On the opening day of the regular season, it was hard to pick a leading headline. Too many great games. Matchups. Players to watch. Championship-caliber teams. And it was all on Christmas, so you know everyone (besides the entire Dallas organization) was bringing everything they had for the national TV audience. But we weren’t sure any game topped the one smack in the middle: Chicago coming from behind in the final minutes to shock the Lakers, 88-87. Chicago gave us a new meaning for Chistmas stuffing by snuffing Kobe Bryant‘s (28 points, seven rebounds, six assists) baseline pull-up at the buzzer and stealing a game they had no business winning, down double digits in the fourth quarter, and then after being down six with 54 seconds left once Kobe made a miraculous spin move fallaway. The Bulls just never gave in, even after controlling the game for most of the way only to see the putrid Lakers’ supporting cast open the lead up to eight at the start of the fourth behind crazy shots from Steve Blake, Troy Murphy and Andrew Goudelock. In the final moments, the game turned because of two insane defensive plays by Luol Deng (21 points, four steals), once stealing Kobe’s pass and then blocking Bryant’s jump shot to win it. It also didn’t hurt that no one in white wanted to hit a free throw. Finally, Derrick Rose (22 points) crossed up Derek Fisher‘s chalk figure and hit a tough floater right over Pau Gasol with four seconds left, which proved to be the game-winning shot. Rose wasn’t killing L.A., but seemed to always save his points for the perfect time. And he actually made four threes. If this was more than just an outside shooting aberration, it’s going to open up that entire Chicago offense … Kobe had serious energy and was playing his ass off to keep them close. Points, rebounds, jumping passing lanes – he was doing everything. That’s cool, but there’s no way he can physically play at that level all season, especially since he’s starting off with the wrist injury. Obviously not having Andrew Bynum is a factor, but Kobe plays that well and they still can’t win? Not a good sign for L.A. … Going from TNT to ABC is like the difference between opening a present and getting an iPhone and opening a present and getting a shoe horn … Whereas Kobe was once the king of clutch, Carmelo Anthony might’ve taken his crown. Late in the fourth quarter against Boston, it was Anthony (37 points, eight rebounds) coming through with a three, an off-balance jumper and then two ice cold free throws with 16 seconds left. When Kevin Garnett‘s (15 points, eight rebounds) jumper was off at the buzzer, New York had themselves a 106-104 wild win against their Northeast rivals. After KG missed that J, he then decided to use his Jedi Force push on Bill Walker‘s neck, cuffing the former Celtic and throwing him out of his face. We were ready to go off on him, but then we remembered Skywalker was looking too much like some Cool Runnings knockoff and that he nearly set a record for stupid basketball plays in the first half. In fact, the Knicks went up by nearly 20 early and really could’ve been up even more. Without Paul Pierce playing, they weren’t hustling back on defense at times, losing the ball or throwing it away. Their most aggressive player was rookie Iman Shumpert, who looks like he’s going to be really good (he also hurt his knee and may miss two weeks). But all in all, their defense looks three times as good as it’s been in the D’Antoni era … For all the haters who are convinced he sucks, Rajon Rondo (31 points, 13 assists, five steals) is pretty freaking good. He controlled the flow of the entire second half, and was nearly the sole reason why Boston stormed back from a ugly first half. He was hitting jump shots, running the offense perfectly and even threw one pass to Marquis Daniels (left-handed bounce pass) that may end up in top 10s even by the end of the year (KG also had a fabulous one to Jermaine O’Neal). After the way he finished last season, Rondo is due for a major bounceback year … We like how Chris Wilcox is endearing himself to his new teammates: By throwing the ball to the wrong guys and giving people wide-open, free layups … There was a game going on in Dallas between the defending champs and the Miami Heat, but the Mavericks seemed to lose interest about 15 minutes after they raised their championship banner. Not much to say about this one other than Dallas got embarrassed, losing 105-94 in a game that wasn’t even close. LeBron James (37 points, 10 rebounds, six assists) and Dwyane Wade (26 points, eight rebounds, six assists) dominated so convincingly that it didn’t even matter that no one else on their team even reached double figure scoring. They combined for one alley-oop (LeBron tipping his own oop to Wade) that was freakish. This game reminded us SO much of the Chicago/Miami season opener from 2006 – the year after Miami won it – when the Heat came out without any interest in competing during a 42-point loss. Dirk Nowitzki (21 points) and Jason Terry (23 points) got their numbers, but no one in Dallas was into the game at all … Keep reading to hear about Chris Paul’s Clipper debut …
If Oklahoma City was Orlando’s first test of their mental resolve this year, they didn’t do so hot. OKC was never really challenged in the second half and won 97-89 behind Kevin Durant (30 points). After a 13-2 second quarter run, the Thunder controlled it the rest of the way, even with Serge Ibaka going scoreless and Russell Westbrook having one of his more out-of-control games (6-for-17, seven turnovers). James Harden had 19 off the bench, but the real story was Dwight Howard being held to just 11 points. Yes he rebounded well (15 of them), but that’s expected. If he’s able to get 25 and 10 from Ryan Anderson and then 18 from Jameer Nelson, Orlando has to be happy with that. At times, Howard just didn’t seem to be involved like he should’ve been. Should Kendrick Perkins really get that much credit? … Dime’s Aron Phillips was in Oakland last night for the Warriors-Clippers game, and let’s just say things have changed. Normally, only guys like Kobe, LeBron or Dirk decide not to speak before the game, but upon arriving in the Clippers locker room, we were told Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and Chauncey Billups wouldn’t be doing interviews. Really? It’s the first night of the NBA season, you’re playing a road game, and you’re too busy to talk? Come on. Here’s a slice of humble pie. We did get a chance to talk at length with DeAndre Jordan, though, and let’s just say he had some interesting things to say. Look for the interview on DimeMag.com later today … Other pre-game observations: Caron Butler eats a banana and sliced oranges (like we used to do in rec. soccer), “Energy!” was written at least four times on the board and we’re pretty sure no one has interviewed Brian Cook since he was drafted in 2003 … As for the Warriors pre-game, their locker room was predominantly empty. And when guys decided to come in, it’s as if we were on the set of a Beats by Dre commercial. We can say this: rookie Charles Jenkins has a nice Disney “Fairy Friends” backpack in light purple, and Monta Ellis is definitely wearing Jordans this season … In the actual game, the Clippers got their first “Beat L.A.!” chant in their history and also walked out of a crazy environment with a 105-86 win. L.A. sprinkled in a little Chauncey Billups (21 points) at the start and a lot of Chris Paul (20 points, nine assists) to finish. Blake Griffin (22 points, seven rebounds) struggled to really get it going, but his boy DeAndre Jordan (eight blocks) was a monster defensively. And that might be the only time all season Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis will fail to score at least a combined 20 in a game … Tough intro to the league for Klay Thompson. We think the first four times he touched it, he either lost it, almost threw it away or missed a shot. Seriously, before he finally hit a three in the third, dating back to the preseason, we thought even DeAndre Jordan might make a J before Thompson did … The real MVPs from Christmas? Mike Breen and Jeff Van Gundy. They called the Mavs/Heat game, got on a plane and then headed to San Fran for the Warriors game … And check out the Atlanta Hawks giving their fans some holiday cheer as Joe Johnson and Tracy McGrady show the most emotion we’ve ever seen from them … We’re out like Dallas’ hustle.
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