Best games of Week 6 (Mon-Sun)

The Thunder are on their way from bouncing back from a two game losing streak against the Mavericks and Spurs this past week. After putting up a decisive win against a weird Portland team on Wednesday, they'll play the Kings tonight in Sacramento. After that, a real challenge takes shape in games against the Lakers and Warriors.

The Lakers have the 7th worst defense in the NBA right now and it was especially noticeable in Thursday's matchup against the Magic. where Orlando scored 119 points while walking into that game averaging 105 PPG. It's worth pointing out that LAL had a 6-game win streak that ended only when they played the league's best defense (ORL) and MVP-level Jokic. This game will be a great value test for Hartenstein as a defensive player and a chance for OKC's offense to expand a little if the Lakers continue to show deficiencies on that side of the ball.

The Warriors. OKC's matchup against them on Wednesday could be a game that provides a decisive lead on the Western conference standings. The Warriors have been an unexpected success to start the season. 5th best defense, 4th best offense, and heaps of depth across the board. But taking a step back, there's cases to be made for the Warriors to start slowing down. Buddy Hield's 3-point % has started to trend back towards earth after a crazy start to the season. Also, De'Anthony Melton is officially out for the season after being a key defensive player and providing 10 PPG on 20 MPG. Since his absence began on November 12th, the team has had close 4 of their last 6 games be decided by 5 points or less and the team doubled their number of losses (albeit, they went from 2 to 4).