NBA Opening Night Preview

We are so close.

We've almost done it. It was tough, but together we got there.

It wasn't all bad, some days were good—hell, the Olympics were great! But other than that...

But that's gone now, and we don't have to worry about it for a long time.

The NBA season is almost here. Opening Night is almost upon us.

Not a second too soon.

Opening night is always fantastic, regardless of what games are on the schedule, or who is playing, or a lot of the time of what the final score is. For the most part, we're just glad it's happening and that we are lucky enough to be a part of it.

This season won't be any different.  Yes, we were blessed with possibly the best Men's Olympic Basketball tournament ever, and there were trades that raised our eyebrows, but there were also incredibly long stretches where basically nothing happened. I can't remember seeing so many headlines purely about the details of contract extensions.

Tuesday is just around the corner.  Opening Night—the golden night—is giving us three interesting games to slobber over.  Let's take a look shall we?

Milwaukee Bucks @ Chicago Bulls

Though this is probably the least-hyped matchup of the night, and last season it would have been a complete snoozefest.  But this year it is actually fairly interesting. First, Milwaukee will be showing off their new lineup, with Richard Jefferson playing his first-ever game not in a Nets uniform, and Micheal Redd being the only player on the court brandishing a shiny new medal.

Mo Williams will be gone, so it will be interesting to see how Luke Ridnour fills that void. Andrew Bogut had a surprisingly successful Olympic campaign, can he bring that back to the States? And of course, there is new coach Scott Skiles, who will be facing the team that shunted him not that long ago.

The Bulls need a good season, or they'll be blown apart. They were incredibly lucky to get the number-one pick in the draft, and whether picking Derrick Rose was the smart choice or not, they have to make the best of it now.  After an injury-plagued summer league, Rose has been very impressive in preseason.

The Ben Gordon saga, one of the longest-lasting stories of the offseason, is at least partially resolved, and the time has come to just play ball. Luol Deng suffered heavily at the hands of injury last year, but I truly hope he can regain the success of the previous season and get back on the road to becoming an All-Star. Plus, good ole Vinny Del Negro will make his NBA regular season debut.

Whoever wins the game will instantly become division leaders.  This would be a success for either team, as it may not happen again for a while.

Portland Trail Blazers @ L.A Lakers:

This is an amazing matchup, hands down. It makes me giddy. Finally, after the longest wait for a debut since David Robinson, Greg Oden—the beast of a man that dominated the NCAA and beat out Kevin Durant for the number-one spot—will be taking to the court.

It doesn't matter how well he plays or what his numbers are.  All Blazers fans care about is that he is on the court. Greg was always a favourite of mine while at Ohio State, now he can hopefully begin transmitting that to the pros.

The Blazers have more newcomers. Rudy Fernadez is already a fan favourite—probably starting around a certain Olympic highlight.  Jerryd Bayless, another favourite of mine, is simply a gun, and I predict he will make a lot of progress throughout the season. The Blazers are a young favourite already, and are definitely beginning to show promise. They will make a big step this year.

The Lakers—you can call them almost anything, but never boring. They didn't make any huge moves this summer (they had enough of that last year, I think) and yet they still manage to stay in the headlines. Phil Jackson has been playing his mind games again, talking about sixth-man roles and the such. Still, none of us really have any reason to doubt the Zen master.

Aside from this, a huge debut is being made on the Lakers' side: Kobe, playing finally with both Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol, not to mention Lamar Odom. The Lakers are back to reclaim their Western Crown. They came out on top of the toughest race in years—can they do it again?

Cleveland Cavaliers @ Boston Celtics:

The Big One.

This is brilliant scheduling. There couldn't be a better Eastern Conference matchup to start the season.

First off, there is the ceremony to deliver the championship rings to the C's, so we all get to watch KG slobbering over that like a coyote who's just caught the roadrunner, not to mention the rest of the team. The Ring Ceremony is always a joy to watch—sort of a final goodbye to last season, perhaps.

Then there is the game itself—and as I mentioned before, what a matchup! Easily one of the best games (and best series) last year was Game Seven between these two. We know what LeBron and Paul did to each other, with Pierce coming out back on top last time, LeBron will be looking for his revenge this time. The questions of whether the Celtics can have another amazing season will begin to be answered, and LeBron will once again try to take his team all the way, just like '07.

Cleveland will be able to see Mo Williams, their only real move for the summer, finally in action. Plus, let's face it—it's always a joy to watch LeBron.

Celtics fans will greatly miss James Posey, after the huge boost that he gave Boston last season.  But the heart of their team is still intact, and young guns like Glen Davis and Leon Powe will look to improve on the success they had last year.

Opening night can be great.

It can also be a peek into the future.

Sometimes the games mean nothing, they can be not great games in themselves just great because we're so happy they're back. Sometimes the Ring Ceremony can be too much, and players lose interest in the game.

Like 2006.  Miami had won the championship, in amazing fashion, just a few months before. They received their gigantic Championship rings and everything was cool.
48 minutes later, the Heat had been spanked by the Chicago Bulls.

The Bulls went on to a surprisingly successful season, while the Heat spiralled out of control.

Fast-Forward to May. The Bulls swept the defending-champion Heat right out of the playoffs. Maybe it was just the one-off, or maybe that Opening Night was a glimpse of what was to be.

Maybe this one will be too.  Maybe not.

Either way, who cares? Opening Night is here either way.