Tuesday is opening night in the NBA, and TNT’s double-header is packed full of story-lines. The opening salvo is a must-see match-up between former teammates LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, whose high-profile split this offseason has dominated headlines.
We can’t wait to find out what happens, so we did what we usually do in this scenarios: turned to NBA 2K18 to find out if we can predict the future. Our simulation of the Cavs-Celtics opener brought some surprising results, to say the least, so we decided to go ahead and do the same for Warriors-Rockets.
The video below contains the full 48-minute game simulation.
We understand it’s quite a time commitment to watch the entire thing, so if you’d rather just skip right to the results, we’ve got you covered.
The main takeaway here, as usual, is the Warriors’ otherworldly three-point shooing, but this was something else entirely. They set what would be an NBA record for both attempts and makes, while converting at an unbelievably efficient clip (you might recall that the Rockets were the previous record-holders in both categories before the Cavs eclipsed them last spring).
Here’s a visual breakdown of both teams’ makes and misses.
Since this is a contest loaded with superstars, let’s find out how everyone fared.
Kevin Durant picked up right where he left off in the Finals with 33 points, five rebounds, and five assists on absolutely blistering shooting numbers – 11-of-14 from the field and 9-of-11 from downtown. Steph Curry chipped in 28 points and had eight three-pointers of his own, while Draymond Green finished with 25 points and six rebounds.
The good news for Rockets fans is that Chris Paul and James Harden managed to play well together. For the sake of folks in Houston, let’s hope that’s a continuing trend. Yet they didn’t get much help elsewhere beyond Clint Capela, who added 10 points and eight rebounds.
It was an off-game for reigning Sixth Man Eric Gordon, who finished with just 10 points and poor overall shooting, and they’ll desperately need him to step up going forward if they want any chance of competing with the Warriors.
We probably can’t expect a record-shattering opening night like this in actuality, so let’s just hope we see a competitive one when things tip off on TNT at 10 p.m.
