OT: NBA season has begun! [Potential Spoilers]
 

What a start - I had to turn it off, honestly. Didn't really feel like watching much more after hearing the cracking sound. I'd seen the Paul George/Shaun Livingston/Kevin Ware injuries on replays but I have never watched a live game where something this bad has happened. Hope Hayward recovers. Probably out for the year, which makes the East all the more predictable again.

With all these off-season changes... any NBA fans excited to see how this year plays out?

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Begun and ended after only six minutes for Gordon Hayward.

That stinks for him. Ouch.

https://nyti.ms/2ziJi4Z

Nothing's worse than Kevin Ware's injury. Livingston's carved out a nice NBA career, though he'll be one of those eternal "what if" guys if that freak injury hadn't happened.

Still an ugly injury.

The East is boring, the West is a death march.

Yeah. Can't wait to watch the Dubs crush it again. Bummed that 3 at the buzzer from Irving didn't sink. I thought it did at first.

Very bad - that injury effected players from both sides and took the steam out of the IT trade controversy. I was anxiously awaiting the reunion of Stevens and Gordon. Only about 4 players back from last years team but preseason showed potential -

Dubs fall to last place in the West. :banana:

At least the rest of us can dream for a little bit.

Seriously, I think the Rocket's vision (grab another superstar, load up on 3 and D guys to switch everything, put Curry in PNR down the stretch) might actually yield some fruit. Of course, having Draymond out for the stretch helped too.

HA!! It didn't help that the heart of their team Draymond went out with a strain in the 4th. That's the reason they lost. I can't believe KD's last second shot! UGH!!!!! I was so rooting for the Celtics and Irvings 3, another UGH!!!

Both really entertaining games. If the next 1228 are anything like the first 2, should be a good year for NBA fans.

GS was in last place after one game last year too, turned out OK for them.

Until the W's go 16-1 in the playoffs again.

The sound of Hayward's injury has been haunting me for the past 12 hours. C's still made it a good game. I would have a hard time playing after that on either team. Hope he heals up quick. Sometimes a break, even a bad one, is quicker to heal than a muscle injury.

Agreed. Both were excellent games and really fun to watch. The rest of the season should great like you said. And I can't wait for the Dubs to go 16-0 in Finals and collect another ring.

Agreed all around. That Kevin Ware one... ouch. He's playing somewhere overseas now, which is amazing in its own right.

Same here. Stopped watching after it. He could actually be back before the season's end depending on how the surgery goes but I'm not sure that's how fast they want to move into it.

Celtics were more of a slow cook anyways. Would have taken a LeBron injury for them to really get to the Finals this year. A year or two from now is their real window. I doubt they rush him back. Its a chance to get Tatum and Brown more run too, and both of those guys looked good last night.

I'm excited
 

I'm ready for the season. I'm a Spurs fan and like to quietly watch them do their thing. I hope Kawhi comes back at full force soon.

also
Vote Popovich/Kerr 2020

Would vote Pop in a heartbeat!

After last night's TNT games, a couple thoughts:

The Thunder are going to be absolutely monstrous on defense. I predict they are no worse than 3rd in defensive rating at season's end. They still suffer from a sticky ball on offense, something you would kinda expect with the way Melo, Russ and to a lesser extent PG have had to operate offensively over the last few years. Russ was definitely trying to get guys in spots, but it's just to find an ISO mismatch instead of get the ball pinging around the floor Spurs style. If they hope to reach the WCF, that'll have to change, even though they have probably 3 of the best 15 ISO guys in the league on their team.

Patrick Beverly ate Lonzo Ball for dinner last night. It was savage in a way that only PatBev can do. Lonzo seems like a good dude, and I feel bad that he's going to get a lot of extra crap just because his dad is writing checks that he's counting on his son to cash.