The first mega night of the NBA season provided a few really inspiring performances, from the Pacers’ wax job on the Grizzlies to the Magic’s triumph over Miami and the Spurs’ survival over the Wolves to Deandre Ayton’s impressive debut against Luka Doncic’s Mavericks.
Anthony Davis is already in peak form. The Rockets are ... not.
We have that and more in Thursday’s NBA newsletter.
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But nothing compares to what Anthony Davis and the Pelicans did to the Rockets. New Orleans won, 131-112, with AD going for 32-16-8-3-3 on 60 percent shooting. Davis was going to be in the MVP conversation from the jump if the Pelicans managed to be a solid West playoff contender. This was a statement. Unless it was a fluke (entirely possible, it’s one game), the dude’s in the conversation.
Yet it wasn’t just Davis! Houston, who won 65 games last season, watched Julius Randle drop 25 points in 23 minutes off of the bench, watched Elfrid Payton nab a triple-double in his Pellie debut, watched Nikola Mirotic drop 30 while shooting 6-of-8 from three, watched defense-first E’Twaun Moore drop 21. (Fun fact: Moore’s career high is 36, which he put on the Rockets last season!)
What’s alarming for Houston isn’t that they lost: it’s that their starting six (including honorary starter Carmelo Anthony, who still hasn’t come off the bench, please no one tell Melo he’s coming off the bench, let’s see how long we can keep this ruse going) was trounced by New Orleans. Houston’s offense was fine, but it barely resisted New Orleans’ onslaught. It was reminiscent of what the Pellies did to the poor Blazers last spring.
It’s one game out of 82. But holy smokes, what a statement game by the Pelicans and anti-statement game by the Rockets.
Scores galore
Bucks 113, Hornets 112
Nets 100, Pistons 103
Grizzlies 83, Pacers 111
Heat 101, Magic 104
Hawks 107, Knicks 126
Cavaliers 104, Raptors 116
Pelicans 131, Rockets 112
Wolves 108, Spurs 112
Jazz 123, Kings 117
Nuggets 107, Clippers 98
Mavericks 100, Suns 121
Schedule check
On National TV:
Bulls at Sixers, 8 p.m. ET, TNT
Lakers at Blazers, 10:30 p.m. ET, TNT
The lonesome League Pass offering:
Heat at Wizards, 8 p.m. ET
Links galore
You know Melo is ready for the season when he drops his signature rebound celebratory phrase seven minutes in.
Milwaukee just barely crawled past the Hornets, but if they figure out their new offense, Matt Ellentuck suggests they can win the East.
I question whether the Warriors’ obviously bad bench matters. I landed in the “doesn’t really matter” camp by the end of the column (spoiler alert, you can still click on it if you love me) and the Rockets’ shellacking only adds further resolve to my position.
Kevin Durant is already sick of free agent questions. I mean, the easy fix here is to stop signing one-year contracts.
Jakob Poeltl is the only Austrian in the NBA. Austria is known for classical music. Ergo, Gregg Popovich had some Schubert piped into the practice facility while the team sang “Happy Birthday” to Poeltl recently. Classic.
The Nuggets were impressive Wednesday. Here’s Jonathan Tjarks on how Denver became Nikola Jokic’s team.
The Celtics’ biggest advantages over the Sixers were size and speed mismatches. Speaking of the C’s, the youngsters are not afraid of big, bad Joel Embiid.
Otto Porter is a heckuva player, and I think worth his max deal given everything he does. But not everyone agrees, and Scott Brooks is openly frustrated Porter passes up shots.
There are three Holiday brothers in the NBA (Jrue, Justin, Aaron). The Washington Post’s Kendra Andrews talks to their mom about the achievement. I just want a Holidays vs. Plumlees 3-on-3 game at All-Star Weekend. Mostly so we can see a Plumlee play guard.
Well I am shocked — shocked — that Mike Krzyzewski is being disingenuous about the depth of scandal in fake amateur basketball. But hey, now his prized recruit Zion Williamson has been sucked into the vortex too!
Be excellent to each other.
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