What a first week (and a couple days) we were treated to to start the NBA Season.
Steph Curry walked into Staples Center and handed the much hyped Lakers team an L on opening night.
Steph was well below his best, going 5-21 (21 points), but had plenty of help, with Jordan Poole (20 pts), Bjelica (15 Pts) and Damion Lee (15 Pts) all having big nights.
Russell Westbrook didn’t have the Lakers debut he would’ve dreamed of, going 4-13 (8 Pts) to go along with 5 Rebounds and 4 Assists.
Anthony Davis and LeBron combined for 67 Points on the night, and had no other team mate score in double digits. Not a recipe for Championship winning hoops.
Which brings us to Overreaction Friday.
Some teams have jumped out of the gates to start the season, while others are still in the barriers.
3 Overreactions that come to mind to start the season are:
- Chicago will make the Eastern Conference Finals.
- Both the Lakers and Clippers are 2nd Round Playoff teams at best.
- Boston are a Play-In team at best.
Chicago are 4-0 to start the season and look all the way back!
DeMar Derozan and Lonzo Ball have come into a Bulls starting line up with Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic, and they look incredible!
This Bulls team is so fun to watch. They get out on the break, shoot the ball extremely well, and have 2 legitimate closers in Derozan and LaVine.
Some may say that the Bulls have had a very soft start to the season, playing 3 teams who are on the outside looking in when it comes time for playoff basketball.
But you can only beat who’s in front of you, and the Bulls have done that very well.
They face the Knicks today at home on Joakim Noah night, so you know the United Center will be in a frenzy!
Los Angeles basketball is a little bit of a mess right now, with the Lakers and the Clippers stumbling out of the gates to start the season.
The Lakers came into the season as favourites to win the Western Conference, adding some big name talent to their roster to help LeBron get another ring.
Right now though, this team looks super old.
We are only 5 games into the season and the Lakers sit 2-3, and their 2 wins were not impressive at all. Their 3rd loss was even more concerning.
The Lakers defeated a Grizzlies team on a back to back by 3, surviving a 40 piece from Ja Morant, who missed a late FT to tie the game and send us into extras.
Their next win came against the Spurs in San Antonio, and had to claw back from double digits entering the last to force overtime. Granted, this was without LeBron James, but it’s the Spurs…
After surviving San Antonio, the Lakers travelled to winless OKC, where they held a 26 point lead in the 2nd Qtr. Boy did this team look old down the stretch.
The Lakers blew a 26 point lead to Australia’s next favourite team, with Josh Giddey starring with 18 Points and 10 Assists, to stun the purple and gold for their first win of the season.
Time is on the Lakers side to get it right, but you can’t use “it’s only the preseason” anymore!
The Clippers look just as bad, if not worse, than the Lakers to start the season.
They’re a team without Kawhi Leonard, and look a little lost, opening the season with a 1-3 record.
The Clippers have had a little tougher schedule then their cross town rivals, falling to Steph and the Warriors away from home to open the season.
They followed this up with a 6 point home loss to the Grizzlies, and they seemingly look like they’re out of options without their superstar (Kawhi Leonard) on the floor with them.
The Clipps bounced back in a big way, destroying Portland to the tune of 30 points, but you never really know what you’re going to get with Portland on any given night.
Either way the Clipps looked like they got it right, until the Cavs came into town and beat them down by double digits.
This is a team who will be lucky to get out of the Play-In tournament without Kawhi, even though they’re just a year on from making a surprising Western Conference Finals run without him.
If Kawhi manages to get back before the end of the season, they’ll get out of the 1st round of the playoffs. But that’ll do it, given there just won’t be enough time to gel and get him back into their rotation.
Boston are our last overreaction for the week, and this team is looking a little lost themselves.
The Celtics have started the season 2-3. Not the end of the world, but when you look at who they’ve faced, it doesn’t bring a whole lot of optimism as a Celtics fan.
Boston lost on opening night to the Knicks, and the MSG was rockin!
They then went back home and got trounced by the Raptors (without Siakam), and a couple games later lost again at home to Washington.
Boston managed 2 wins at lowly Houston, and a come from behind OT victory against the Hornets in Charlotte (a good win).
But this team just seems to be missing something.
They lost Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier in the off season (both to the Knicks) and they didn’t really seem to re-up this team at all to help the likes of Tatum and Brown.
Dennis Schroder, Josh Richardson and Al Horford were their key off season free agent acquisitions. With all due respect to them, this doesn’t scream CHAMPIONSHIP MOVES.
Look for Boston to be busy before the trade window closes, otherwise it’s hard to see this team being any better than a Play-In team this season.
Bauky