NBA Opening Night : Tension and Drama

The NBA certainly knows how to entertain. What a night of drama and excitement it has been.

Firstly, I must point out that currently being based in the United Kingdom, it is rare to get to see NBA action live. Not only did we have the honour of watching a preseason game between the Miami Heat and the New Jersey Nets a couple of weeks ago in London, but tonight I was simultaneously able to watch the Cleveland Cavs v Boston Celtics game on free-to-air television, whilst also watching the Portland Trail Blazers at Los Angeles Lakers on the internet. Totally legally too.

TNT has a great new invention this season called OT Extra, which broadcasts select games live on the net, including multiple camera angles. They designate a camera to follow a player from each team, as voted by us, the loyal fans. The connection was a bit flaky for me tonight, however I'm sure that this was a factor of both distance across the Atlantic and the fact that every man and his blog was trying to watch the Oden-extravaganza. More on that later.

Celtics 90-85 Cavs (boxscore)

You could tell that it was opening night for a number of reasons. Firstly, everyone was jumping out of their skins with excitement and jitters. That was both beneficial and detrimental in some instances. LeBron was doing his best impression of a super-hero as always for the Cavs and he certainly did a good job of pushing the defending champions all the way on the night of their ring ceremony. His 22 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists were typical King James numbers. However at the end of the night he pulled up short, missing a shot with less than a minute to go which could have brought the Cavs within one point.

Anderson Varejao was performing his jack-in-a-box routine in the waning minutes, as he coralled rebounds that shouldn't have been his and had a dominant effect in the final quarter. He finished with 9 and 9, along with 3 steals.

Mo Williams did not seem to be completely integrated with his new teammates as yet, which is to be expected for a point guard taking charge of new sets. He committed four turnover and five fouls in the game and just did not seem in synch.

Paul Pierce dominated the score board with 27 points. His +/- on the game, of +12 was matched only by Leon Powe, who came off the bench and neutralised the performance of Varejao with a similarly enthusiastic performance, which fans became familiar with in last season's Finals.

It was a tight final couple of minutes, but the Cavs could not spoil the Garden party, as the Celtics enjoyed their championship memories for the last time before embarking on a quest for back-to-back trophies.

Bulls 108-95 Bucks (boxscore)

Greg Oden was not the only #1 pick stepping out for his debut performance tonight. That treat also belonged to Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose, a Chicago native, who had flashes of brilliance during the victory with 11 points, 9 assists and 4 turnovers.

The big question with the Bulls has been how new coach Vinny Del Negro was going to split playing time, particularly in the crowded backcourt. Part of that problem was answered with a recent injury to Larry Hughes. However he started Rose (32 minutes) and athletic Thabo Sefolosha (11) at the guards and brought long-time running mates Kirk Hinrich (26) and Ben Gordon (26) off the bench.

Tyrus Thomas showed some of the promise expected of him with 15 and 10 for a solid double-double, whilst Luol Deng's 21 points led the team's scoring as the Bulls were ahead at every quarter break.

Michael Redd put up 30 points for the Bucks, who are integrating Richard Jefferson (15 points) into the lineup as well as Luke Ridnour at the point, following the departure of Mo Williams. Andrew Bogut played 25 minutes for 9 points and 7 rebounds, despite recent injury concerns.

Lakers 96-76 Blazers (boxscore)

As has been mentioned both on this site and on various others such as Blazers Edge and the Oregonian ad nauseum, these Blazers have been overhyped all offseason long. It's not that this team doesn't have a tonne of potential and it's not that they won't perform well this season and great in the long-term. The thing is, they are just not ready yet.

They are not ready for a Kobe Bryant-driven Lakers team that came so close to a title last season and have since re-loaded with Andrew Bynum (who was unavailable during the playoff run). They are not ready to blow teams away. They are not ready to harness the power and skill of Greg Oden just yet.

Oden has shown many things in the short time he has been on a basketball court. He has shown that he has amazing brute strength and an inordinate amount of skill to go along with that. He has also shown that he is yet to combine that all into one package and this gets him into foul trouble. This was the case early on in this match, as the TNT crew were forced to re-direct their Oden-Cam to Travis Outlaw -- the only Blazers starter who was providing any semblance of a game.

The big rookie did manage to block Bynum early on, in what was always a much-anticipated matchup. He also snared a few rebounds. However the cogs were not turning for the Blazers as they got significantly behind early against a smooth-running Lakers team. It was not until Rudy Fernandez came off the bench that the Portland coaching staff saw some scoring punch on the court. Both Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge failed to impress, shooting horribly from the field in what can only be described as opening night jitters.

The thing that has to be remembered is, this is a Portland team that is integrating four key rookies into an already young squad in an attempt to improve upon a .500 record from last season, playing against a seasoned Lakers squad that can argue itself to be the best team in the league. Anyone who was drinking from the media bandwagon Kool-Aid that said the Blazers were going to come out and surprise the LakeShow were kidding themselves. To suggest the Blazers may do it by the end of the season is another story, but now? No way.

As a Portland fan, this game was difficult to watch. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't see the potential of the team unfolding before our eyes, it's just that it is always hard to watch a game where your team is clearly not in a position to challenge for the victory.

It has almost become a cliché with this Blazers team that injuries are rife. Well, Oden even managed to injure his right foot in this game (according to Yahoo! Sports), limiting him to 12 minutes of action. The extent of the injury is not known at this stage. Let's not go any further into that for the time being.

Outlaw managed 18 points for the Blazers, followed by Fernandez with 16. Joel Przybilla proved his workmanlike self, with 11 rebounds in 25 minutes off the bench.

For the home side, Pau Gasol scored 15 points (most of them early on), whilst Kobe went for 23 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 turnovers in what was a sloppy game. Trevor Ariza proved why he has been in consideration for a starting role, with 11 points in 24 minutes. The "other" big fella, Bynum, finished with 8 points, 3 rebounds and 3 blocks in 27 minutes.

The Lakers cruised through this game but surely have plenty of things to fine tune, as tonight's oppposition was clearly not on the top of their game. Portland will be looking to get the "Big Three" combination of Oden-Roy-Aldridge better acquainted as the season goes on and will be crossing their fingers that Oden does not have any lasting injury.

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Where does Boobie fit in Cleveland?

Daniel Boobie Gibson has more certainty than ever in his career as a Cleveland Cavalier, and less certainty at the same time.

In July at the conclusion of the Cavs' season, Boobie signed a five year, $21m deal to tie him to the team as LeBron James' most promising sidekick. Clearly this was an investment in the young guard's future by the Cavs and an indication of their confidence in him.

Of course, the focus in Cleveland ever since King James came along has been on finding the suitable supporting cast for the star, to put the Cavs over the top, in much the same way as the Bulls did with MJ once upon a time. On that basis, the arrival of Mo Williams in Ohio later in the offseason was much welcomed by fans.

Williams is a great scoring guard, though always presents the problem of being a bit of a tweener -- a shooting guard in a point guard's body. A description that somewhat the same as Boobie.

Gibson has spent this offseason building muscle and confidence to his game. He likes the Cavs' chances along with those of his own. "We have the guards. We have the shooters. We have the defenders. We have LeBron James. We have everything we need to get to where we want to be at the end of the season," Gibson said. "It's just a matter of us getting out there and putting in the effort."

However, the signing of Williams surely brings the question as to how this will affect Boobie's playing time and share of the ball. Clearly Gibson was not ready to take over a team and run the offence and is much better as a spot-up shooter and secondary scorer. But the arrival of Williams, combined with Delonte West, Alexsander Pavlovic and Wally Szczerbiak in the backcourt makes for a battle for minutes. Cavs coach Mike Brown potentially has some tough decisions on his hands as the season progresses.

What do you think? Leave your comments below.

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Does winning make Team USA any less arrogant?

I was interested to read this entry on You Been Blinded, which quotes Glen Saville, Australian Boomer, as saying that all of Team USA, except for Kobe Bryant, "carried on like pork chops."

To translate that from the Aussie vernacular, what 'Sav' is trying to say is, that Kobe was the only player on Team USA not to make a tool of himself in terms of his attitude towards his opponents.

The easy approach to take in this instance, by American supporters, is to say something along the lines of, "you lost, you're just bitter! USA! USA! USA!" All you need to do is check the comments section in almost any Olympics-related article to find these sorts of attitudes springing forth.

It's sometimes hard to look from the outside looking in and realise how people look from the perspective of others, but perhaps the perceived aura of arrogance that surrounds USA squads is not totally unfounded.

Now of course the media has driven us to death with the moniker "Redeem Team." This name had a two-fold meaning. The first part was obviously for USA to reclaim their place as the top basketball nation in the world. The second, less emphasised part, was to regain dignity after gaining some poor press based on their apparent arrogance and disrespect for both their nation and their opponents.

Kobe, LeBron and Co certainly fulfilled the first part of the redemption, but did they achieve the second part? That is the question we pose here today.

Now, back to Saville's claim that the USA (less Bryant) acted like pork chops in their match up. Australians are known as some of the best competitors sports-wise in the world; a country of only 20 million people that competes like one 10 times that size. Australians are used to a fairly large level of success and do not need to bring whining or complaining into it in order to please their nation with their performance. This is why it seems unlikely that Saville (along with some of his teammates) was complaining unnecessarily that USA were not being totally sporting about the affair.

The debate on this topic is pretty pointless amongst sports fans, as none of us were on the court to witness the reality of it all, however I will point you to look at the final handshakes after USA had disposed of Australia quite cleanly. From my viewing of that sequence, Bryant was indeed the only player to make an effort to talk to each player he shook hands with and in particular LeBron James did not appear to even look the players in the eye as he shook hands with them all.

You may say, "big deal." However it must be remembered that many of these players are to an extent role models of their opponents and are looked up to. James is one of the most marketed sports personalities on the planet. The least he could do after knocking over an opponent is to shake hands, look them in the eye and commend them on their performance, just the same as any good sportsman does even in their local rec league.

The 2008 Olympics are history now. The Americans won the Gold. Did they redeem themselves?

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Spain 45 - 61 USA : at the half

If you haven't been keeping up with the Ball Don't Lie live blog of the match, or watching it on TV, well you should be... but regardless, here's how the first half has panned out so far.

1st Quarter

USA seemed to be going right against their strengths by using the tried and true "get the ball to the big guy" offence, aka the Bill Cartwright offence. They kept on pounding the ball into Dwight Howard with varying success.

On the other end, Rudy Fernandez was not shy in putting up a few outside shots, whilst the ball was not yet going into Pau Gasol very much.

Spain certainly are not shy in running with USA -- taking the ball in quickly off the inbounds on more than one occasion.

Plenty of physicality early, on both sides, but in particular LeBron and Melo are dishing a bit of a beat-down out to the Spanish bigs, apparently in an attempt to disguise their lack of height.

Tight early on, with USA up 9-7 with 6:29 to go.

Dwight Howard goal-tended a shot into the stands. A shot which was well and truly short of the mark, as more of an intimidatory move. Stupid if you ask me.

Kobe shows that there is no love between NBA teammates when it comes to the Olympics, as he levels Pau Gasol!

Much of the Spanish offence is going through Rudy Fernandez and Rayez.

Jose Calderon is handling the USA pressure well. A nice fading baseline jumper over Jason Kidd. When will he be subbed for CP3/Deron?

And here we go at the 4:30 mark, CP3 and Chris Bosh come into the game. Spain replies with Juan Carlos Navarro and Marc Gasol.

USA is double-teaming Calderon A LOT. It's not doing much so far.

17-year old Ricky Rubio gets a run with 3:41 to go in the 1st. And he certainly does not look flustered against his higher profile opponents. You go boy.

3:20 to go and Wade gets a signature steal at half-court for a dunk. He follows that up with another steal in traffic in the paint.

USA is pressuring Rubio. Twice he draws fouls at halfcourt, from CP3 and then Deron.

At quarter time, it's USA 31-22.

2nd Quarter

Rubio v Kidd -- young v old. Rubio still doesn't looked fazed.

Prince comes in and hits a trey straight away.

Juan Carlos Navarro makes a foray into the paint and hits the floater.

The physicality continues as Howard gets called for a charge.

LeBron is looking very pumped in this game -- he has that look in his eyes.

As the 2nd quarter goes on, USA starts to draw this game out a bit. They are leading in three point shooting and are still killing with their patented fast breaks.

Spain ends the quarter with some full-court defence of their own, which seems surprisingly successful and pressures USA out of some shots.

54-36 USA at the half.

Today's warnings : 21 July, 2008

Summer League action has provided a glimpse at some of the incoming rookies for 2008, Olympic teams are set and the last crumbs of free agency are still being devoured by the few with enough room in their bellies (salary caps) to fit them. Here's a round-up of your warnings for today:

• John Rillie has a great summary of the happenings in the world of Australian and Olympic basketball this week.
• Angola, the one-time punching bags of Charles Barkley (circa 1992), beat Serbia in an Olympic warmup match.
• Red's Army comes up with the worthwhile question: Did the '92 Dream Team ruin the NBA? Believe me, it's more than just a juicy headline and perhaps telling of the current and future state of international basketball.
• Once Were Sonics, now are Thunder...
• The Akron Police are going to be getting around on some King James bicycles!
• Bostjan Nachbar to play in Russia. "Already this summer, Tiago Splitter of Brazil, a first-round pick of the Spurs in 2007, and Goran Dragic of Slovenia, a second-round pick of the Spurs in 2008 whose rights were traded to the Suns, have opted for more lucrative deals in Europe than they'd be eligible for as rookies in the NBA.
  And four international players with NBA experience -- Carlos Delfino, Jorge Garbajosa, Pops Mensah-Bonsu and Juan Carlos Navarro -- have accepted offers from European teams that easily trumped the money NBA teams were willing to offer.
  "The NBA had better be careful," Nachbar said. "European teams are offering a lot of money. It's much more, considering there are no taxes, than what I could make signing for the mid-level exception."
• Josh Childress is seriously considering his European options (in Greece), unless someone throws a good contract his way quickly. Of course all of this talk of players going overseas must be of some concern, or at least thought-provoking, for my namesake Mr Stern. However, overall I think that this is nothing but good for world basketball. Sure, the NBA would like to retain as many top players as possible, but until the marquee players start heading overseas (say Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker or Pau Gasol for example), this is not a major problem for the NBA,
• Lakers fans will miss the intensity of Ronny Turiaf, but there simply isn't room in the rotation for him behind Odom, Gasol, Bynum, Radmanovic and Mihm -- at that price anyway.
• Get your feed of Raptors links from Cuzoogle.
• Final Summer League thoughts from the land of the Blazers. "Yes, Bayless tweaked his hand during that breathtaking, game-saving 36-point outburst against the Suns. But three team sources, including Bayless, insist he did not undergo any tests on his hand."
  
  
  
  
  

LeBron keeps a sidekick : Daniel Gibson re-signs

The Cavs have re-signed Daniel 'Boobie' Gibson to an undisclosed multi-year deal.

NBA.com : "Daniel has been an important part of our Cavs family the last two seasons. He has worked to grow as a player and we love his passion for winning and the game itself. He's been great off the court as well, and is exactly the kind of person we're proud to have with us," said Cleveland general manager Danny Ferry. "In re-signing Daniel, it helps the Cavs both build continuity and create a young core that will be in Cleveland for many years to come."

Gibson is a vital cog in the Cavaliers' engine as they try to establish a winning team to keep star LeBron James happy and in Cleveland.

New Jersey Nets : from the outside looking in

The New Jersey Nets have been a little busy of late. As an outsider looking in, here is a viewpoint on how they stand. Nets fans with passionate views, feel free to add your one-fiftieth of a dollar to the discussion.

SUMMARY: They've made all the right moves to prepare themselves for their reincarnation in Brooklyn. They're young (most guys are 24 and under -- and when you discount dead contracts Armstrong and KVH and veteran leader Carter no one over 30). They're low on salary (except for Vince and the two "contracts" listed above) so they're well prepared for their shot at LeBron in Summer 2010. And they're deep with talent and promise at quite a few positions. I like their PGs -- Harris and Williams are two very nice prospects on the rise. Vince can handle the scoring in the interim until they hopefully get their hands on LBJ. CDR is a very nice pickup where they got him in the draft... he slipped a lot due to refusing to workout for a lot of teams like Detroit but has a solid college pedigree and ability. Jefferson may be gone, but they have three very different looks at SF in Yi (tall, versatile and athletic), Simmons (scoring) and Hassell (defensive stopper). Their big men department is stacked with young talent of all shapes and sizes (plus Stromile Swift.....). This just in: this analysis could have been very different, with the ironic revelation that Vinsanity almost joined LeBron in Cleveland, if you believe this story.

DEPTH CHART:

PG Devin Harris / Marcus Williams

SG Vince Carter / Boston Snackbar / Chris Douglas-Roberts

SF Yi Jianlian / Bobby Simmons / Trenton Hassell

PF Sean Williams / Josh Boone / Ryan Anderson

C Brook Lopez / Nenad Kristic / DeSagana Diop

ROSTER:
2008-09 Roster

NUM PLAYER POS HT WT DOB FROM YRS

13 Maurice Ager F-G 6-5 202 02/09/1984 Michigan State 2

Ryan Anderson ** F 6-10 240 05/06/1988 CaliforniaR

10 Darrell Armstrong G 6-1 180 06/22/1968 Fayetteville State 14

2 Josh Boone C 6-10 237 11/21/1984 Connecticut 2

15 Vince Carter G 6-6 220 01/26/1977 North Carolina 10

14 DeSagana Diop C 7-0 280 01/30/1982 Oak Hill Academy HS (VA) 7

Chris Douglas-Roberts ** G 6-720001/08/1987 Memphis R

34 Devin Harris G 6-3 185 02/27/1983 Wisconsin 4

44 Trenton Hassell F 6-5 233 03/04/1979 Austin Peay 7

12 Nenad Krstic F-C 7-0 240 07/25/1983 Serbia & Montenegro 4

Brook Lopez ** C 7-0 260 04/01/1988 Stanford R

7 Bostjan Nachbar F 6-9 221 07/03/1980 Slovenia 6

Bobby Simmons F 6-6 230 06/02/1980 DePaul 6

6 Stromile Swift F-C 6-10 220 11/21/1979 Louisiana State 8

22 Keith Van Horn F 6-10 245 10/23/1975 Utah 9

1 Marcus Williams G 6-3 205 12/03/1985 Connecticut 2

51 Sean Williams F-C 6-10 235 09/13/1986 Boston College 1

Yi Jianlian F 7-0 238 10/27/1987 1

** unsigned rookie

(Roster per NBA.com as at today, 30 June 2008)

Brooklyn gets another green light for the Nets

Bruce Ratner's syndicate pushes on, in a bid to develop a new arena for the 'Brooklyn Nets' (working title). They received good news today, as "the Supreme Court has turned down property owners and tenants facing eviction to make room for a new NBA Nets arena in Brooklyn."

With the ultimate plan of the both the Nets and the Knicks seemingly to snag LeBron when he comes off contract, we may well see LBJ in the New York area. James' connection to rapper Jay-Z (right) is said to hold some sway for him turning towards the Nets when/if he leaves the Cavs.

Meanwhile, the Nets are reportedly in talks (along with the Detroit Pistons) to trade for Denver Nuggets small forward and LBJ rival, Carmelo Anthony.