Opening night of the NBA is in the books, and we were treated to some of the best the game had to offer Tuesday night. We had the World Champion Celtics squaring off against the Cavaliers, their Eastern Conference foes last year. The Western Conference champion Lakers facing Greg Oden and the up-and-coming Blazers. And the Bulls and Bucks in Chicago. What? Milwaukee/Chicago cluttering up opening night? Someone in the marketing department is getting fired.
The Cavs and Celtics, as it turned out, were the best matchup of the night. Cleveland jumped on them early after Boston's ring-ceremony and banner-raising festivities before the game. It took the Celtics all of the first half to remember that this is no longer the 2007-08 season. It wasn't until the third quarter that we saw Boston's defense take over, limiting the Cavs to 13 points and seizing a lead it nursed through the fourth quarter. Boston coach Doc Rivers, who wants to limit the minutes of his Big Three, was forced to play Ray Allen (40:39), Paul Pierce (38:13) and Kevin Garnett (36:09) much more than he wanted to... The Cavs started a smallish backcourt of Mo Williams and Delonte West, with both of them and LeBron equally initiating the offense. Williams finished with just two assists and may see a reduction in assists moving over to Cleveland. After all, he's primarily a scoring point guard and isn't known for making players around him better. With West and James capable ballhandlers, Williams, who has never averaged more than 6.4 apg in a season, may struggle to get five a night this season... The biggest revelation on the Boston side of things was Leon Powe. The former PAC-10 star was the first big man off the bench for the Celtics. He's a relentless worker who can finish near the basket, scoring 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting in 23 minutes, and gives the Celtics a better offensive big than starter Kendrick Perkins. With the foul-prone Perkins, who averages 23.9 mpg as a starter in his career, ahead of him in the lineup, Powe has the opportunity for a mini-breakout season...
The Lakers jumped on the Blazers early and never let up. The much-anticipated debut of Oden turned out to be less-than what TNT was hoping for. Oden suffered a foot injury early and was seen limping in the first quarter. He was scoreless with five rebounds and a blocked shot in 13 minutes. The Blazers were settling for a lot of jump shots early on and shot just 31 percent in the first half. Rudy Fernandez showed he belonged in the NBA, scoring 16 points on 5-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-5 from international waters. Travis Outlaw, a late-decision starter, had 18 points while filling in for Martell Webster. It's interesting that coach Nate McMillan flirted with starting rookie Nicolas Batum, only to give him 3:32 off the bench. That's the same amount of playing time Ike Diogu got... The Lakers were ruthlessly efficient, knocking down 47 percent from the floor, 70 percent from 3-point range and 83 percent from the free-throw line. It's a good night when stars like Kobe Bryant (32:47) and Pau Gasol (33:02) don't have to work too hard... Because of the blowout nature of the game, it's really hard to read anything into the numbers. Lamar Odom's debut as sixth man produced nine points and seven rebounds in 29 minutes. It looks like his production will suffer in the reserve role, but we're hoping for more than nine points a game...
Ahh, the Bulls and the Bucks. This was a close affair with Chicago pulling away late to win it. The NBA's first-round draft pick, Derrick Rose, was on the display, so at least there was some appeal. He started and had 11 points (3-for-9) with four rebounds, nine assists, three steals and four turnovers. A typical rookie night with flashes of potential along with the mistakes. Ben Gordon, in what should be a motivated final season in Chicago after sometimes-acrimonious offseason negotiations, shook off his preseason toe injury to score 18 points (6-of-12 FG, 3-of-6 3pt). Drew Gooden, who started at center during the preseason, opened the season there and could provide fantasy owners with position flexibility before long. Luol Deng validated his recently signed six-year contract with a team-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting. The Bulls should have a winning record if they can play the Bucks all year... For the Bucks, Tuesday's box score should be representative of most of their games this season. Michael Redd and Richard Jefferson took 36 of the team's 78 shots. Jefferson wasn't feeling it (5-for-17), but this team should score a lot and give up a lot. If you're going to lose a lot of games, this is the way to do it. Milwaukee allowed Chicago, a team that made 43 percent of its shots last season, to shoot 50 percent from the floor. And when you look at that starting lineup, it's no surprise. Michael Redd, Luke Ridnour, Richard Jefferson, Charlie Villanueva and Andrew Bogut. Coach Scott Skiles will need to get some defenders (Charlie Bell, Luke Mbah a Moute) on the court. Ridnour (four assists, five turnovers) will have to be better, but he was playing through a back injury. I'm betting Skiles and Charlie V. will not be on speaking terms by Thanksgiving. Villanueva played just 8:47, going 1-of-5 from the floor and having two of his shots blocked. Mbah a Moute (26:24), Malik Allen (20:19) and Dan Gadzuric (14:33) got more run...
We got a full slate of games Wednesday. In the West, there's Phoenix/San Antonio and Utah/Denver headlining. The most interesting match of the night will be in the East, where Toronto and Philadelphia are hooking up.