NBA Season Begins

It's been nearly a week since the NBA season has begun, and the teams haven't even played five games yet, but there are still some things to talk about in the NBA. On Tuesday the NBA season opened up with one of the better rivalry games the NBA currently has, Lebron vs the Bulls. Ever since about 2010 or 2011 Lebron has given the Bulls fits whether it be with the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Miami heat. Last year the Bulls were eliminated from the playoffs by the Cavs, they held a 2-1 series lead before Lebron hit a game winning jumper from the corner that basically won the series. The Cavs won the next 2 games after that  and it seemed like that Lebron game winner just changed the entire season. So this was an important game for the Bulls, and with under 10 seconds in the game Lebron drove into the lane to tie the game, he was emphatically denied by Pau Gasol. Then with 3.6 seconds left the Cavs attempted an inbound pass that was tipped and stolen by Chicago's Jimmy Butler. As a Bulls fan it's always nice to see Chicago beat Lebron, but this likely doesn't mean anything long term. Kevin Love returned for the Cavs and looked good, and the Cavs still don't have Kyrie Irving who will make them much better, so the Cavs team that played that night has a high ceiling when it comes to how good they can be.

Another good thing to see so far has been the return of Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder. In their first game of the season Kevin Durant put up 22 points on 6/19 shooting and 0 assists, so not a great game for him, but it was his first of the season. The other superstar on the team, Russell Westbrook, put up 33 points and 10 assists, and helped the Thunder outlast the Spurs. Then in the second game the superstar duo combined for 91 points, 23 rebounds, and 10 assists as the Thunder beat the Magic 139-136 in 2 overtimes. This is why so many people love to watch the Thunder, Kevin Durant is the sharpshooter that can score in anyway he wants to, Russell Westbrook is the triple double producing machine, who is probably the most athletic person in the league pound for pound, see here. The Thunder certainly have enough scoring between Russell and Kevin but I feel like their bench and other starting positions need to improve for them to win a championship. This is something that they can accomplish as the year goes on, maybe during the all star break. Meanwhile watching these two play is something that everyone should watch because they do something special on almost every night.