Wemby Did Something Wilt Never Did + Sixers Take #1 | Run It Back Week 3

RIB-Week3-11/8/2026 === Jose: [00:00:00] Week three of the 2026-27 NBA season is over, which means it's time to run it back. This is Run It Back: NBA Week in Review. I'm Jose Salviati, editor at thePeachBasket.net, and this is the show where we recap the week that was in the NBA by sharing the only objective NBA power rankings, the stats standouts. That's the best to do it by average in the week that was, and then we take a look at viral news in the NBA in a segment we call Full Court Press. Finally, we highlight the marquee matchup for the week to come. Now, we start like we always do with the only objective overall top 10 NBA power rankings anywhere. You can read more about how we get to these rankings and see the entire list at thePeachBasket.net. Let's take a look at the top 10 at the conclusion of week number three. Now, we know that at the start of the NBA season, there's, there's a lot of moving around. Uh, and, and you've got some oddities where, uh, teams have really good weeks [00:01:00] and they drop, and teams have really bad weeks, and maybe they move up because the dust is settling, and we're gonna see a little bit of that in the top 10 this week. We start at number 10 with the New York Knicks. This is a team that seems to be figuring it out a little after a rough start. They were 3-0 in the week, and that moves them up four spots. They are the number 10 team at the start or at the end of week number three. The Cleveland Cavaliers are going in the opposite direction. They had a rough 1-3 week, and that saw them drop from number eight. They are the number nine team at the end of week number three. Now, here's one of those oddities I was talking about. The San Antonio Spurs are a very good basketball team with a very good player. They were 4-0. They were perfect in week number three, and you would expect the power rankings to, um, give them a little bit of credit. But instead, because another team above them, um, [00:02:00] got a few more points in their wins, the San Antonio Spurs, despite the 4-0 week, drop one spot from number seven. They are the number eight team at the end of week number three. Now, that team that did just a little bit better in the points, uh, than the Spurs were the Minnesota Timberwolves. They were a perfect 3-0, and again, those teams that they beat just, uh, got them a few more points than the teams that San Antonio beat. So Minnesota jumps up three spots from number 10 They are our number seven team after week number three. The Dallas Mavericks are one and two. Uh, they saw, that, that saw them rather drop three spots. They are the number six team. Staying in Texas, the Houston Rockets were seven, uh, pardon me, one and two in week, uh, number three, and that saw them drop one spot from number four to number five. The Boston Celtics are the number four team. They had a [00:03:00] good three-in-one week, which saw them move up two spots. Again, they come in at number four. The Oklahoma City Thunder are, I should say, continue to play really good basketball despite losing Jalen Williams. They are, they were rather, a perfect four and O in week number three, and that saw them move up six spots. They are the number three team. Now, the number two team was the number one team last week. The Detroit Pistons were one and one in week number three. That saw them drop out of the number one spot. They are number two, which means we have a new number one. Three weeks, three different number one teams. The Philadelphia 76ers were number one after week number three. On the heels of a two and one week, they move up one spot to take over the top spot. Congratulations to the Sixers That's it. That's the objective [00:04:00] top 10 list after week number three. If you want to see where all 30 teams land this week, please visit thePeachBasket.net. Now let's shift our focus to the players. These are the best to do it by average in week number three of the 2026-27 NBA season. These are the best by average in shooting, rebounds, assists, blocks, steals, and points, as well as game score. Let's take a look. If you've been following the NBA, it's no surprise that the top points guy is Luka Dončić. In week number three, he averaged a staggering 45 points per game over his four games played. Unreal stretch for Luka. The top sniper, the top three-point maker was Duncan Robinson. He played two games and averaged 6.5 made threes. And the top field goal guy, again, was Luka. He's averaging 13.5, or he averaged 13.5 in week number three. [00:05:00] Um, top rebounder was Victor Wembanyama. Four games, pulled down 14 rebounds. The top offensive rebounder is a bit of a surprise. Dyson Daniels, who we normally talk about when it comes to steals, not offensive rebounds. But he went after it, uh, in week number three, pulled down five and a half offensive boards over his four games played to lead the association. And Karl-Anthony Towns was the top defensive rebounder, pulling down 11 defensive boards. Another surprise, uh, when you look at assists, this is where you see Luka Dončić, this is where you see Trae Young. Uh, you would be surprised to see Luka here. This week, it was Franz Wagner. He played four games and averaged 11 assists per game, so way to go for the Orlando Magic player. Uh, top blocks, this is a game where, or pardon me, a, a name we're used to. Victor Wembanyama played four, uh, games, sent back three and a half shots. No [00:06:00] surprise there. And the top steals guy is a bit of an underrated player for a pretty bad team this season, uh, unfortunately for fans of the Los Angeles Clippers. Kris Dunn led the association with 3.7 steals over his three games played. Now, the top game score at a staggering 36.9. Again, no surprise, Luka Dončić led everyone, and again, no real shock there. As we look ahead to week number four, the game to watch is in the East, where the Boston Celtics head to Philadelphia to take on the number one Sixers after week number three Who's gonna guard Jayson Tatum? Who's gonna guard Jaylen Brown? Will Brown and Tatum shake hands before, after the game? This is more than just a good early-season game between two teams with championship aspirations. There are backstories here, and we all love a good backstory. Don't deny it. Circle that [00:07:00] one on your calendar. It's gonna be a good game with some interesting context. Now we end with a segment we call Full Court Press, where we take a look at what the news in the NBA is, what's the press saying about the NBA, what's viral, and we talk about it. So This week, Steve Purciello, host of Celtic Chalk Talk and co-host with yours truly of the Shot Clock Pod, recently threw out a Wilt Chamberlain comparison for Luka Dončić. Now, he was clear that he was only comparing their offensive numbers, and he's not wrong. Luka is putting up ridiculous numbers, averaging, as we record this show, 40.1 points per game over, right, the entire season. We know he dropped 45 in week number three alone. Now, only one player has every aver- has ever averaged 40 points per game in a season, and that was Wilt in [00:08:00] 1962-1963 when he dropped 44.83 points per game. The season before, 1961-62, he averaged 50. He averaged 50. Now, you didn't hear me wrong. He averaged 50.36. So 1962 was actually a down year for him, which is unreal. Now, Steve points out that we haven't seen an offensive output like that since Wilt in what we're seeing from Luka now. And again, it's crazy. I also need to call out that Luka shoots the ball from further away from the hoop than Wilt did, making his 40.1 all the more impressive. Something else that Steve also brought up. So overall, listen, I got no issues with the Wilt Chamberlain comparison. When you add that context, we're talking just offensive, uh, production. Now, I bring all of this up because when Steve dropped the Wilt reference, I thought I knew who he was going to [00:09:00] talk about. Now, I was wrong. He surprised me when he said Luka. I get the shout-out. Again, I get it. But when I look at the landscape of the NBA today and I think of Wilt, the first name that pops up is Victor Wembanyama. Now, my perception may be a bit tainted, in part because both Wemby and Wilt play the same position. But like Luka, Wemby doesn't get his points only the way Wilt did. Wemby's game is different, but still spectacular and, dare I say, Wilt-like. Now, a lot was made of Wemby's, uh, stumble out of the gate in Game 1 of the 2026-27 NBA season. Uh, Wemby was less Wilt and more the Washington Generals. He shot one of 13, scoring 12 points in a loss to the OKC Thunder. But since then, since that game, he's averaging 31 points per game. So yeah, no one needs to worry about Wemby. In Game [00:10:00] number eight in Week number three, he dropped 52 points and sent back eight shots. He became the only player in NBA history to record 50 points and at least eight blocks in a single game since blocks became an official stat in the 1973-74 NBA season. Now, I imagine Wilt might have averaged 50 points with eight blocks in that '61-62 season we referenced earlier, but you get the point. When you do something no one has ever done before, you are in rarefied air. Most exciting to all NBA fans, especially fans in San Antonio, is that Wemby is only 22 years old, which just boggles the mind. We're still just at the start of his NBA journey, and no doubt at the start of hearing "First time in NBA history," when we talk about The Alien. It's a good time to be an NBA fan. That's it. Week number three of the 2026-27 NBA season is in the books. [00:11:00] Join us again next week after week number four when we once again run it back.