Good morning. Let’s basketball.
The NBA is already rife with shockers
Good morning. We have a roundup of links following the first huge night of the NBA season.
WELCOME BACK, BABY: What an evening of hoops! Here’s our daily roundup, leading with RUSSELL WESTBROOK. We had some shockers (New York over Milwaukee, Portland over New Orleans, Dallas over Phoenix and the biggest, Denver over Houston by 20). We had the Cavaliers beating the Grizzlies in Memphis by 30. The Magic lost to the Wizards on an extremely close goaltending call initiated whistled in Orlando’s favor but overturned. Justise Winslow dunked on 60 percent of the Hornets’ lineup in his NBA debut. Nik Staukas poured hot sauce on a basketball in some sort of fetish video. Basketball! Here are recaps from around the league.
OPENING SALVO: The Thunder beat the Spurs in the first of many Mega West Battles this season. OKC looks real good, even if Kawhi Leonard is out here blocking Kevin Durant jumpers. In the improbable second game of the ESPN doubleheader, the Wolves fought off the Lakers in a dramatic tug of war. Ricky Rubio can shoot now! What a world. Lee Jenkins has a good look into how the Timberwolves mourned. Rest in peace, Flip.
RUSSSSSSSELL: Russell Westbrook outfit watch is back! The hallways of the bowels of arenas nationwide are his runway. Work it, brother. On the other end of the fashion spectrum, we have Stephen Curry (purposely?) misbuttoning his jacket. What is misbuttoning, Steph? Stop trying to make misbuttoning happen.
NOTED: DeMarcus Cousins 4-of-5 on threes in Game 1. Be very afraid. (The Kings erased a 15-point deficit in the fourth but couldn’t beat the phenomenal Clippers, who I’ll be writing about soon.)
TONIGHT: TNT has Hawks-Knicks followed by Mavericks-Clippers in the DeAndre Bowl. League Pass has Pacers-Grizzlies in a battle of 0-1 teams.
AHEM: Some people say the NBA doesn’t matter until Christmas, or even until football ends. I disagree.
POWER COUPLE: Good piece on the partnership of Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant as personalities. Kirk Goldsberry also wrote about Westbrook’s epic shot creation.
SPEAKING OF WHICH ... Howard Beck goes long on whether Kevin Durant can be what Kevin Durant was.
NEXT: Marc Spears writes that the Lakers appear to be looking past Kobe. My retort: Kobe took 24 shots last night, 10 more than any other Laker. (And that was Lou Williams, who is not exactly a “youth movement” guy. Jordan Clarkson and D’Angelo Russell combined to take 19 shots.)
TWO PERSPECTIVES ON SIXERDOM: Sean O’Connor warned against being so devoted to Trusting The Process that the Sixers fandom turns into a death cult. (Okay, I added “death” to that.) Michael Levin defends the process and the fans who still love it. This is definitely one of the most polarized fandoms in the league.
L.A. CULTURE CLASH: Cool piece by Jameson Miller on the intersection between Kobe and notable, eccentric talk radio personality Vic The Brick.
NEED A COSTUME? This Halloween, dress up as a sports meme.
Happy Thursday. See you next time.
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