Serious teams don't lose to the Hornets at home on opening night

Sorry, Rockets. That is terrible.

Oct 24, 2024

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

Aeneas and the Sibyl in the Underworld; Jan Brueghel the Elder; 1619

Scores

Pacers 115, Pistons 109 — Quite a strong start for Detroit, who led most of the first three-and-a-half quarters as Indiana had trouble efficiently producing buckets. Cade Cunningham looks as good as ever one game into his fourth season.

Good on the Pacers for pulling out of the victory, of course. Serious teams win these games, even when their star (Tyrese Haliburton, in this case) goes 1/9 from deep.

James Wiseman scored six points in four minutes and then suffered what appears to be a season-threatening injury. It’s enough to make you want to flip off the Basketball Gods.

Even with a new coaching staff, the Pistons remain a work in progress in terms of … ah, playing with the correct number of players.

Cavaliers 136, Raptors 106 — It’s The Raptors But … Evan Mobley with a tidy 25-9-3-2-3 in 27 minutes. The 25 points in 27 minutes is the big piece … though you can’t sneeze at five combined blocks and steals in 27 minutes either.

Scottie Barnes: 3/14 from the floor, -33 in 26 minutes. Hit that “Restart Season” button.

Bucks 124, Sixers 109 — The Sixers without Joel Embiid or Paul George kept it close for 18 minutes and competitive for about 30 minutes until Milwaukee ripped open the gates of hell on them. Damian Lillard dropped four threes in the third alone, and had 30 on the game. Thirty points, not threes. As we learned Tuesday, that would have been some sort of record.

I would love to say things will be different when Embiid and George are back … but Embiid isn’t switching onto Dame with confidence and we have famously seen Lillard hit shots over PG. So …

A great first sign for the Bucks offense, which needs to be elite for Milwaukee to be highly rated.

Thirty-one FGAs for Tyrese Maxey, who wasn’t even “hot” from the floor. That is the state of the Sixers’ offense without The Big Fella and PG.

Magic 116, Heat 97 — Orlando led by four at the half. They led by as many as 32 before garbage time. Just a remarkable turn of events: the Magic went on a 34-10 run to open the third with Paolo “New C-Webb” Banchero, Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner all getting hot at the same time. Banchero finished with 33 and 11 and was a +42 for the game.

We know the Magic defense is elite, so give them credit for Miami’s pitiful offensive performance (97 points in 97 possessions), but even against the 1960s Bill Russell Celtics Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo have to do more than a combined 2/13 from the floor for 12 whole points. Jimmy in particular: 3 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists in 27 minutes? Are the Magic that good?

Nets 116, Hawks 120 — You can’t hit the Hawks too hard for having this close a game against this bad an opponent because they did, after all, win. But we will continue to monitor the situation, because only beating the Nets at home by four is scary.

Onyeka Okongwu is still coming off the bench behind Clint Capela. Onyeka Okongwu in this game: 28 points on 11/12 shooting, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks in 27 minutes. The buckets are all on rolls from guard creation, putbacks and open court run-outs. That’s all so valuable, especially with someone like Trae Young running the team. FREE ONYEKA OKONGWU.

Two of the Hawks’ four best players (Okongwu and Bogdan Bogdanovic) are coming off of the bench right now. (Trae and Jalen Johnson are the other two top-4 players.) Bogdanovic’s role makes sense with De’Andre Hunter (theoretical 3-and-D) and Dyson Daniels (legitimate D, theoretical 3) starting to protect Trae. But Okongwu’s minutes need to overlap with Trae as much as possible. Thank you for watching by TED talk.

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Nic Claxton, coming off the bench for some reason, with an absolutely disgusting foul on Daniels in the open court. Daniels unwisely follows him into the crowd. Thank goodness no fans got involved.

Bulls 111, Pelicans 123 — New Orleans survives the absence of Zion Williamson (illness) to pull away in the second half. The Bulls’ offense just sputtered in the third quarter after getting 19 out of Zach LaVine in the first half. Brandon Ingram, disgruntled or not, can get buckets.

But there’s always a catch with the New Orleans Pelicans, and the catch is that Dejounte Murray broke his freaking hand in this game. No word on how long he’ll be out. Trey Murphy is currently out with a hamstring injury as well.

Hornets 110, Rockets 105 — Let’s start with some flowers for the Charlotte Hornets. This is peak LaMelo Ball: fun, unserious swagger.

(The second highlight. If you’re not into LaMelo highlights, watch through the second highlight, which is less a LaMelo Ball highlight or even a Brandon Miller highlight and more an Eric Collins highlight.)

(Eh, you know what? That’s a Brandon Miller highlight.)

Shout to Tre Mann with 24 off the bench, and a good team defensive performance in Charles Lee’s head coaching debut. But we do need to pivot to the Rockets.

If. You. Are. A. Serious. Team. You. Cannot. Lose. The. Opener. At. Home. To. The. Charlotte. Hornets.

Good news: both young stars, Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun, scored more than 25. Bad news: they both needed at least 22 FGAs to do it. Sengun went 10/22 from the floor to earn 25 points. (He added 18 boards, 5 assists, 4 steals and a block. He was not the problem.) Green went 9/23 from the floor and, ahem, cough cough cough, 5/15 from three. Five! Of! Fifteen!

The perimeter defense for the Rockets was a mess. The offense was a total mess. (Fred VanVleet: 4/18 from the floor, 2/11 from deep. Dillon Brooks: 2 points in 31 minutes. Hard to blame him for not getting attempts up, of course.) Houston will figure something out, but what a wholly disappointing start.

These are games you cannot drop while healthy when faced with what will be an extremely tight West postseason race.

Grizzlies 126, Jazz 124 — A truly fun game if you skip around during reviews and timeouts. Zach Edey in his NBA debut: he fouled out in 15 minutes. Jaren Jackson Jr. is out, so Jay Huff finished the game at center for Memphis. Jay Huff.

Utah played hard and well. They scored not quite at will, but rather efficiently. Lauri Markkanen was excellent. But Ja Morant has another gear and just might one of the secret stars of crunch time. Fearlessness is a skill.

This dagger layup is the first play of the young season that made me yelp loud enough to get my old dog’s attention.

Seeing it in real action, I’m starting to have concerns about the Grizzlies’ depth. And the defense is going to be shaky until JJJ is back. But Morant covers up a lot of issues.

Warriors 139, Blazers 104 — No surprises from Portland. They are terrible.

Buddy Hield put up 22 in 15 minutes on 8/12 shooting.

The honeymoon is off to a phenomenal start. How long until this thing turns into the first season of White Lotus?

Draymond Green technical foul counter: 1.

Suns 116, Clippers 113 — You know what? This game got off to a rocky start but there’s a lot to like here. The Clippers defend their tails off. They made the Suns — who should have a top-5 offense — work for every bucket. Kevin Durant was super quiet until the fourth, and Devin Booker never really uncorked.

The Intuit Dome seems pretty fantastic on TV. The Wall — a “cheering section” behind one baseline where opposing fans are not allowed — seems legit.

No word on whether anyone had to wait in line for a toilet.

James Harden and Kevin Durant, they are both getting long in the tooth. But they are two of the greatest scorers in the history of the sport. Watching them deal cards in endgame scenarios is a total blast.