NBA Opening Night Notes

 By Michael Schneid

 

Everyone except the Bulls and Clippers were in action Wednesday night.  Here are some observations from each game

• We have said for quite some time now that the Bucks have the worst roster in the NBA. Sure, some teams might be worse, but those teams know who they are and are building for future. Bucks 1-2 punch is Caron Butler and OJ Mayo. If OJ Mayo is your go-to scoring option your roster is significantly flawed.
• Knicks need JR Smith to come back, healthy and play like last year. They badly need a second scorer and it probably won't be Andrea Bargnani. In their win over the Bucks, Knicks lacked a second option
• Nets need to hope Deron Williams ankles aren't an issue all year. Might benefit them for him to rest a few weeks. Brooklyn is playing for June anyways. Nets opened the season with a disappointing loss to the Cavs and Williams was on the bench in the final minutes because of the injury.
• Andrew Bynum returns last night and played 8 minutes. He looked slow and out of shape. It will take time, but Bynum will be a big part of the Cavs lineup in the future
• Break up the 76ers! No seriously. They're too good and they're trying to be bad. Michael Carter-Williams looks like he might have slipped in the draft after a near quadruple double debut, leading Philly with 36 minutes played in a win over the Heat.
• Lebron, Ray Allen, and Mario Chalmers each hit 4 three pointers for the Heat in the losing effort 
• Jeff Green is the face of the Celtics, at least until Rajon Rondo comes back. Green scored 25 and will continue to be the Celtics best player this season
• The Raptors beat the Celtics with a very balanced performance. Expected breakout player Jonas Valanciunas scored 8 pts, 11 rebs. As a whole Toronto out-rebounded Boston 48-33 and will likely be the Raptors' strength all year long
• Pistons beat the Wizards and all five starters scored over 12 points, including Chauncey Billups who scored 16 points and also had 5 assists. Greg Monroe had 24 points and 16 rebounds
• Trevor Ariza hit 6 threes for the Wizards, finishing with a game-high 28 points. John Wall and Brad Beal looked very good and comfortable in the backcourt together
• Dwight Howard grabbed 26 rebounds in his debut for the Rockets, a win over the Bobcats. He also scored 16 but with James Harden and Chandler Parsons, it's great to see Dwight's emphasis is on rebounding and defense. Points will come on designed plays and put backs off offensive rebounds
• The 4th pick in the draft, Cody Zeller, came off the bench and scored hit just one shot on six attempts in 16 minutes. No one scored over 15 points for Charlotte, and that was Josh McRoberts, who started over Zeller at PF. 
• Many analysts, including us, project Minnesota as a playoff team in 2014. Kevin Love scored 31 and grabbed 17 rebounds in an OT win over the Magic. That will help them get to playoffs if he plays like that all year.
• 2nd overall pick Victor Oladipo played 37 minutes putting together a solid line of 14 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists. Future is bright in Orlando but this season is expected to be a long one for them.
• Pacers open 2-0 behind a strong scoring performance from Paul George (32 pts). Roy Hibbert followed up an opening night 7 block performance by only blocking 5 shots last night. 
• Tyreke Evans was the Pelicans big free agent signing. He came off the bench, as expected, played 23 minutes and shot just 2-8. The Pelicans other big move was trading for PG Jrue Holiday who had 24 points, 7 rebs, 5 assists in a losing effort. 
• Monta Ellis isn't Dwight Howard or Deron Williams. Mavs may not have had A+ offseasons the last two years as hoped but Ellis is at least a second scoring option that Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs have lacked for years. Ellis led the Mavs with 32 in his debut, in a win over the Hawks
• Jeff Teague led the Hawks with 24 points and 9 assists. The Hawks starting 5 is good but the bench is a huge question mark. Cartier Martin played 17 minutes and rookie Dennis Schroder played 18 minutes. Elton Brand is the only established player on Atlanta's bench. 
• Zach Randolph was a huge disappointment for the Grizzlies in a loss to the Spurs. Z-Bo had just 2 points and 5 rebounds
• Spurs just picked up where they left off with a balanced attack from their starters and their bench. Kawhi Leonard and Boris Diaw each led the Spurs with 14 points and 6 players total were in double figures scoring, which doesn't include Tim Duncan (3 pts) and Danny Green (7 pts). 
• One of the things everyone learned last night is Kevin Durant is still really, really good. Durant led all scorers last night with 42 points, hitting 22-24 free throws, and shooting 9-24 from the field. 
• Alecs Burks didn't start for the Jazz but that could change soon. Burks played 32 minutes and led the team with 24 points, also contributing 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Former #3 pick Enes Kanter had 14 points, 10 rebounds. 
• Jeff Hornacek got his first win as a head coach for the Suns, thanks in large part to his two-PG starting lineup. Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe combined for 48 points, 13 rebounds, and 15 assists. 7 combined 7 turnovers too for the two guards. Miles Plumlee also had career highs in points (18) and rebounds (15). 
• The biggest move the Blazers made this off-season was generally improving their bench. However, the bench combined for just 12 points. All 5 starters played at least 33 minutes, led by Damian Lillard's 32 points and Lamarcus Aldridge's 28 points. 
• Kings opened up a new era with a nice win over the Nuggets. Demarcus Cousins had 30 points, 14 rebounds, fresh off a brand new extension. First round pick Ben McLemore hit just 1 of 7 shot attempts
• Nuggets are one of our teams we predicted to be a big disappointment after last year's successful season. But they hired Brian Shaw, after firing Coach of the Year George Karl, and lost Andre Iguodala. There was a big difference in the PG play last night as Ty Lawson was a +12 and Andre Miller was a -13. With Shaw being a former point guard, you know he will monitor these two closely. 
• Klay Thompson. That's all we need to say. The Warriors scored 125 points and beat the Lakers by 30. And Steph Curry had just 10 points. Klay was 15-19 from the field and 5-7 from three finishing with 38 points. 
• Xavier Henry followed up his break out opening night performance for the Lakers by scoring 14 points, playing 36 minutes. Steve Nash sat out with an injury and Jodie Meeks started in his place.