Trivia time, NBA fans, as 2019 comes to a close and this season’s halfway point nears: When it comes to net rating, that catch-all stat which is widely seen as the best indicator of a team’s true overall performance, what two teams have the top marks?
Ok, so Milwaukee was the easy pick. And yes, the Bucks (29-5) are coming into this week with a net rating of plus-12.5 that – thanks largely to Giannis Antetokounmpo looking worthy of winning MVP honors for a second consecutive season – is far ahead of the pack.
But the No. 2 team might surprise you: It’s the Luka Doncic-led Dallas Mavericks (21-11), who – even with Doncic missing four games recently because of an ankle sprain and Sunday’s loss to the Lakers – still have a net rating of 7.6 that trumps Boston (7.5), the Lakers (6.9) the Clippers (6.3) and all the rest.
Yet for all the well-deserved hype that has been given to those two wondrous stars, one could argue that it’s the guy…