Sometimes it takes a full season for the good stuff to shake out.
The NBA has been dominated on the court and in the 24-hour news cycle by the Golden State Warriors. They have the most wins and are the most fun. They are trendsetters and record setters. They are leaving a trail of teams and NBA observers alike in a sea of head shakes and awe.
We know them.
They are worthy headliners in how they operate on and off the court.
But this isn’t a one-team show.
Two of the best stories of late are under-the-radar teams.
Most observers would be hard-pressed to identify the Charlotte Hornets as having one of the 10 best records in the NBA going into Saturday. But they do. The Hornets are stocked with shooting and led by one of the most improved and underrated players in the league, point guard Kemba Walker.
One season ago, you needed to head to the bottom of the 3-point percentage rankings to find the Hornets.
Indeed, there they were, last in the NBA at 31.8 percent.
Now?
Charlotte knocks down 3-pointers with the best teams in the league and is among the top 10 in the category. Going into Saturday’s games, the Hornets had risen to fifth in the East, just a 1½ games out of fourth. This was the trajectory coach Steve Clifford’s team was supposed to be on last season, but bad personnel moves doomed the Hornets from the start after a promising 2013-14 season.
Meanwhile, the coach getting the last laugh — so far — is the Memphis Grizzlies’ Dave Joerger.
His team loses players … and wins more games.
Gone are leading scorers Marc Gasol (injury) and Mike Conley (injury). Brandan Wright (injury) is out. Jeff Green and Courtney Lee were traded.
In are Chris Andersen, Lance Stephenson, P.J. Hairston … and more wins?
“It’s been a very upside-down situation,” Joerger said before his Feb. 29 game in Denver against the Nuggets. “We’re coming along, guys are in good spirits, chemistry is good, and guys like each other. They go out there arm in arm and just go play hard.”
It should be a combustible mix. Stephenson, Tony Allen, Matt Barnes, Andersen.
Arm in arm?
Yes. In lock step.
Grit and grind have been replaced with space and pace. Scores in the 90s have been replaced by an average of 105.3 points in 12 games since the all-star break. Instead of fading in wake of considerable attrition, the Grizzlies have flourished, solidifying themselves in the fifth spot in the Western Conference race.
What’s taking place in Memphis is remarkable. These were the five starters Memphis put on the court against New Orleans on Friday night: Briante Weber, Allen, Barnes, JaMychal Green and Ryan Hollins.
Go ahead, beat Anthony Davis and Co. with that.
Joerger did.
There is some question about whether he’ll be back with the team next season. There is no question the system he wanted this team to transition to from the start is getting its first true test.
And it’s passing with flying colors.
This isn’t the glitz of Golden State. That’s basketball on steroids, an MVP (Stephen Curry), a player averaging almost a triple-double this season (Draymond Green), a 3-point-shooting all-star (Klay Thompson) and a host of high-caliber support players.
But Memphis is a great story.
And maybe, in the future, a big winner.
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or @dempseypost
Spotlight on …
James Harden, G, Houston
The battle for the final two playoff spots in the Western Conference is heating up, and James Harden is doing all he can to get Houston in the postseason. In so doing, he is The Denver Post’s player of the week.
What’s up: In four road games, Harden averaged 34.3 points, 8.5 assists and 5.5 rebounds. Houston won three of those games. There were flaws in his performances: Harden shot just 41.8 percent from the field and 24.2 from the 3-point line. But he was at his foul-drawing best, taking a whopping 15.3 free throws per game, on average, making an average of 86.9 percent. He averaged a plus-8.8 for the week, so the Rockets were effective as a team when he was on the court.
Background: It hasn’t been easy following last year’s MVP-caliber season for Harden. Houston has struggled, he has taken a lot of the blame for that, and the whole scene has been rocky. But he led the Rockets to three good wins, first over the East’s second-best team, Toronto. Then came a win over Philadelphia, and finally a win over Boston, the East’s third-best team, which snapped the Celtics’ 14-game home winning streak.
Dempsey’s take: The Rockets are trying to live out the adage: All’s well that ends well.
This season has been a struggle at best. A coach was fired. Ty Lawson, who was supposed to bolster the Rockets’ roster, was waived. Dwight Howard was dangled on the trade market. But making the playoffs would be big, and the Rockets, winners in four of their last five going into Sunday’s game, seem to be getting things right at the opportune time.
