trade the point guard, but the Hawks can\u2019t go back to the mediocre fare we saw the last few years once Young is back.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcc9\u00a0Miami Heat (14-10). <\/strong>After winning six straight, the Heat have lost four of their last five. Maybe the most concerning loss was the latest one, a home game to the Sacramento Kings by 16 points. And it was worse than that for much of the game. So is there something wrong with the Heat, or have they just hit a tough spot? We\u2019ve seen some slippage on both ends of the floor for the Heat. In their first 18 games, they had an offensive rating of 116.0 (12th) and a defensive rating of 110.6 (fourth). During their last seven games (3-4), their offense is down to 112.2 (21st) and their defense is 113.5 (12th).<\/p>\n Some of this could be the reintegration of Tyler Herro into the lineup. The Heat were playing awesome, high-paced basketball without him, and he\u2019s still trying to find his rhythm. They\u2019re also trying to find their rhythm with him. Some of this is guys in and out of the lineup. And some of it is just that they lost coin flip games to Detroit and Orlando. This team needs to find a way to score when Norman Powell isn\u2019t in the game. The offense has dropped over 20 points per 100 possessions in the last few games when he hits the bench.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcc8\u00a0Minnesota Timberwolves (15-8). <\/strong>The Wolves are a tricky one, because technically they are on the way up. Not only did they break the seal against non-losing teams for the first time this season with back-to-back wins over Boston and San Antonio, but they also have won five straight. Granted, the last three games were against the Pelicans (twice) and the LA Clippers. And all three of those wins were far closer than they should have been for a team trying to get back to a third straight conference finals. Still, those wins helped them work on some end-of-game execution stuff they desperately need to iron out. Minnesota co-owns (with Boston) the longest non-Oklahoma City Thunder winning streak in the NBA right now.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/knicks-scaled.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n