The Lakers always seem to have a better record than their point differential would suggest. I think the zebras might have something to do with that.
So after I made this post, I went back 4 seasons, looked at the stats, and they outperformed their point differential all 4 years. When I have time I’ll look back further and come up with a real analysis of how out of wack their win total is compared to their point differential.
Yeah, Luka elevates 3 point shooting and drawing fouls, Austin is now a 30 pt scorer... Lebrawn is back..... Luka loves to carry teams and the Lakers are mostly beating teams they were supposed to beat vs with AD. What else is new.
https://www.nba.com/news/power-rankings-2025-26-week-7 #3 Houston RocketsLast Week:3 Record: 13-4 OffRtg: 122.3 (2) DefRtg: 110.3 (2) NetRtg: +12.0 (2) Pace: 97.7 (27) After losing a nail-biter to the Nuggets, the Rockets have won three straight games, including two (against teams with winning records) without Kevin Durant. Three takeaways The Rockets’ win in Phoenix last Monday was the first time that they’ve held an opponent under a point per possession, something they did 13 times (five times before Dec. 1) last season. They’ve climbed to second defensively and are now the only team in the top five on both ends of the floor. With league-wide free throw rate having seen a huge jump, 28 of the 30 teams have a higher opponent rate than they did last season. But the Rockets have seen a relatively small jump, ranking sixth after ranking 19th last season. Reed Sheppard got his first two starts of the season in Durant’s absence, scoring a career-high 31 points (and hitting Amen Thompson with a clutch dime) in the Rockets win at Golden State on Wednesday. He remained in the lineup (with Josh Okogie going to the bench) upon Durant’s return on Sunday afternoon, having played just 31 total minutes alongside the Rockets’ four full-time starters prior to that. That lineup has now outscored opponents by 28 points (23.2 per 100 possessions) in its 42 minutes through Sunday. Coming up: The Rockets have the league’s easiest December schedule in regard to cumulative opponent winning percentage (.405), but their win in Utah on Sunday was the start of their first stretch of five games in seven days. Durant didn’t play in their win over the Suns last week, so he’ll get his first shot at his former team on Friday. Week 7: @ UTA, vs. SAC, vs. PHX, @ DAL
