NBA Opening Night Preview: Predicting The Winners
Exactly zero games into the NBA season, analysts all over the country are frantically trying to name who the champion will be this June. Typically, these predictions are fairly laughable by the end of the year because it's impossible to see exactly how a team is going to perform until the real games begin.
Bill Simmons declared that the future sixth-seeded Milwaukee Bucks would win 19 games and fall to the last spot in the Eastern Conference and former Rocket Charles Barkley said that his old team would be the West's worst. Simply put, before meaningful games are played, any predictions are going to be nothing more than educated guesses.
After a summer in which Amar'e Stoudemire, Chris Bosh, LeBron James, and Brian Cook left their teams for new area codes, it seems like there has never been this much excitement to start a season.
And an interesting season it promises to be. To start off the season, the NBA has treated fans across the nation to three very enticing match-ups: the Heat vs. the Celtics, the Suns vs. the Trail Blazers, and the Rockets vs. the Lakers. Six of the league's best face off on one night and anyone that can't watch on this monumental night is going to miss a masterpiece.
Without further ado, here are the previews and predictions for each game.
Miami Heat Vs. Boston Celtics (7:30 PM ET, Boston, Mass.)
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In the most anticipated game of the most anticipated season in decades, the new-look Miami Heat will face off against the old-look Boston Celtics. Despite the outrageous amount of media coverage the Heat have gotten, there are still countless questions that need to be answered about them.
Will their stars be enough to cover up glaring weaknesses at the point guard and center positions? Will they be able to space the floor adequately without sharpshooter Mike Miller? Are they too old?
Simply because this team is something the likes of which the league has never seen, it is impossible to know how other teams will react when they are forced to play them in a real game.
While the preseason typically gives a decent representation of what is to come, the Heat played all but three minutes without Dwyane Wade on the floor because of his hamstring injury.
The Celtics, on the other hand, seem to be the team that nobody is talking about. In 2008, when they assembled their own "Big Three," they were the media darlings just as the Heat are now.
However, despite coming off a year in which they made the NBA Finals, the Celtics have been overshadowed by the Heat this off-season.
While the Celtics may prove to be the better team over the course of the season because of their impressive depth, look for the Heat to win this one on opening night.
The Heat are going to struggle against the teams with great offensive centers—Milwaukee, Orlando, and Los Angeles—but the Celtics don't have anyone who can punish the Heat for their unimpressive array of centers.
Rajon Rondo should have a field day against Carlos Arroyo and Mario Chalmers, but other than that, the Celtics don't have any mismatches to take advantage of. It should come down to the wire, but Miami should come out victorious in the first game of a new era.
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Update: Boston wins 88-80. I'm 0-1 for the night.
Phoenix Suns Vs. Portland Trail Blazers (10:00 PM ET, Portland, Ore.)
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In a match-up of young and old, the second game of the night promises to be another interesting pairing of one team that made a lot of changes and another which stood pat this off-season.
After seeing its star power forward leave town to become a New York Knick, the Phoenix Suns moved quickly to remake its front court, signing Hakim Warrick, Josh Childress, and acquiring Hedo Turkoglu for Leandro Barbosa.
The Blazers, on the other hand, simply made minor player modifications (they did fire popular GM Kevin Pritchard), trading away perennial disappointment Martell Webster for Luke Babbitt and Ryan Gomes (Gomes was waived days later).
For both, this game will be a barometer for where they stand and a sign of whether they did the right thing this off-season. Should the Blazers have gone after Chris Paul with more enthusiasm? Should the Suns have given Amar'e Stoudemire the contract he wanted to keep the Nash-Stoudemire duo together?
While one game can only tell so much, there is no doubt that analysts across the nation will be watching this game with a watchful eye to see how the teams look.
On opening night, the Blazers will have the edge in a very good game. Brandon Roy should be healthy, Andre Miller has now had a full season to mesh with the team, and LaMarcus Aldridge looks like he could have a breakout year.
It's hard to pick against a team with Steve Nash at the helm, but Portland definitely appears to have the edge.
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Update: Blazers win the hard fought game 106-92.
Houston Rockets Vs. Los Angeles Lakers (10:30 PM ET, Los Angeles, Calif.)
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A repeat of the memorable 2009 Western Conference Semifinals in which the Rockets challenged the Lakers in a thrilling seven game series, this match-up will be an intriguing game to watch for sure.
Injuries will play a huge part in this one, as Kobe Bryant has been severely limited by his right knee and Yao Ming will be playing his first NBA game since Game 3 of the aforementioned series in 2009. Andrew Bynum will also be out.
Looking at these two teams on paper, the two seem much closer in talent level than the 2009 semifinals. Aaron Brooks has developed into one of the league's top pure scorers,
Kevin Martin is an upgrade over Ron Artest on the 2009 team, Luis Scola has continued to improve, and Yao Ming is at least back on the court.
Additionally, the Rockets have managed to piece together one of the strongest benches in the league with a good mixture of young and old, with Chase Budinger, Chuck Hayes, Kyle Lowry, Courtney Lee, and Brad Miller to take the starters place.
Meanwhile, the Lakers have gotten older, have lost Andrew Bynum for now, and lack an impact bench player now that Lamar Odom will likely start in Bynum's place. They could bring Odom off the bench by starting Ron Artest at the power forward position, but either way their lack of depth is troubling.
However, despite these troubles for Los Angeles, it is impossible to bet against the reigning champions on their home court.
They have one of the two best players in the game, one of the league's most skilled big men, and a host of strong defensive wing players. It should be close, but look for Los Angeles to win in Game 1 of a very interesting season series.
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Update: Los Angeles defeats Houston 112-110.
