The NBA Got OUT OF CONTROL On Opening Night…

The NBA got out of control on opening night, fights, comebacks and all around chaos and it's only the first night of the freaking season. We are so back and we gotta start an MSG where the Knicks raise the banner after 53 years of waiting. Five months later it still feels unreal. The journey for defending this throne starts now, but I guess they were feeling the butterflies as well because the opening was clanky. Brunson and the Knicks started the game by missing six of their first eight shots while the Sixers established a physical game early on. LeBron throws Shamit around like a little kid, and on the way back they keep pushing each other which leads us to this. Embiid shoves Landry after the whistle to back up his new teammate, which sparked a little scuffle on the court, and Knicks fans let Joel hear about it. Damn, it's the first quarter of opening night and we already have drama. Two minutes into the second period, the sold out arena was still inspired, taking a jab at LeBron this time. They're referring to James' comments from media day when he said that he always imagined finishing his career in the mecca. So while Bronson was shooting free throws right before halftime, Bron had enough of some courtside fans and had to step in and clear things up. Boy, he's fired up. You can tell that this season means a little extra to him. At the half, the Knicks were up by 4 points mostly thanks to the benchmob of Drummond, Alvarado, Shamit and Clarkson who made a real difference on the court. In his New York debut, Andre was a beast down low, posting a double-double of 10 points, 12 boards and 2 blocks before the break. But the Sixers came out with a lot of energy in the second half, especially the new guys on the team. LeBron and Jalen bursted out of the gates, forcing Mike Brown to call a timeout. Look at JB here trying to recreate the iconic photo of James and Wade, but the king wasn't following. And towards the end of the quarter, another newcomer joined them off the bench. Anthony Simons hit three threes in a hurry to take over the lead for Philly. And JB said anything you can do I can do better because Brown beats the buzzer to bump the lead up to 7 with his 19th point of the night on 50% efficiency. Still trailing by 7 in the middle of the final period the Knicks needed someone to step up on both ends. Enter Karl-Anthony Towns. Cade came up with 10 of his 19 points when it mattered the most, making it a one possession game. However, it seemed like the visitors wanted it more at the end. LeBron extends his arm to the max and alters the shot with his fingernails, that was huge in the clutch. And he set the final score at the free throw line, finishing his Philly debut with a win, posting an all-around performance of 14 points, 7 dimes, 9 boards and a steal and a block. In San Antonio, things got intense between the Spurs and the Thunder as always. in and out quick pace ahead look out for Castle getting down the floor here Castle the strength the concentration absorbing the foul Spurs with a one-point lead good look Wimby to Castle its great rim protection a beautiful drive or excuse me slip in a pass another second chance opportunity for OKC and another foul is going to be called against San Antonio it's the air and Oh, look out. J. Will gets into it. And now Wembanyama's in his face. We're going to have to separate these two. Remember Wembanyama who delivered that elbow to Naz Reid in the playoffs. It was a flagrant two. He's got to be careful with that energy and the emotion. And it's Kenrich Williams who claps back after the fact as they've separated both of these teams. And we said it, Noah. It's personal in this rivalry between these ball clubs right there. Look at Uncle Fox casually flipping over the 2 times taller Chet like he's his nephew. This led to some pushing and shoving between Wemby and Williams which culminated with 4 technicals. Leading by 9 at that point, the incident only fueled the Thunder more. Kick out, it's Kenrich Williams, it's a 3. Keeping the Spurs out of the paint on those drives that really hurt them that first quarter. Mitchell pushes it through, leak out, Jalen Williams to the rim, it's a 9-0 run and a San Antonio timeout A quick 9-0 blitz got OKC up by 16 points early in the second. And when the two-time MVP joins the splash party, things could get out of hand pretty fast. With 16 of his 32 points at the half, SGA extended the lead to 21 before the break. But before we go to the second half, I gotta show you Wemby blocking Chet twice in 20 seconds. 5 minutes gone here in the second, OKC is led by as many as 16, Holmgren had a block, guess who? Now Caruso in transition, finds the runner, Holmgren again! With 6 blocks in this one, Wembanyama sugarcoated his abysmal shooting night. Get this, he only had 12 points on 1 of 13 from the field. 1 of 13 for the MVP favorite and the tallest guy in the league is terrible. And for things to get worse for the home fans, the alien got owned by the rookie in the third quarter. A day Mara destroys Wemby's lob attempt and then converts the alley-oop on the other end himself. Amazing. I called it in the pre-season, he really is the Wemby stopper. Meanwhile, Shea kept cooking. SGA made it look easy last night, ballet dancing his way to 32 points on 48% efficiency to go along with 6 boards, 4 assists, 3 blocks and 3 steals. Talk about an all-around performance. And I was bedazzled when I read that he's just 15 blocks away from becoming the all-time point guard leader in blocked shots. Yeah, he tied Jason Kidd with 425 and will surpass John Wall sooner rather than later who holds the record with 439 blocks. And when winning time came, Alexander was ruthless. Shea hits the silencer on one end and then absolutely shuts down Castle with the monster block on defense. This was him making a statement in a revenge game for the Western Finals loss. On the other hand, it was a game to forget for Wembanyama. In Detroit, despite Jason Tatum's poor shooting night going 6 of 23 from the field and a miserable 0 for 7 from distance, the Celtics built a 20-point lead, mostly thanks to Paul George who went absolutely crazy in the third quarter. PG put up a vintage performance in his debut for Boston, racking up 38 points on 7 of 12 from downtown. Not only that, but he had 5 steals as well. But as soon as he sat down on the bench, the Pistons responded furiously. Javante Green gave the Celtics a taste of their own medicine, knocking down three straight bombs to cut the deficit to just six points. However, the Celtics regained control of the game by opening the final period strong. But then, down by 10 with 8 minutes left, the Pistons released another deadly weapon. they got another one, Hauser a little bit late getting there in the crowd Duncan Robinson goes on a personal 9-0 scoring spree to make it a one-point game let's go but the best part of the home crowd the fireworks were far from over Green hesitated from the corner would you like to see him drive that scout yeah i think Tatum is really good at those isolations against bigs at An absolute avalanche by the Pistons, executing a humongous 23-0 run in less than 5 minutes to turn the 10-point deficit into a 13-point lead. Unbelievable! And get this, Javonte Green and Duncan Robinson combined for 37 out of their 40 points in the second half alone. They shot a sizzling 69% from beyond the arc. So just when I thought the game was over and the Celtics didn't have anything left in their tank, this happened. Uh-oh, Boston comes storming back with an 11-2 stretch of their own to make it a 4-point game. And they play a solid defensive possession for 23 seconds, forcing Asar Thompson out of all people to have to take a tough shot with time winding down. Thompson bails Detroit out with the rattling shot that goes in for the utmost pleasure of the fans. On the other end, Tatum finished building his house of bricks by laying down the last one, looking like Westbrook or Ben Simmons out there. The Celtics let this one slip away as Green and Cunningham finish the job from the free throw line. Kai and Durant added 22 points apiece in the comeback win at the end. Opening night in the NBA set the craziness level too high, which reinforces my belief that there are simply too many quality teams this season. Both the East and the West are going to be a bloodbath, setting the stage for an absolute war for the playoffs. Click on Wemby for the Western Conference breakdown or click on LeBron for the Eastern deep dive. Talk to you in the next one. Peace out. OG fans know what's up. Bouncing!