L.A. LAKERS 114 PHOENIX 106
The most shocking game of the year! Phoenix looked like Phoenix early, hitting their first 9 shots and Nash finished the first quarter with 7 assists. Kobe didn’t play cause his knee isn’t ready yet. The Suns jumped out to a big lead and I stopped watching and went over to my girlfriend’s house. Somewhere in there Amare, who came off the bench, flashed those beartrap hands on a bounce pass and dunked it, though the dunk didn’t have his typical BEASTiness in it. Still early. The story of the game was that after giving up 41 points in the first quarter, the Lakers settled down and Lamar Odom led the way to a huge comeback win, putting up probably the best numbers of his career 34, 13 and 6. You should never take a boxscore involving the Phoenix Suns at face value, but Andrew Bynum had his best night with 18, 9, and 5, Kurt Thomas looks like he’s back at it with those open pick n roll jumpers hitting 5 of his 6 shots, and Barbosa hit 6 of 8 threes on his way to 30 points. After one night of NBA action, the top two scorers in the league are Odom and Barbosa.
CHICAGO 108 MIAMI 66
At least the Heat got their rings in a boring ceremony before the game. This was the worst blowout loss for any defending champ in their first meaningful game after winning a title, EVER. The Bulls treated this like a statement game, I suppose. De-fense. Lots of trips to the line early (how does it feel to watch that, Miami?) and Chicago was actually running a little bit to build up their lead. Wade looked great early on but he had no help and this game was over before halftime. Ben Wallace grabbed 11 boards in his Chicago debut and Tyrus Thomas showed what he can do, while the Bulls got what they needed on offense from Hinrich and Duhon. The most interesting part of this game was in the ring ceremony when they announced Wade before Shaq. Hmmmm… the Finals MVP and current potential league MVP threat takes a backseat to an aging legend out of respect. NBA players have such fragile egos. And how much did Spike Lee get paid to make those Wade commercials? He’s just sitting there talking to the camera. That commercial where he delivers anew basket and a bunch of balls to some kids must have taken a lot more work. Whoever had to stuff all the basketballs in the car was working harder and getting paid I’d assume one ten-thousandth as much as Spike.
