Good morning, the Lakers had a really awful night
That and much more in the inaugural NBA newsletter of the regular season.
Good morning. Let’s basketball.
ANTHONY DAVIS IS A GOD: 26 points, 17 rebounds, 9 blocks and zero turnovers in a Pelicans win. The breakout season is on. You can watch all those blocks right here, by the way.
A REALLY AWFUL NIGHT FOR THE LAKERS: Julius Randle broke his leg in his first pro game, and L.A. lost to the Rockets by 18 at home. From Drew Garrison’s recap: “It’s hard to concentrate on this particular game ... because a 19-year-old just had his dream put on hold, and one of the flickering lights of hope for this season of Lakers basketball was just blown out for the time being.”
I feel legitimate sympathy for the Lakers and for Lakers fans. What an awful start to the season.
THERE WAS ALSO A DWIGHT-KOBE CONFRONTATION: Dwight Howard swung an elbow, a key Dwight Howard move, and Kobe Bryant took exception. The video GIF replay shows Kobe calling Dwight “soft” and was immediately used in comment thread arguments across the internet. (If Dwight’s elbow was soft, he might want to get that checked.) Also, the Rockets were up 25 at the moment of incident. This seems like an early Lakers theme to watch: pissed-off staredowns in blowouts. Frankly, it may be the only way Kobe can stay sane.
BORIS HAVE IT ALL: Boris Diaw broke Dirk’s ankles.* (Not literally.)
GOOD JOB, JET: Jason Terry did something that led to four Floyd Mayweather bodyguards jumping out of their seats. Jason Terry back!
SCORES AND MORE: Check out our NBA Scores page every morning for all our team blog recaps of the previous night’s action.
HISTORY IN THE MAKING: Michael Jordan took over the Hornets’ Twitter account on Tuesday. It exceeded all expectations.
MEET MIROTIC: Neat Robert Mays profile of Nikola Mirotic.
FIVE WORDS: Relax and love the NBA. (Okay, there are more words on that topic is you follow that link.)
WEIRD PELICANS ARE WEIRD: In which the Pelicans make good and bad jokes with an expressive New Orleans chef and serve the team’s management.
GOOD POINT: Kelly Dwyer wonders why the rookie extension deadline is during the regular season. There’s too much at stake.
AHAHAHAHA: Rajon Rondo says he is a “nap-time decision” for the Celtics’ opener. Rondo is the greatest.
HORNET WORTH: Kemba Walker got paid.
QUELLE SURPRISE: All NBA fan bases on the internet have a preponderance of homers.
WORD IS BORN: Flannery and I made some predictions you should probably just etch in stone right now.
Dan Rubenstein has some predictions you should probably take directly to your nearest bank.
Happy Wednesday. More basketball tonight, including the launch of the Russell Westbrook Experience (Thunder at Blazers, 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). See you next time.
