The NBA season tipped off with two games last night. The Brooklyn Nets hosted the Golden State Warriors while the Los Angeles Lakers opened their season against the Los Angeles Clippers. Did you watch?
In the opener Stephen Curry scored the first two points of the season by making two free throws, but after that it was all Nets. Brooklyn got out to a 40-25 lead after the 1st quarter. The Nets went into halftime with a 63-45 lead and the game was more or less over by then. Brooklyn outscored Golden State 36-26 in the 3rd quarter and had a lead so big that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving got the 4th quarter off. Even with Durant and Irving on the bench the Warriors could only knock two points off of the Nets lead as the game end 125-99 in favor of Brooklyn.
Durant and Irving both played 25 minutes in the opener. Irving was the games high scorer with 26 points while Durant added 22 points. Joe Harris was the other Nets starter to score in double figures with 10 points while Caris LeVert came off the bench to add 20 points and a team high 5 assists. DeAndre Jordan grabbed a game high 11 rebounds for the Nets.
Curry led the Warriors in scoring with 20 points, but he struggled from behind the 3-point line going 2 for 10. Curry also handed out a game high 10 assists. In his first NBA game rookie James Wiseman put up 19 points for Golden State. Andrew Wiggins was the only other Golden State player to reach double figures in scoring as he had 13 points, but shot just 4 of 16 from the field. Marquese Chriss was the Warriors leading rebounder as he grabbed 8 rebounds in just 12 minutes of action.
Each team will get a couple of days off before they head back out onto the court as part of the NBA’s Christmas day schedule. The warriors head to Milwaukee to take on the Bucks while the Nets go on the road as well to face the Boston Celtics.
The second game on the NBA’s opening night turned out to be a much closer contest even though it didn’t start out like that.
The Clippers got out fast and took a 20 point lead 39-19 after the 1st quarter. This seems to happen a lot to teams in their first game when they’re the defending champions. The Lakers did bounce back in the 2nd quarter as they outscored the Clippers 35-17 and they went into halftime down just two points 56-54. the Clippers where able to extend their lead in the 3rd quarter y outscoring the Lakers 33-24 and even though it was the Lakers who outscored the Clippers in the 4th quarter it wasn’t enough as the Clippers held on for a 116-109 victory on opening night.
Paul George was the games leading scorer with 33 points. Kawhi Leonard added 26 points for the Clippers while Patrick Beverly was the other Clippers starter in double figures with 10 points. Lou Williams and Ivica Zubac each scored 11 points off of the Clippers bench. Nicolas Batum was the Clippers leader in assists with 6 and he along with four other Clippers; George, Beverly, Zubac and Serge Ibaka each grabbed 6 rebounds.
LeBron James played 28 minutes in the game and was the Lakers leading scorer with 22 points. Anthony Davis added 18 points while Dennis Schroder filled up the box score as a starter. He scored 14 points handed out a game high 8 assists and also grabbed a game high 12 rebounds. Montrezl Harrell came off the Lakers bench to put up a double-double against his former team as he had 17 points and 10 rebounds. Kyle Kuzma who just signed a new contract with the Lakers right before the season started came off their bench to score 15 points.
You’ll get a chance to see both of these teams play again on Christmas day. The Lakers will be hosting the Dallas Mavericks while the Clippers are going on the road to play the Denver Nuggets.
If you didn’t see any of the NBA action last night you have a chance to see it tonight as their are 13 games on the schedule. Nationally TNT has the Milwaukee Bucks at the Boston Celtics tonight. ESPN is showing the late game as they’ll have the Dallas Mavericks at the Phoenix Suns.
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I wasn’t surprised that the Clippers won. This is typical when a championship team plays its first game of the season. Although, naturally, no championship banners were raised.
It was an impressive victory by Brooklyn. I thought the game would be more competitive.
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