The first ten days of the NBA season have produced a number of surprises. The Cleveland Cavaliers are 5-0 and the Milwaukee Bucks are 1-4. Slightly less surprising: the Brooklyn Nets are 2-3 and the Chicago Bulls are 3-2. Both teams are coming off victories that were also somewhat surprising. The Nets pushed the Memphis Grizzlies around while the Bulls came from far behind for the second straight game to beat the Magic.

The two surprises will take place tonight at Barclays Center as the Nets begin a three-game homestand. So far, the fans have shown up despite the woe-is-me predictions. Brooklyn is averaging 17,926 fans, which is 101% of the Barclays two-game capacity. Tonight will be a good indicator of fan interest as the Bulls don’t have a superstar at the level we saw in the home opener, Giannis Antetocounmpo (currently) of the Bucks and Nikola Jokic of the Nuggets.

Game 5 | October 30 | Balance: 1-3

• TIME: 7:30 PM ET
• OPPOSITION: Chicago Bulls (3-2)
• Tune in: YES Network on TV; WFAN on the radio.

Injuries

No Bojan Bogdanovic or Day’Ron Sharpe. Trenton Watford went from probable to available not long before game time, before being ruled doubtful due to the left hamstring strain that has kept him out so far this season. Dariq Whitehead is with the Long Island Nets, as are the three two-ways. Long Island opens its season a week from tonight at the Nassau Coliseum.

Lonzo Ball (right wrist sprain) is out, but Zach Lavine (shoulder sprain) and Patrick Williams (also shoulder sprain) are available.

The game

The guard match should be fun. Dennis Schroder is playing perhaps the best basketball of his NBA career and has gotten the Nets off to a great start. The three-point shooting is great, but getting to and finishing at the rim is perhaps the most important

Go downhill and good things happen! For Jordi Fernandez and the Nets, having a leader like Schroder helps keep things organized and gives them a fighting chance every night. The Nets have been fun to watch so far, and that’s all you can ask for right now. If they keep this up, winter may not last as long as everyone expects.

Josh Giddey is in a new location and it looks like he’s found himself. His three-point shooting has been otherworldly early in the year and he has everyone on their feet movement. It’s still incredibly early and the stats in the first month and turn of the season are very noisy, but if Giddey can be anything positive in attack it will be a godsend for the Bulls.

And Zach Lavine has seen a resurgence. He powered the Bulls’ two 20-point comebacks, averaging 23.0 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists while shooting better than 50% overall.

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