Our bi-weekly look at the West! LAL and DEN: The Nuggets continued their dominance over the Lakers, and LA has a transition defense problem. DAL: The Mavs don’t have great defensive personnel up and down, but the numbers show how they contain the ball to get a top-10 defense. 21:01 HOU: Alperen Sengun is an indicator of how well Houston’s defensive system is working. 28:23 GSW: Where the Warriors will miss De’Anthony Melton the most, plus Draymond at C or PF? 36:22 SAS: The Spurs are over .500! 43:34 LAC: The Clippers are elite at defending the paint, even with James Harden’s defensive difficulties. 48:41 OKC: The Thunder defense has held up even without any centers. 54:53 MEM: Jaren Jackson, Jr’s individual defensive numbers have fallen, but the Grizz are still right where they want to be. 1:03:25 PHX: Mike Budenholzer is playing very conservative defense with his centers. 1:10:23 UTA: Cody Williams’ extremely low usage so far. 1:14:04 MIN: Anthony Edwards is having a historically good shooting season. Why hasn’t it translated into great team offense? 1:21:29 SAC: There’s only one ball in Sacramento, so how have the Kings’ stars adjusted? 1:29:16 NOP: Yves Missi is the one player worth looking at for New Orleans so far. 1:37:08 POR: Shaedon Sharpe and Robert Williams have made the Blazers respectable–as has the absence of Deandre Ayton. 1:46:07