[Izulde]

Gary Harris went down with a severe triceps injury in his debut and was out the rest of October and the early part of November.

Overall, the first month was about what I expected. 3-4 with a 3-1 home record and 0-3 on the road. Our signature victory was 117-104 over the Denver Nuggets, Monte Morris playing his way to 30 points, 5 assists, and a steal en route to Player of the Game honors. Kenneth Faried chipped in 23 points and 7 rebounds, while Andrew Wiggins score 19 with 7 boards.

At the start of November, a couple of things were clear. Kenneth Faried was an absolute bargain. Career averages of 18.3 points and 64% were high marks to date by a wide margin. His 6.6 rebounds were fairly decent, though not earthshattering. We had a desperate need for someone who could crash the boards and/or generate turnovers, as our defense, while strong in points allowed (ranking in the Top 6), revealed pedestrian numbers in the advanced metrics.

Our offense was all about Faried, Monte Morris (15.3 points, 4 rebounds, 3.4 assists), and Cody Zeller (15.3 points, 8 rebounds). Andrew Wiggins was proving a disappointment at 13.5 points due to his 36.7% from the floor, 21.8% from 3 point range, though his 5.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists attested to his ability to contribute in numerous facets of the game.

I've always loved watching Giannis "Greek Freak" Antetokounmpo play, even from his Summer League days when I saw his coast to coast score in 4 dribbles in person. He hung 15 points, 16 rebounds, 10 assists, and 6 steals on us to open November as we fell 90-78 in Charlotte. It was the start of a five game losing streak that took us from fighting for the Southeast lead to a half-game ahead of the Wizards. One of our biggest problems - the bench was terrible at big man and point guard. We were getting eaten alive in the fast break, too.

Kadeem Allen got snatched up from the D-League to address our porous backup point guard spot, and we traded Willy Hermangomez to Oklahoma City for sexy name, disappointing career Nerlens Noel, who despite his Wiggins-esque underachievement, still brought nasty toughness and defense inside - which we sorely needed. At least, that was the theory. In practice, we dropped 3 more straight games before finally nipping by the Timberwolves by a single point in Charlotte, 102-101. Kenneth Faried with 20 points and 6 rebounds as a meh Player of the Game. 10 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals off the bench by Nerlens Noel.

Kenneth Faried went HAM for 25 points and 18 rebounds to net us our first win streak of the season, 108-104 vs Washington. I'll take. Malik Monk scored 16 with 6 assists and 2 steals off the bench. Monk was emblematic of the team as a whole - glitzy name player who busted despite a high draft slot.

And then came out first road win - a shocking 116-93 upset of the Cavaliers. Kenneth Faried Player of the Game for the third time in a row with 25 points. Kadeem Allen scored a season-high 19 points off the bench. Worth noting: our games against the Wizards and Cleveland both were without the services of Andrew Wiggins and Cody Zeller, who were out with injury, thereby earning Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (another bust) and Nerlens Noel starts (guess that Noel pickup was smart after all).

27 points and 12 rebounds by PotG Kenneth Farried, 24 scored by Monte Morris, and 14 bench points by Kadeem Allen later, we stared at a 120-106 home win over the Spurs and our fourth straight victory.

The win streak stretched to 5 to close out the month - 106-92 over the Toronto Raptors in Canada! Malik Monk was the surprise star with 19 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds and a steal off the bench, Garry Harris chipping in 11 points of his own. And that's with Wiggins and Zeller back in the lineup.

We were now 8-12. A .400 win percentage and one of the two hottest teams other than the Minnesota Timberwolves, who'd also won 5 straight and were 12-10.