Did We Just Watch The Game Of The Year?
Today is the first real day of basketball. We have 11 games on the schedule tonight, featuring some rivalries and some exciting rookies making their debut. It’s a day filled with a lot of craziness, so expect any and everything from today’s slate of games.
From a Double OT thriller between the Knicks and Celtics to a 20-point comeback by the Charlotte Hornets, the NBA had themselves quite the evening.
Boston Celtics vs New York Knicks
A classic rivalry involving two of the most historic franchises in the NBA. Two eastern conference foes, two retooled teams who are going to be fighting for playoff spots this season, and that electric MSG crowd? This one should be good.
And boy was it. This game was INSANE. We had crazy comebacks, incredible shooting, double overtime, back and forth, missed layups/dunks, an electric MSG Crowd, it just had everything. This game was incredibly fun to watch and we might already have a candidate for the game of the year.
If you were watching this game, it was a roller-coaster-like game, one that you never wanted to end.
Game Flow
I don’t think you’re ready for this game flow. Things will get intense, so fasten your seatbelts, grab your serotonin and let’s get into this.
4th Quarter
4:28: Julius Randle blows by Grant Williams for an easy dunk, giving the Knicks an 11-point lead. This game is over.
3:39: Grant Williams 3-pointer, lead cut to 8.
2:42: Grant Williams makes another 3-pointer, the lead is down to 5.
1:09: Jaylen Brown layup, lead is down to just two. Knicks lead 109-106.
57.7: Evan Fournier 3-pointer, Knicks back up 6. Nearly 4-minute scoring drought is over and that has to be the dagger, right?
26.8: Knicks turn the ball over and Grant Williams scores on the other end. Still a 4-point lead, the Knicks just have to hit their free throws and not turn the ball over a-
11.5: The Knicks turn the ball over again and Robert Williams hits two free throws to cut the lead to two
9.0: Evan Fournier finds himself wide open on the inbounds play and gets an easy layup. Knicks lead 114-110 and the Celtics use their final timeout. Surely the game is over now, right?
6.1: The Knicks decide not to foul and Jaylen Brown proceeds to hit a 27-foot bomb to keep the Celtics alive.
4.8: Julius Randle hits two big free throws and the Knicks are back up 3. Now, this is where the Knicks foul the Celtics, who have to timeouts and win the game, right?
I’ll let Mike Breen take it from here…
Yes, Jeff Van Gundy, Spike Lee is incredulous. I think we all were. The Knicks inexplicably break down and the Celtics force overtime after trailing by 11 just a few moments ago. We have 5 more minutes of basketball ahead of us.
Overtime
The end of regulation was great, but I think we can all expect things to die down in OT. One team will dominate things, either the Celtics to pull off a great win or the Knicks to avoid an embarrassing loss. Let’s see how this OT will end up, but if I had to put some money down, it won’t be as what we just saw.
4:46: Oh. The Knicks just left Jaylen Brown wide open and he hit a three-pointer. That was quick.
4:26: Oh. Evan Fournier just drilled a tough 3-pointer to tie the game.
4:10: Robert Williams with a great catch out of the pick and roll to score easily. Celtics lead 121-119.
4:01: There goes Fournier again. Just got wide open off of a Julius Randle screen and he gives the Knicks the lead. I guess he’s still mad that this game is in overtime in the first place.
3:42: Dude. Evan Fournier, stop. Off of another screen action with Julius Randle, he hits his 3rd 3-pointer of OT already.
3:27: But Marcus Smart is right there to answer with a 3 of his own. Ok, that’s enough. I think this overtime period will finally settle down and the scoring will stop soon. Just give it a mom-
3:13: Or RJ Barrett could drill a very contested three right over Jayson Tatum. That works too.
2:58: I don’t think Tatum liked that very much. Tatum drills the corner 3 and it’s 128-128. There has been a combined 24 points scored in overtime and it’s been just 2 minutes.
{Lots of misses later}
6.5: Ok. Since that 3-PT barrage, nobody has scored. But Jayson Tatum is isolated on the right win with the game on the line. Let’s see if he can get things done;
Oh. Ok then.
Double Overtime
For the first time since 2006, a season opener has gone to double overtime. The team that won that game in 2006? The New York Knicks. Maybe I just jinxed them, but hey, it would be cool if they were to win this game. I don’t think things can get crazier than what we’ve just seen, but I have been proven wrong before. Let’s see what’s in store next.
4:42: Nevermind. Jaylen Brown just hit another 3-pointer to start OT. Will this ever end?
3:45: RJ Barrett finally scores and the Knicks cut the lead to one. This score came right after Dennis Schroder blew a layup on the other end, a crucial four-point swing for the Knicks.
3:04: Jalen Brown stole the ball in the backcourt and had a wide-open dunk. But for the 2nd time in this overtime session, the Celtics miss from point-blank range. Hopefully, this doesn’t come back to bite the Celtics (foreshadowing)
1:46: Julius Randle with another gorgeous, sweeping spin move in the lane. Drew some contact as well, gets the 3-point play and the Knicks take a 133-131 lead.
1:05: FINALLY. Jayson Tatum finally attacked the basket and reaped the benefits. He too used a great spin move to beat RJ Barrett plus the foul. With the free throw, the Celtics now lead 134-133.
56.1: Immediately out of the timeout, Evan Fournier is wide open and drills yet another 3-pointer, giving the Knicks the lead again.
22.2: After getting a stop, the Knicks are looking for the kill. They turn to the ageless wonder in Derrick Rose, who is in for Kemba Walker, and Rose delivers. A sweet floater from the right side banks in and the Knicks take a 4-point lead.
After a series of Celtics misses, it’s over. One of the craziest games you will ever see, a double OT thriller with so much action ends in a Knicks win. Not a bad way to start the season.
Takeaways (Rapid-Fire)
Since it feels wrong to criticize either team after this kind of game, I’ll just give my thoughts quickly. Starting with the Celtics;
- Jayson Tatum needs to attack the basket more and draw more free throws. He shot 15 3-pointers, which is too many, especially if you only end up making two of them.
- Jaylen Brown is amazing. He hardly practiced before this game due to Covid and still dropped a career-high of 46 points. I think that Brown could become the Celtics lead ball-handler in time, as he looked comfortable bringing it up the court.
- The Celtics needed better defensive gameplanning around Julius Randle to win, as Marcus Smart should have been on Randle way more. Also, why was Dennis Schroder in the game? The reasons why the Lakers offered this man $84 million are unknown to me.
Now for the winning side, the New York Knicks;
- They might have the best home-court advantage in the NBA. Getting to play in front of MSG must be very energizing and any playoff games here will be tough to win.
- Julius Randle continues to be excellent and he finally got some help. 35 points, 8 rebounds, and 9 assists for the All-Star. With increased spacing, he should even better than he was last year. His connection with Evan Fournier already seems really strong, a good development for the Knicks.
- Evan Fournier showed you why he was brought to New York. He had tied a career-high with 32 points and made big shots down the stretch. He’s going to have an excellent season with the Knicks.
It will be a few weeks before we see a game that was this good. This game had it all and more than anything, it was just pure chaos. There weren’t long reviews to stop the momentum. It didn’t feel like the referees were there, which is great. I hope we see more games like this, where referees aren’t so heavily involved in the outcome of the game.
Portland Trail Blazers
The preseason was not very good for my Blazers. Our defense looked as bad as ever and we lost all of our games. But since it was the preseason, I just swept things under the rug. It was just the preseason, right? No reason to have any worries about the regular season.
Well, as it turns out, the preseason was just a microcosm for how our first game went.
In our season opener against the Kings, we did not play well at all. We fell behind early thanks to bad that defense and while our comeback attempt late in the 4th quarter was close, I’m kind of glad we lost. Shows that we need to be a lot better defensively to win games. We can’t just get bailed out by our high-end talent.
I’m going to heavily criticize the team, but I was not impressed that we lost to the Kings of all teams to start our season.
The Defense Continues To Be Beyond Bad
This one isn’t that surprising. While Chauncey Billups continues to preach defense, this team just doesn’t want to play defense. It’s not all Chauncey’s fault, the Blazers aren’t equipped to be good defensively, but I was just hoping for some improvement. I did not see any last night as this game was eerily similar to a game from the Terry Stotts era.
We allowed points from everywhere as the Kings dominated us in all facets of team defense. While you expect De’Aaron Fox to drop 27 points, allowing Richuan Holmes and Harrison Barnes to combine for 57 points on 66% shooting means you have a problem.
The Blazers’ defense was very sloppy and undisciplined. The Kings shot 29 free throws on the night and got 46 points down low. Jusuf Nurkic was fouling like crazy and the only reason he didn’t foul out was that the refs swallowed their whistles in the 4th quarter.
With Portland allowing so many points inside, that left the Kings open from distance. The Kings shot 42% from 3 and made 17 3-pointers. 8 of those came from Harrison Barnes, who was getting practice-like attempts all night long.
The Blazers got outscored 20-2 in transition, ever after preaching how they wanted to improve their pace and play faster. Maybe they should get the memo that just saying something doesn’t mean it’ll come true.
The Kings scored 124 points on the night. 120 of their points came from the paint, free throws, or 3-pointers. 96.8% of their points came from the three true outcomes, which just can’t happen. You have to give one of those up and the Blazers didn’t. They eventually paid the price.
Growing Pains On Offense
The offense is something that should be good this season, but it might take some time before guys get comfortable with this new system. This was also to be expected and to be honest, the offense looked pretty good last night. Albeit against the Kings, I thought that the offense wasn’t half bad.
The Blazers dominated the paint, scoring 58 points down low. The trio of Dame, CJ, and Nurkic combined for 36 points down low, as attacking the basket worked very well in this game. Last season, we didn’t score much down low and we heavily relied on our outside shooting. Scoring like this down low helps relieve some of that reliability on one shot.
Out 3-point shooting continues to be awkward. It seemed like half of our 35 3-point attempts seemed like rushed afterthoughts, as if we were panicking and trying to get rid of the ball. When we did get good attempts, we didn’t make them as often as we should have. The shooting needs some work, which is something I did not think I would have to say at any point this season.
I am glad that we didn’t turn the ball over much in this game, just 12 turnovers after turning the ball over a lot during the preseason. Keeping possessions will be key, we just have to do a better job forcing turnovers.
CJ looked good with 34 points. He likes this new offense, as he was getting off a lot of mid-range shots. Dame didn’t shoot well but he still had 11 assists. Norman couldn’t score unless it was at the free-throw line, although to be fair, he really didn’t get that many opportunities to score. That definitely needs to change.
Jusuf Nurkic was solid offensively with 20 points and 14 rebounds. I am always going to have faith in the offense. Sure, we’ll struggle at times in a new system, but I don’t think the offense should be of much concern.
The Bench Is Killing Us Again
Why can’t we have a good 2nd unit? Why? We added some pieces for the bench like Larry Nance Jr. and Cody Zeller, but we still have no bench depth.
My first problem with the bench is that we only played 9 deep in this game, which seems pretty stupid on Chauncey Billups’ end. The first game of the season is where you see what you have, where you play some extra guys. I would have liked to see Dennis Smith Jr. and Ben McLemore get some minutes, but that’s not the point.
Last season, the bench was so bad on both ends that it caused our starters to play too many minutes. The same was true in this game. The bench didn’t provide enough offensively and the defense continues to be a struggle with them.
Anfernee Simons might have had 11 points off the bench, but he was a -11 in his 17 minutes of action. Larry Nance picked up 4 fouls and hardly played an impact.
Nassir Little and Cody Zeller were pretty good, but I need more minutes from the entire bench. We can’t have Dame playing 40 minutes in a game. If we want to win in the playoffs, we have to keep him as fresh as possible. Having another season with a crappy bench isn’t how you solve that problem.
I’m hoping in the future that Chauncey opens up the bench more because we need to find a solution to give the starters some rest. If not, we’re going to lose steam at the end of the season like last year and drunkenly stumble into the playoffs.
Look, it was a really bad game. There’s no way around that. The Kings should have run away with the game after that 3rd quarter where Harrison Barnes was hitting everything, but they didn’t, because they’re the Kings. But I’m glad we didn’t win that game because it shows we still have major improvements to do.
The defense is still bad, the offense needs time to figure things out, and my god, can the 2nd unit not lose us games for once? Like seriously, how hard is it to not suck?
Anyway, my Blazers, for once, don’t start the season off 1-0. We have a couple of days off before we play…the Suns? Oh my god, we’re so screwed.
Charlotte Hornets Comeback From 23 Point Lead!
With 9:49 left in the 3rd quarter, a Chris Duarte 3-pointer gave the Pacers a commanding 23-point lead. The Pacers’ offense had been running circles around the Hornets and they just couldn’t keep up. Look at the Pacers’ shooting splits up to that point.
Indiana’s Shooting Splits Up Until 9:49 Left In 3Q
53% FG shooting
44% 3-PT shooting (11/25)
15/17 FT shooting
Domantas Sabonis: 22 points and 9 rebounds on 75% shooting
Chris Duarte (god): 19 points on 4/4 3-PT shooting
Everything was going well for the Pacers. They were hitting everything and the duo of Sabonis + Duarte was killing the Hornets. Meanwhile, the Hornets were shooting 39% from the field. Everything was going wrong for the Hornets, who were not starting the season off on the right foot.
But just like flipping a switch, the Hornets dominated the rest of the game. Their defense started to ramp up the intensity and they went on a 33-6 run to end the quarter. The Hornets started to force turnovers and just piled up stops. Their offense also got hot and in just 6:42 of game-time, the Hornets had taken the lead. They led by 4 entering the 4th quarter, showing just how quickly they turned this game on its head.
The Hornets eventually won this game thanks to two clutch free throws from PJ “Instagram Models” Washington. Domantas Sabonis missed at the buzzer and the Hornets miraculously got their first win of the season.
Lamelo Ball had himself a game and was the driving force for the Hornets. He was hitting 3’s, throwing dimes, and just all-around dominating the game to the tune of;
31 points – 9 rebounds – 7 assists – 2 steals – 7/9 3-PT
Lamelo was excellent in this game. I was impressed with his 3-PT shooting, as he was excellent off the catch. Ball had a few nice pick-and-rolls with Mason Plumlee and he already seems to have a good connection with new free agent acquisition Kelly Oubre Jr.
I think that this is the start of a great season for Lamelo Ball. His shooting looks great, he’s going to continue to develop as a passer, and his finishing through contact should (hopefully) get better. I think Lamelo should be an All-Star this season and who knows, we might get a…
LAMELO FOR ALL-NBA THIRD TEAM CAMPAIGN
Speak it into existence.
Stop Sleeping On The Nuggets
I’m telling you guys, stop sleeping on the Nuggets. Most people have written them off because Jamal Murray is out, but they are still one of the best all-around teams in the NBA. And they showed it as they dominated the 2nd half against the reigning Western Conference champions.
After building a 16-point lead late in the first half, it seemed like the Suns would run away with the game. They had the high-end talent advantage and everything was rolling for them. I just assumed that Denver would lay down and die, like most other teams down double-digits to a team that just made the Finals.
But Denver didn’t do that. In just 74 seconds, the Nuggets rattled off four straight scoring possessions, capped off by a Nikola Jokic rainbow three to end the first half. The Nuggets went on a 10-1 run to end the half and cut that lead down to 7. They continued their domination in the 2nd half.
They started the 3rd quarter on a 23-7 run and just ran away with the game. They shut down Devin Booker and the Suns’ high-powered offense to the tune of allowing just 35% shooting in the 2nd half. The Denver Nuggets starters outscored the Suns’ starters by 20, as they looked like the better team.
Monty Williams said that that 10-1 run to end the half was the difference in the game and he’s right. That changed the whole complexion of the game, but Denver looked really good in this game. The Nuggets had 6 players in double-figures and all-around, it was a great revenge/statement win to start their season.
Nikola Jokic picked up right where he left off. While Jokic has traditionally struggled against Deandre Ayton compared to other bigs, that wasn’t the case in this game. Jokic was more of a scorer in this game, but in case you forgot, he’s pretty good at scoring too;
27 points – 13 rebounds – 59% FG
The help around Jokic was really good too. Will Barton had 20 points and 4 other Nuggets were in double figures. You got good bench production from PJ Dozier and Jeff Green, this was a great all-around game for the Nuggets. But I just have one problem and it’s with Michael Porter Jr.
Why is he only shooting 10 times per game? I get that he was 6/10 from the field, but either the Nuggets need to get him the ball more or he needs to be more aggressive. MPJ had things going and was making his perimeter jump shots. He’s really talented and with Murray out, it should be his time to shine.
I get that being efficient is good, but I need MPJ to be shooting at least 15 or so times per game. He’s just that good of a player and just 10 shots? That’s way too low for him.
Rookie Watch
We saw a lot of rookies debut yesterday. Some of them were great and others certainly have a long way to go, but this was the first time they were in a meaningful game against real defenses. It was a good gage to see what they can do at this level and it was exciting to see some of them play.
Chris Duarte
I think it’s safe to say Chris Duarte had the best rookie debut this season. Duarte was the 14th pick by the Pacers and I loved him coming out of Oregon. While some scouts didn’t like his advanced age (already 24 years old), Duarte was one of the complete players in the draft.
And he displayed that in his first game with the Pacers. He was composed and he was 2nd on the team in scoring for a reason against the Hornets. I liked what I saw from him in his first game.
27 points – 5 rebounds – 60% FG – 6/9 3-PT
Duarte just looked in control. He was great shooting it off the catch and made a few nice shots off the dribble. He hit two critical threes in the 4th quarter that helped the Pacers stay in the game before they eventually lost.
With TJ Warren and Caris Levert out, Duarte will have to hit some shots to help the Pacers win games. He’ll be a solid rotational player all season long and he’s just going to be one of those “rookies” that just comes into the NBA and performs. A good start to what should be a very good season for Duarte.
Evan Mobley
Evan Mobley was surprisingly good in this game. With Mobley’s lack of strength in the post, I thought that he would struggle in the NBA as a rookie. That sentiment still stands to a degree but Mobley had a really good game for the Cavs.
Even when they were rolling out that mega-sized lineup with Markkanen, Allen, and Mobley all on the floor at the same time (stupid), Mobley had a really good game. He had some nice passes, made some nice shots, and overall, it was just what he was marketed as coming out of the draft.
17 points – 9 rebounds – 6 assists – 54% FG
It was a pretty good game for Mobley, although him playing 38 minutes isn’t something that I like. I didn’t like the idea of Mobley playing next to two other big guys, but apparently, it works. Interesting to see if that is something that helps Mobley out this season.
Mobley made a few pull-up mid-range shots, he knocked down a corner 3, but the thing that I was most impressed with was his passing. This wasn’t something that Mobley was marketed as doing in the NBA, but he had 6 assists in this game. They weren’t flashy or anything, but one of the assists, in particular, was special.
Mobley got the steal and started dribbling it coast to coast. But he didn’t look out of place, like most centers dribbling the ball do. He got to the baseline and then found a wide-open Jarrett Allen for an easy mid-range jump shot.
That’s why they drafted him 3rd overall. That combination of size, speed, and athleticism doesn’t come around that often. Mobley looked really good in his first game and who knows, maybe I was wrong to somewhat write off his abilities during his rookie reason.
Scottie Barnes
While the Raptors were putrid in their first game against the Wizards, Scottie Barnes played an ok game. But his biggest flaw was put on full display.
The 4th overall pick was just 5/13 from the field on the night, as he will have to continue to develop as a half-court offensively. That was a struggle for him coming into the draft and he will have to become a better shooter/driver to make that happen.
Barnes scored mostly in transition, including a slightly awkward coast-to-coast layup in the first half. Barnes had a few nice post moves, but I think that Barnes is still really, really raw.
He will need other guys to create offense for him in the half-court because that’s not his forte. The defense should be solid, but I’m just hoping we see some improvement from Barnes offensively.
Jalen Green
The Houston Rockets got eviscerated by the Minnesota T-Wolves and Jalen Green did not have a good game. Green struggled to score at times during the preseason and the same thing rang true in this game.
Green still had a few beautiful attacks to the basket, displaying that great athleticism, but his shooting hasn’t looked great in the NBA so far. He misses most of his jump shots short and while they are good looks, he isn’t converting.
While Green made some great moves to the rim, he also got swallowed up a lot because he went too far deep into the paint. Green shot just 4/14 from the field and scored just 9 points.
It’s surprising that Green, a pure scorer, is struggling this much. He played in the G-League, so he should be used to the NBA 3-PT line and he got to play against better competition than he did in college. But Green has looked poor in the preseason and his lone regular-season game.
It’s a small sample size, but it could certainly be a cause for concern for the future.
What Are Your Thoughts From Today’s Slate Of Games? Leave A Comment Down Below!
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