Boston Celtics 95 – Cleveland Cavaliers 89: What a way to start the year. A potential Eastern Conference Finals match-up in Cleveland, where the Cavaliers only lost two games last year. The Cavaliers got out to a very hot start, putting the Celtics in a 14-point hole just five minutes into the game, but Boston would fight back, inching closer until they took the lead with under five minutes to go in the first half. The Celtics would never lose the lead again. The Cavs would make strong run near the end of the game, pulling within five with five to go, but that was as close as they would get. The Celtics won this game thanks to their overall depth. They got big performances from their best wing players (Paul Pierce had 23 points and 11 rebounds; Ray Allen had 16 points and a couple of huge transition threes) and had a solid game from Kevin Garnett, 13 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks, in his first game since his injury against Utah. Rajon Rondo, who may be their best all-around player, had a very dynamic game, finishing with eight points, 10 assists, six rebounds and three steaks, while bench players Rasheed Wallace and Marquis Daniels scored 12 and seven points respectively as well as being factors defensively. See, they’ve got depth. The Cavaliers, on the other hand, were exactly the same as last season. It was LeBron against the Celtics, with no teammates helping him out. He finished with 38, three short of what I predicted. Shaq barely got a double-double (10-10) and seemed to take LeBron out of the scheme of things when he was in paint. Mo Williams was horrible, as was Anthony Parker. It wasn’t a good team game for the Cavs. Just LeBron in a 1-on-5 and it still doesn’t work. The Cavs have now lost leads of 14, 22, 24 and 14 in their last four home games.
Washington Wizards 102 – Dallas Mavericks 91: I am not shaking in my boots about the team I picked to finished third in the West, but I am surprised by this Wizards team. Didn’t expect Arenas to be this good, this quickly. He was a stud, scoring 29 points in all kinds of ways, jumpshots, free throws, lay-ups, you name it, and also added nine assists. I’m not too worried about the Mavs because their entire offensive game was out of whack today and they are still missing Josh Howard. Dirk Nowitzki shot the ball terrible all night, but he ended up with a game high 34 points thanks to 12 free throws. Shawn Marion was exactly what I expected him to be. He finished with 16 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and a steal. That’s his typical line; solid scoring, decent rebounder and excellent defense. Jason Kidd didn’t do a whole lot (4-6-6), but J.J. Barea stepped in and filled Kidd’s role down to the rebound, scoring 13 points, six rebounds and four assists. Andray Blatche might have earned the starting center job with a very good opening night game, scoring 20 points, with seven boards and a block off the bench. Caron Butler, who is apparently addicted to Mountain Dew, had 16 points and eight boards.
Portland Trail Blazers 96 – Houston Rockets 87: It was an odd game for the Trail Blazers. They were never in any serious danger of losing until the final minutes, Brandon Roy was silent until then too, and they were being carried by Travis Outlaw, who entered the game off the bench. Outlaw had 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting while Roy had 20 on 5-of-18 shooting. Not spectacular, but Roy did hit a key shot late, when the Rockets were creeping within six. Greg Oden didn’t impress in his debut, but at least he didn’t get hurt this time. He finished with (sigh) two points, 12 rebounds, seven turnovers, and five blocks. Aaron Brooks led the Rockets with with 19 points.
Los Angeles Lakers 99 – Los Angeles Clippers 92: This game was close at times, but the final score made it seem closer than it actually was down the stretch. The only negative for the Lakers in this game was the fact that the fans didn’t get their tacos. If only Lamar Odom would have taken that last possession seriously. The Lakers started off this game going to Andrew Bynum, who may have arrived folks. Bynum finished with 26 points (9-of-15 shooting) and 13 rebounds, which was more than I predicted. Kobe Bryant took over as the game went along, spreading out 33 points, which was spot on with my prediction, adding eight rebounds, four steals and three assists. He was the Mamba again. Bryant spread out the floor, nailing jumpers with his back to the basket, penetrating the lane and creating for others and even finishing on fast breaks. Kobe would have surpassed three assists had it not been for a few misses for Ron Artest, who was just a regular guy in this game. Ron had a poor night shooting the ball, 3-for-10, but finished in double-digits with 10 points to go along with five boards and four assists. Lamar Odom is going to win sixth man of the year if he can get as many shots as he had today when he comes off the bench. Odom was hitting his shots (6-of-13 for 16 points), a good distributor (five assists), a playmaker, and was a huge factor rebounding the ball (13 boards), and that’s not taking into account his two steals and two blocks. Lamar is some kind of talent. He would be a starter on any other team in basketball. Not much from the bench tonight, which I guess would be another weak spot had they lost the game. Farmar had four points and two steals but that was about it. For the Clippers, with Griffin out, the season relies on two players: Eric Gordon and Chris Kaman. Now, assuming Baron Davis gets his act together, they can still be a good team, but they weren’t tonight because Davis only scored two points. Gordon, on the other hand, was a stud. He shot 50% from the field (7-for-14) for a team high 21 points and was electric when he cut to the lane. He is very fun to watch, but can be a liability defensively with bigger guards on him (that’s why Davis had to guard Kobe when he was on the court). Kaman had a big game, scoring 18 points while hauling in a game high 16 rebounds. It seems like he is back. Guy who surprised me tonight: power forward Craig Smith. Guys like Smith give the Lakers all kinds of fits. Undersized, thick, power forwards and centers that fight their tales off on the glass, using their width to get rebounds and put back attempts. Smith finished with 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting.
Play of the day video will be up later.
