At last, the NBA season is upon us! Although this offseason was particularly surprising and the preseason was at least somewhat interesting, nothing is better than getting back to real basketball. Now that opening night has come and gone, we can assess where teams currently stack up. In this article I’m going to be going over some of the biggest takeaways from the first couple days of the season.
Cleveland seems prime for another run at the title
In a noticeably weaker Eastern Conference, the Cleveland Cavaliers seem like men among boys. This offseason, however, the Knicks made some big changes to their roster in order to stack up against the Conference’s elite. One would guess that adding two former All-Stars in Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah along with solid contributors like Courtney Lee and Brandon Jennings would help close the gap, right? That would be wrong. Cleveland proved on Tuesday night that they’re still the kings of the East, by LeBron posting a triple-double without breaking a sweat and Kyrie Irving chipping in with 29 points of his own merit.
Portland is for real
Although they suffered some late 4th quarter defensive malfunctions against the Clippers on Thursday night, the Blazers are starting to make their case as a top team in the West. Lillard came out in their first game on fire, dropping 39 points and 6 assists in a statement comeback win against the Utah Jazz and thus proving that his name deserves to be in the MVP discussion this early in the season. Portland’s backcourt showed that they are a force to be reckoned with, as CJ McCollum also came out swinging. He proved that he’s worth his $106 million extension he signed this offseason by finishing with 25 points. All in all, it looks like all of Portland’s extravagant offseason spending might pay off. If their backcourt keeps playing like this and the deep rest of the roster continues to carry their own weight, the Trail Blazers could surprise a lot of people this NBA season.
Westbrook is on a mission to tear apart the regular season – and there’s not much you can do to stop him
Just as all NBA fans expected, Russell Westbrook is going to play angry this year, even more so than usual, following Kevin Durant’s departure. He proved that by putting up a near triple-double of 32 points, 12 rebounds and 9 assists. When he wasn’t busy being heckled by angry Philly fans, he was putting on a show that was moving too fast for anyone to stop. The 76ers did prove, however, that they don’t plan on being the NBA’s worst team for yet another season by hanging in there until the very end. Joel Embiid finally made his NBA debut, and looked very promising with 20 points and 7 rebounds as he embarks on a possible ROTY campaign.
James Harden highlights his passing genius in loss to the post-Kobe Lakers
Prior to Houston’s opening game at the Staple Center, newly appointed head coach Mike D’Antoni made headlines by saying that he honestly believed James Harden could post a 14-assist average this season after a position change to point guard. That statement was laughable at first, but after Harden finished with 17 total assists and 9 first quarter assists on Wednesday night, it seems a bit less far-fetched. The Lakers’ young core showed potential that night as well. Fueled by combined solid nights from D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, and the rest of the young Lakers team, they were able to stay in the fight until the end of the game. Come the 4th quarter, it turned into the Jordan Clarkson show. Clarkson finished with 25 points, and many of them came off of a phenomenal 4th quarter stretch where he seemed to score all of the Lakers’ points, along with a couple key steals on the other side of the court. As Luke Walton earned his first win as an official NBA head coach, the Lakers looked ready to move on with life after Kobe.
Indiana’s roster continues to show promising signs
Indiana, much like Boston, New York, and Chicago made some serious moves during the summer to try and challenge for the East’s throne. By adding the likes of Jeff Teague to help facilitate a possibly leathel offense, they showed how serious they are about joing the conversation very soon. Other than adding Teaue, they brought in veteran frountcourt contributers like Al Jefferson, Jordan Hill, and Thaddeus Young. In their opening night ame against Dallas, they showed that they have the offense to keep up with anyone. Behind great games from Myles Turner, Jeff Teague, and Paul George, the Pacers were able to come out of OT with a solid victory. The growth of Myles Turner and the play of the glue players of the Pacers will dictate their level of success this season.
Boston and Chicago prove to be among Eastern Conference’s elite
In Dwyane Wade’s first game since leaving Miami, he proved he still has a lot of quality basketball left to play. The Bulls came out and did their job on Thursday night, by winning a competitive match up against another team in the East that is looking to take the next step and challenge Cleveland. Both of these teams made splashes this offseason in order to do just that. None of these new additions proved to be as beneficial as the signing of Wade, however. No. 3 continued to show no signs of aging by knocking down a critical step-back 3-pointer in the final minute of play to put the game out of reach. These teams are both much improved, thanks to their new acquisitions, and will hopefully continue to strengthen the foundation of an improving Eastern Conference.
Golden State has some work to do
It wouldn’t be an NBA article if I didn’t mention the Golden State Warriors, right? The team that added a former MVP and superstar in Kevin Durant following a 73-9 record and was within mere minutes of capturing a second consecutive Larry O’Brien trophy? Yeah, that’s them. Of all of the moves made this offseason, none were as game-changin as Durant’s shocking move to the Bay Area. This offseason, all we heard about was how the parody in the league was ruined, how the Warriors would win 82 games, and how the regular season was rendered meaningless. Well, while the media and fans alike obsessed over this team, the San Antonio Spurs were hard at working getting ready for the season to prove that people were wrong by not mentioning their name. The Spurs completely dominated on Opening Night, by beating Golden State by 29 in a game that seemed like it was in their grip for the entire 48 minutes. Kawhi Leonard proved yet again that He is a top 3 two-way player in this league, by posting an impressive 35 points along with 5 steals. It wasn’t just Leonard, however. The Spurs ran a balanced offsensive attack, along with their defensive genius. LaMarcus Aldridge added in 26 points, and surprise performer Jonathon Simmons had 20 points of his own. On paper, Curry and Durant had good games of their own, finishing with 26 points and 27, respectively. I don’t see this Warriors team struggling for too long, but I expect them needing a week or two to start building the chemistry they need to dominate.
