To the traditional chorus of boos, David Stern kicked off opening night by extending his concerns to all those who have been effected by the recent storm that has caused widespread damage along the East Coast. The commissioner was doing alright until he got to the part where he had to mention the name of the storm, which is not Hurricane Katrina.
Hurricane Sandy, David. You were looking for Hurricane Sandy. Of course, the increasing volume of boos did nothing to alert Mr. Stern that he’d misspoken, as he could’ve promised the crowd that hundred dollar bills would fall from the ceiling to the exact same reaction.
When the rings were finally unveiled, LeBron had to wait the longest. Being the team’s resident lifer, it’s Dwyane Wade who is always given the honor of going last in player introductions. I assume Wade must’ve requested that the order be changed for the ring ceremony. That was a nice thing to do.
Unfortunately, I haven’t yet found many details about the rings, but I can tell you that they come in 14 karat gold… mostly white, but with a touch of yellow to detail the Larry O’Brien trophy. The black background is surrounded by a total of 219 diamonds, which is a lot, but still 31 fewer than Dirk Nowitzki has in his ring. Miami’s rings also feature a quotation, “forged in fire between a hammer and anvil,” as well as the standard player name/number type stuff.
After a series of commercials that seemingly lasted for a solid half hour, Chris Bosh and Kevin Garnett finally jumped center in Miami. This didn’t mark the official start of the NBA season, though, as Emeka Okafor and Anderson Varejao had done the same an hour earlier. Trevor Ariza scored the first points of the ’12/13 season on a three-pointer from the wing (if this is some sort of omen, field goal percentages will be up this year).
Getting back to the game in Miami, the first thing I noticed was a general readiness amongst the players. When the first quarter came to a close and the score was 31-25, I imagine that we all paused to appreciate the benefits of the full training camp and eight-game preseason that we impatiently waited through. Take a look back at last December’s opening night and you’ll find that zero of ten teams topped 106 points. In this game, the losers scored 107.
When it came time for Ray Allen to make his highly-anticipated debut, Kevin Garnett wasn’t ready to engage in any sportsmanlike conduct. It appears that handshake greetings have gone the way of phone calls between the two former friends…
Allen, who almost surely expected such a reaction out of Garnett, quickly put emotions aside as he buried his first shot in a Heat uniform—a contested three-pointer from the corner as the shot clock expired. From that point on, Allen didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger. He finished the game with 19 points off the bench as he shot 5-7 from the floor and 2-3 from distance. Ray looked remarkably spry as he regularly and aggressively ventured into the painted area, where he earned himself 8 free throws. From the perspective of just about anyone but a Celtics fan, it couldn’t have been scripted any better.
It would be unfair to rave about Ray Allen without mentioning Rashard Lewis, who scored 10 points and collected 5 rebounds in his own Heat debut. Lewis made 4 of 5 shots in 18 minutes, including one from long range and another in the post. His defense could’ve been better, but that’s not to be worried about in game 1 of 82. If Lewis can continue to space the floor by knocking down shots then he’s done what he was brought in to do. If he contributes other forms of offense from time to time then he may become a bigger factor than any of us had foreseen. Also, his chin beard remains way more awesome than Kevin Garnett’s.
As I mentioned before, the losers of this game (Boston, if you hadn’t gathered) scored 107 points. Both teams looked exceptional at the offensive end, getting major contributions from both the mainstays and some new additions. I’ve already detailed what Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis did for the Heat, but how ’bout Courntney Lee going 5 of 6 for the Cs, and LeAndro Barbosa igniting a surprising run with his 16 fourth-quarter points? Countless players left their mark on this game, so I’m just going to give you a quick rundown.
***Rajon Rondo: 20 PTS, 7 REB, 13 AST. Rondo got off to a slow start, but he took the ball to the basket with increasing confidence as the evening wore on. For the most part, his layup attempts were good ones. That isn’t always the case with Rajon.
***LeBron James: 26 PTS, 10 REB, 3 AST. LeBron may very well have finished with 30+ points and 15 or so boards had he been able to play out the fourth quarter. Due to leg cramps, he watched the final nine minutes from the locker room.
***Brandon Bass: 15 PTS, 11 REB. His double-double kind of flew under the radar, but he was Boston’s best big man by a fair margin.
***Chris Bosh: 19 PTS, 10 REB, 3 BLK. The Celtics started a power forward at center, too. Bosh got the best of Garnett on this particular night.
***Mario Chalmers: 8 PTS, 11 AST, 3 STL. The Heat racked up an assist (25) to go along with over half their field goals (43). A lot of that had to go with great movement off the ball, but someone had to make the passes. Mario Chalmers made his share of ‘em.
***Paul Pierce: 23 PTS, 5 REB, 5 AST. Dunked the ball. Is in much better shape than he was last winter.
***Courtney Lee: 11 PTS, 5-6 FG. Played tough D on Dwyane Wade and knocked down open shots. What more will anyone ask of him?
***LeAndro Barbosa: 16 PTS, 6-8 FG: With the Celtics down 15, Barbosa was supposed to be coming in for mop up time. Instead, he dropped 16 in the fourth quarter. Thanks mostly to The Blur’s efforts, Boston got as close as four… but Chris Bosh put an end to the Miami skid with seven straight points to ice the game.
In summation, I thoroughly enjoyed this game. I suspect that just about everyone did. As much as I can appreciate the hard-fought defensive struggles these two teams have been known to become entangled in, I can also appreciate the aesthetics of 53% shooting on opening night. A stark contrast to last Christmas this was.
As expected, Kobe Bryant didn’t let a little booboo keep him from playing against the Mavs. Other than that, however, exactly nothing went on according to plan. Contrary to reports (and much to my disappointment), Eddy Curry did not occupy the starting center spot for Dallas. Brandan Wright was given the nod, and he scored 4 points in the first 6 minutes (and 14 in the game). Curry did play, though, and he played reasonably well. He struggled to stay attached to Dwight Howard as the Lakers picked, rolled, drove, and dished, but he hustled hard, grabbed some rebounds (4), and produced a little offense on the block (7 points). In the third quarter, Curry scored 4 quick points in the post, inspiring Mike Brown to tell Craig Sager that Curry had “checked into the game and dominated the painted area,” or something to that affect. It was a bit of a stretch, but Eddy played well enough to spend 16 minutes and 44 seconds on the floor.
In a storyline that became bigger than Eddy Curry vs Dwight Howard, the Mavericks won this game, and rather handily to boot. Early on, the Lakers built a small lead on the strength of their inside game. Pau Gasol, Dwight Howard, and Jordan Hill combined for 14 points and 3 assists in the first quarter, leading to a 29-25 advantage. As impressive as I felt LA’s chemistry had been, the Mavericks had turned the tables come halftime. Thanks in large part to strong bench play from the likes of Vince Carter (11 points), Jae Crowder (11 points), and Rodrigue Beaubois (8 points), Dallas outscored the Lakers 23-17 in the second quarter. From that point forward it was the chemistry of the Mavericks that stood out. They racked up 22 assists on 40 field goals and scored a respectable 46 points in the paint. I suppose the interior passing of veterans like Elton Brand and Shawn Marion shouldn’t have taken me aback the way it did, but you’ll just have to excuse me for assuming the Lakers were going to roll over this ramshackle Dallas Mavericks squad.
Dwight Howard could’ve helped his team’s cause by making a few free throws. He bricked 11 of 14, and the Lakers collectively missed 19 of 31. The largest lead Dallas ever had in this game? 16. And the final margin was only 8 (note: a meaningless Pau Gasol three sliced it from 11 just prior to the final buzzer).
It should be noted that Darren Collison led the way with 17 points. He shot an impressive 8-12 from the floor, and I’m not sure why I can’t really pinpoint any of his contributions. I guess I was paying too much attention to Eddy Curry.
I’m not even going to bother getting into the Lakers. It’s one game. They’ll get better.
Many, including myself, expect Kyrie Irving to blossom into an All-Star this season. One game in, he’s certainly on his way.
As is Anderson Varejao, who nearly recorded a triple-double. With his 23 rebounds, Andy V set what will likely remain a league-wide high until Kevin Love returns from injury. Equally impressive to Varejao’s rebounds were his 9 assists, which I would explain to you had I seen more than a quarter of this game. Unfortunately, I don’t think anyone saw more than a quarter of this game.
Box Score Observations, Cleveland/Washington edition: Jordan Crawford led the Wizards in scoring… with 11 points. Washington lost by 10, 84-94. Dion Waiters dropped 17 in his NBA debut, and Bradley Beal stroked a couple of long balls on his way to 8 points. Tristan Thompson had a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double.
Highlight Recap, LeBron James Edition:
