Opening Night For the 2009-10 NBA Season

The 2009-10 NBA Season opened with four very interesting results. Tuesday night in the Association saw the last two NBA Champions in action as well as a rematch from the 2009 Playoffs.

For these eight teams there are still 81 games left to play, but if the NBA's first night of action is any indication, it's going to be a wild and unpredictable year.

Boston 95, Cleveland 89
LeBron James led all scorers with 38 points but the Celtics got the best of the Cavs, 85-89. The Celtics outscored the Cavs 30-17 in the second quarter to gain a lead they would never relinquish.

In the biggest trade of the offseason, Cleveland acquired center Shaqullie O'Neal from the Phoenix Suns. In his first game in a Cavs uniform, the Big Sidekick played 29 minutes, scored 10 points, and grabbed 10 rebounds.

However, the Cavs looked like the exact the same team from a year ago, and that's not a compliment.

They are a slow plodding team that apart from James has trouble scoring. While The King scored 38, the other four starters had just 41 points on 38% field goal shooting. Cleveland's bench was awful, scoring just ten points.

During the second half, Cleveland experimented with the twin towers of O'Neal and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. It's the first game of the season and Cleveland is already experimenting with lineups?

As for the Celtics, point guard Rajon Rondo looked awesome dishing out 10 assists, scoring 8 points and nabbing 3 steals. Kevin Garnett scored 13 points and seemed to show no signs of a knee injury that kept him out of most of last season.

Keeping hold of the ball was a problem for the Celtics all of last year and it appears to be continuing this season. The Celtics turned the ball over 14 times.

Washington 102, Dallas 91
The Dallas Mavericks are old but supposedly they're rejuvenated. With Shawn Marion in the lineup, the Mavs are supposed to make one more playoff run. Perhaps all that starts in game two?

Tuesday night in Dallas, the Mavs were tamed by the magical Washington Wizards, 102-91. Agent Zero, Gilbert Arenas, had 29 points and 9 assists as he led his team to an impressive October road win and coach Flip Saunders' first win as the Wizards head coach.

More importantly for the Wiz, Arenas stayed healthy. After just one game he's already half way to equaling the total number of games he played in 2008.

As for the Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki scored 34 points but shot 10 for 25 from the field. Marion had 16 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks in his Dallas debut.

Washington center Andray Blatche had 20 points coming off the bench. His teammate, Caron Butler, fresh of his Mountain Dew addiction, added 16.

Portland 96, Houston 87
Portland's Greg Oden took just three shots and made one basket. Pundits on the East Coast will start pounding the "Oden is a bust" drum but what they fail to understand is the Blazers don't need him to score. They need him to play defense and rebound.

Tuesday night in the Rose Garden, Oden played defense and rebounded. The former Ohio State star grabbed 12 boards and blocked 5 shots in the Blazers 96-87 victory over the Houston Rockets.

For the entire game the Blazers blocked 12 shots. All-Star Brandon Roy scored 20 points on an awful shooting night, he was just 5 for 18 from the field. Travis Outlaw added 23 off the bench. In his Blazer debut, Andre Miller dished out 7 assists.

The Houston Rockets are like a championship team from 1980's if their starting five were all on the disabled list. They will fight, scrap, and hustle. They play smart and they make you execute. However, they just don't have enough scoring and will struggle to accumulate victories this season.

Portland turned the ball over 26 times and their bigs were in foul trouble all night. Even then, the Rockets couldn't get any closer to the Blazers than 6 points in the second half.

These two teams met in the first round of the last year's playoffs. The Rockets defeated the Blazers in six games.

Lakers 99, Clippers 92
On Championship ring night the Los Angeles Lakers overcame a 17-point 3rd quarter to defeat their cross town rivals, the Los Angeles Clippers, 99-92.

Kobe Bryant scored 33 and Ron Artest, in his Lakers debut, added 10 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and dished out four assists.

Center Pau Gasol was out with a strained right hamstring. His replacement, Lamar Odom, or Mr. Khloe Kardashian, scored 16 points and nabbed 13 boards.

Andrew Bynum added 26 and 13. If he does that every night the Lakers will be 20-1 (see below).

Eric Gordon scored 21 points for the Clippers and Craig Smith added 12 off the bench. Point guard Baron Davis shot 1 for 10 from the field and turned the ball over 4 times in 28 minutes of play.

As the game waned, TNT analyst Reggie Miller proclaimed the Lakers, with their schedule, will start the season 20-1. When Kobe was informed of that prediction at the end of the game he said "thanks but no thanks."

None of the guys in the TNT post game show believed the Lakers could start 20-1.