Record: 23-8

OffRtg: 118.8 (5) DefRtg: 112.5 (5) NetRtg: +6.2 (6) Pace: 100.7 (18)

The Spurs’ eight-game winning streak (in games that count toward the standings) came to an end on Saturday, when De’Aaron Fox missed their game against the Jazz. But they still have more wins against the Thunder than the rest of the league, having beat the champs on a neutral court, at home and on the road.

Three takeaways

• The Spurs are now the only team that ranks in the top five on both ends of the floor. They knocked the Thunder out of the top five on offense by holding them to just 107.0 points per 100 possessions over three meetings in the last 16 days. That includes just 88.9 per 100 in Victor Wembanyama’s 70 minutes. The Thunder average 51.3 points in the paint per 100 possessions overall, but just 33.3 per 100 with Wembanyama on the floor.

• The defense is aided by the Spurs’ lack of turnovers against the Thunder. Their two wins last week were two of the seven times that the Thunder have forced fewer than 14 turnovers per 100 possessions. Fox had a quiet night scoring (six points) on Tuesday, but he led the way with 29 points on Christmas, and he has an assist/turnover ratio of 16/2 over the three games. Overall, the Spurs’ offense has been at its best (119.4 points scored per 100 possessions) with Fox on the floor.

• But the loss to Utah without Fox was more about the defense. Wembanyama was in the starting lineup for the first time since his month-long absence, but the Spurs allowed 127 points on 99 possessions, their worst defensive game of the 19 that Wembanyama has played in.

Coming up: The Spurs’ two losses against the Eastern Conference (one that counts in the standings, one that doesn’t) have come against the Cavs and the Knicks. They’ll have opportunities to avenge them both this week.

Week 11: vs. CLE, vs. NYK, @ IND, vs. POR

Record: 27-5

OffRtg: 118.5 (6) DefRtg: 104.6 (1) NetRtg: +13.9 (1) Pace: 101.2 (13)

The Thunder are 27-2 against everybody else, but they’re 0-3 against the Spurs, having dropped both games of their home-and-home set last week. They look a lot more mortal than they did three weeks ago and are no longer a lock to finish with the league’s best record, let alone the most wins in NBA history.

Three takeaways

• The Thunder have the league’s fourth-biggest differential between their field goal percentage in the paint (61.3%, second best) and their effective field goal percentage on shots from outside the paint (52.8%, eighth). And they’re obviously more reliant on jump shots against the Spurs than they are otherwise. Only 41% of their shots against San Antonio (compared to 49% against all other opponents) have come in the paint, and they took 21 mid-range shots, tied for the third most for any team in any game this season, in their loss in San Antonio on Tuesday.

• The two losses last week were also the only two times the Thunder have allowed more than 115 points per 100 possessions, with the Spurs scoring 129.3 per 100 over the two games. The strength of the Thunder defense is forcing turnovers and defending the paint, but the Spurs committed just 22 turnovers over the two games and had two of the three highest paint-scoring games against the champs this season.

• The loss in San Antonio on Tuesday ended a streak of 25 straight games where the Thunder committed fewer turnovers than their opponent. Their turnover differential (5.4 fewer per game) is still more than twice as good as that of any other team. (Boston ranks second with 2.3 fewer per game than their opponents.)

Coming up: The second of the Thunder’s two losses to San Antonio was a rest-disadvantage game, and they’re now 2-3 in the second games of back-to-backs. They’ll be at a disadvantage again against the Hawks on Monday, though it’s a home-home back-to-back, with their win over the Sixers on Sunday having come in the afternoon.

Week 11: vs. ATL, vs. POR, @ GSW, @ PHX

Record: 22-9

OffRtg: 124.0 (1) DefRtg: 115.8 (20) NetRtg: +8.2 (3) Pace: 100.5 (19)

The Nuggets got a good win over the Wolves on Christmas, blowing a 15-point lead with less than six minutes left and then coming back from a nine-point deficit in overtime. But that was sandwiched by one-point losses in Dallas and Orlando, with game-winning, buzzer-beating shots spinning off the rim on both nights.

Three takeaways

• With Cam Johnson suffering a right knee injury in Dallas on Tuesday and joining Christian Braun and Aaron Gordon on the shelf, the Nuggets are down to two healthy starters. The two left are Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokić, but Denver has been outscored by 5.9 points per 100 possessions (allowing an amazing 129.1 per 100) in 235 minutes with Murray and Jokić on the floor without any of the other three starters.

• The Nuggets (17-1) now have the fewest losses in games that weren’t within five points in the last five minutes. But Denver is now just 5-8 in clutch games, having allowed a league-worst 138 points per 100 possessions (178 on 129) when the score was within five in the last five minutes of regulation or overtime. There’s surely some bad luck in there, because their opponents have shot 20-for-39 (51%) on clutch 3-pointers.

• But overall, the losses in Dallas and Orlando were the sixth and seventh times that the Nuggets have allowed more than 125 points per 100 possessions, something they had done just four times before Jan. 1 last season. They had the league’s third-ranked defense when Gordon had played his last full game (Nov. 17), but rank 27th defensively since then.

Coming up: The Nuggets’ loss in Orlando on Saturday was the start of their longest road trip of the season (seven games over 12 days), and six of the seven games are against East teams with winning records. The seventh is against the team – Brooklyn – with the league’s No. 1 defense in December.

Week 11: @ MIA, @ TOR, @ CLE, @ BKN

Record: 22-9

OffRtg: 121.1 (3) DefRtg: 114.3 (15) NetRtg: +6.8 (4) Pace: 99.5 (26)

The Knicks couldn’t win in Minnesota without Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby on Tuesday, but they returned for Christmas and had 24 of the team’s 34 clutch points in narrow wins over the Cavs and Hawks.

Three takeaways

• The loss in Minnesota without Brunson was the Knicks’ worst offensive game of the season (104 points on 102 possessions) and they’ve now scored 13.1 more points per 100 possessions with him on the floor (124.7) than they have with him on the bench (111.6), a much bigger on-off differential than he had last season. But they also beat the Cavs on Thursday in a game in which they were outscored by 17 points in Brunson’s 39 minutes. Their depth is being tested, with Josh Hart (sprained ankle late in the Christmas win) joining Miles McBride and Landry Shamet on the shelf.

• The wins over the Cavs and Hawks came by a total of five points. The possession game made the difference in both, with the Knicks garnering eight more shot opportunities than the opponent in both games. Karl-Anthony Towns had an incredible tip-in to put them up four with 29 seconds left against Cleveland, and Anunoby put them ahead in Atlanta with two free throws after ripping an offensive rebound away from Jalen Johnson. The Knicks rank second (behind Detroit) in shot-opportunity differential, having averaged 3.6 more per game than their opponents.

• Mitchell Robinson had 18 offensive rebounds in 61 minutes last week and continues to have the highest offensive rebounding percentage (23.1%) for any player who’s averaged at least 15 minutes per game in the 30 seasons for which we have play-by-play data.

Coming up: Those stats don’t include the Emirates NBA Cup final, when Robinson had 10 offensive boards in just 18 minutes off the bench. The Knicks will face the Spurs in a game that counts toward the regular season standings (and stats) when they play in San Antonio on Wednesday.

Week 11: @ NOP, @ SAS, vs. ATL, vs. PHI

Record: 24-8

OffRtg: 116.9 (8) DefRtg: 110.9 (2) NetRtg: +6.0 (7) Pace: 101.0 (15)

The Pistons are 2-2 on their holiday trip out West, and their lead over the Knicks at the top of the Eastern Conference is down to just one game in the loss column.

Three takeaways

• The Pistons still rank second defensively, but the last three games have been, easily, their worst stretch on that end of the floor (124.2 points allowed per 100 possessions). They were able to beat the Kings with offense on Tuesday, but didn’t have enough against the Jazz or Clippers over the weekend. The Pistons rank last in opponent free-throw rate (34.1 attempts per 100 shots from the field) and that rate is 40.8 per 100 over the four-game trip thus far. Seven Pistons have averaged at least four fouls per 36 minutes over the four games.

• The Pistons’ loss to the Clippers on Sunday was just their second loss in a game that wasn’t within five points in the last five minutes. It was also the first time this season that they never held a lead as they were down double-digits after four minutes and never really threatened the Clippers (because they couldn’t stop Kawhi Leonard).

• That was a relatively rough night for the Pistons’ starting lineup, which has now eclipsed the 200-minute mark. It’s outscored opponents by 8.1 points per 100 possessions, a mark that ranks fifth among 12 lineups that have played at least 150 minutes. Jaden Ivey continues to come off the bench, though he played a season-high 29 minutes on Sunday, eight more than he’d logged in any of his previous 16 games.

Coming up: The Pistons are now 7-3 against the Western Conference, and their trip concludes with a game against the Lakers on Tuesday. Then they’ll play three straight games within the top nine in East, and will look to avenge their first non-clutch loss of the season (Oct. 27 vs. the Cavs) when they play in Cleveland on Sunday afternoon.

Week 11: @ LAL, vs. MIA, @ CLE