Inside the Paint: Opening Night

I am going to try to recap as much of the NBA games as possible this year. Now this could turn into a Foul Ball situation where I burn out near the end of the season and say screw it, or I can hopefully makes it through the entire season.

I'm probably going to tweak with the format of how I recap these games. So please bare with me, until I find a way I like. Anyways, here's the debut of a new KSJ feature Above the Rim.

95 Boston 89 Cleveland: The Cavaliers only lost two games all season last year. And they didn't lose their first home game, until the 24th home game of the year. Last night, the Cavs looked anything but the team that had the league's best record last season. Cleveland jumped out to a nice lead to start the game but it all went downhill for the Cavs after they started substituting with five minutes left in the 1st quarter. Cleveland's bench imploded in the game. The Cavs were only able to get ten points out of the bench while the Celtics got 26 points out of their bench. Cleveland is going to have to get used to playing with Shaq and without Delonte West. They lacked chemistry in this game. They also lacked perimeter defense in this game, which is probably a direct result of West missing time. They allowed the Celtics to shoot .47% from beyond the arc. Perimeter defense and team chemistry is something Cleveland is going to have to work on this season.

Lebron did have a couple of sick blocks in this game.



102 Washington 91 Dallas: Gilbert Arenas is back and the NBA is better for it. Arenas only played 17 games last season with a knee injury. Hopefully Arenas can stay healthy for the entire season because he makes the NBA more enjoyable. Arenas scored 29 points against Dallas on 10-21 shooting with nine assists and two rebounds. The stat line of the night was DeShawn Stevenson's. The tattooed one played in 17 minutes scored zero points on 0-for-2 shooting with five rebounds, 3 assists, and two personnel fouls. Dirk Nowitski scored 34 points but was only 10 for 25 from the field. Shawn Marrion had 16 points, seven rebounds, and three blocks in his Mavericks debut. And there was no Mark Cuban outburst during or after the game. Just wait till sometime during the season for a Cuban meltdown.

99 LA Lakers 92 LA Clippers: The Lakers received their championship rings and had to hold on to beat the Clippers. There were periods in this game when the Lakers would be up by 15 points or more, to only let the Clippers right back into the game. The Clippers probably would have won the game if they didn't turn the ball over 20 times. There was no Adam Morrison sighting in this game.


96 Portland 87 Houston: Greg Oden might not ever be an offensive force, but that shouldn't matter too much because of his defense. Oden scored two points to go along with 12 rebounds, seven turnovers, and 5 blocks. Yes, Oden was the leader in turnovers. Greg Oden will is the King of Goofy Stat Lines.

Create a Caption: Ron-Ron is back!