NBA Opening Night Schedule 2015: TV Coverage, Live Stream and Predictions
The 133 days since the NBA's last meaningful action went far too slowly, but the league is finally back Tuesday night.
A trio of intriguing intraconference matchups highlight the schedule, and five of the six teams playing made the postseason last spring. Both NBA Finals teams from June, the triumphant Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers, are included in that group, although they won't be facing each other.
Will the upstart Detroit Pistons put a scare in the Atlanta Hawks? Who wins a clash of titans between the Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls? Can Anthony Davis lead his New Orleans Pelicans over the defending champions?
Let's look at Tuesday night's schedule, figure out how to watch each game and then break down all three matchups.
TV Coverage and Live Stream
| 8 p.m. | Detroit Pistons at Atlanta Hawks | Local broadcasts | NBA League Pass |
| 8 p.m. | Cleveland Cavaliers at Chicago Bulls | TNT | NBA League Pass |
| 10:30 p.m. | New Orleans Pelicans at Golden State Warriors | TNT | NBA League Pass |
Predictions
Detroit Pistons at Atlanta Hawks
Detroit's 32-50 record in 2014-15 overshadows the fact that the team ended the regular season 27-27 in its last 54 games.
Waiving Josh Smith seemed to spur the team on to bigger and better things, allowing for Brandon Jennings (and later Reggie Jackson, whom the squad traded for following a Jennings injury) to blossom at the point guard position. Twenty-two-year-old center Andre Drummond exploded after the All-Star break for averages of 16.1 points and 14.7 rebounds per game.
In 2015-16, the goal for the Pistons will undoubtedly be a playoff berth. Ersan Ilyasova, Marcus Morris and Aron Baynes are key players the team acquired to offset losing big man Greg Monroe. Rookie Stanley Johnson, whom the team selected eighth overall in the 2015 draft, will help as well.
However, the Pistons will have a difficult time putting away the Eastern Conference's defending No. 1 seed on its home court Tuesday.
The Atlanta Hawks sputtered a bit in last season's playoffs and lost starting small forward DeMarre Carroll to the Toronto Raptors over the summer, but they're still a tough, cohesive outfit almost guaranteed a spot in the upper half of the East playoff bracket.
Atlanta bolstered its depth in the offseason by adding Tiago Splitter and Walter Tavares to its big-man rotation. On the perimeter, new faces Tim Hardaway Jr. and Justin Holiday will do their best to help fill the void left by Carroll.
Last season, the Hawks won the season series 3-1, and that superiority will show itself again Tuesday night. Expect Atlanta to ride a raucous crowd and its impeccable ball movement to a comfortable win to open the season.
Prediction: Hawks 99, Pistons 88
Cleveland Cavaliers at Chicago Bulls
A possible 2015-16 Eastern Conference Finals preview will feature two teams that will probably look much different next May should they meet.
The Cavaliers are without All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving, who's still recovering from his June knee surgery. Chicago's floor general, Derrick Rose, is working his way back from an orbital fracture in his eye. The Bulls also feature a new head coach, Fred Hoiberg, and have a crowded frontcourt rotation that they'll undoubtedly figure out throughout the regular season.
Chicago and Cleveland did meet in the second round last season, with the Cavaliers winning 4-2. Kevin Love did not play for Cleveland due to a shoulder injury, but now he's returned to the lineup.
However, I'm picking the Bulls in this game.
LeBron James will be playing with a hurt back, per the Cleveland Plain-Dealer's Chris Haynes, but he'll be limited. Tristan Thompson didn't participate in the preseason because of his contract holdout, and Kevin Love and Anderson Varejao will have to shake off the rust from their respective injuries. Iman Shumpert is out for most of the first half of the season following wrist surgery.
Even though Rose isn't at 100 percent and the Bulls need to figure some things out, Jimmy Butler and company will have enough to outlast the hobbled Cavs at the United Center.
Prediction: Bulls 106, Cavs 99
New Orleans Pelicans at Golden State Warriors
The Pelicans-Warriors first-round series from last April was actually pretty entertaining, even though the eventual champions swept New Orleans. Twenty-two-year-old megastar Anthony Davis did all he could for the Pelicans, and none of his team's losses were by more than 11 points.
Although those games were close, Tuesday night's tilt probably won't be.
New Orleans is not healthy at all right now, with injuries to Omer Asik, Tyreke Evans, Norris Cole and Quincy Pondexter, as the Times-Picayune's John Reid noted. He said Alexis Ajinca and Luke Babbitt could play but will be limited by injuries. Starting point guard Jrue Holiday is also on a 15-minute limit as he recovers from leg surgery.
The Warriors, on the other hand, are generally healthy. However, head coach Steve Kerr is on a leave of absence after offseason back surgery, and assistant Luke Walton will take his place.
But on the court, Golden State just has too many skilled bodies—Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green—to lose a home game to an injury-ravaged New Orleans squad.
New Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry has an uptempo offense that should get the most of Davis and the rest of his talent. But it won't show Tuesday night.
Prediction: Warriors 119, Pelicans 101
