After the healthy dose of Olympic basketball the NBA is officially back, giving us two games. The first being the historic shooting blowout from the Celtics onto the Knicks. The other game Lakers vs Timberwolves gave fans the Bronny James Jr. father son moment and finally seeing the Wolves post Karl Anthony-Towns trade. Celtic's, beside their drought in the fourth, seemed to be the only team in competitive regular season play. A lot of feeling our with the Knicks, Wolves, and Lakers as they all had another agenda to keep an eye on during their opening night. (Knicks with KAT, Wolves with Julius Randle and Lakers with Bronny). The Celtics, in essence only really needing to overcome the post championship disrespect, did that in the first quarter coming out 43-24.
A major tone setter for the league and outright statement win by the Celtics dismantling a team that was looked at to have no position weakness and spacing. The Knicks not only got spaced out more than the Celtic's but also lost in nearly every game category (rebound, 3pt%, turnovers, assists, est). The Knicks only shot 4% better (55%-51%). The main reason for this is that they shot seventeen fewer shots, that's what really separated these two teams as the Celtics had so many more possessions in which they also shot way more threes. Celtics were one three away for from breaking the record for most three pointers in a game, they finished tying the record at twenty nine. Celtics shot 29-48 then proceeded to miss 13 straight three pointers trying to break the record. Jayson Tatum seemed dialed in from the jump, shooting walk in threes on any defender that was meeting JT at the top of the arc. A little reverse way to ease yourself into the game as after JT found his shot he became a more focused playmaker ending the game with 10 assists. Tatum was a big reason for the three point margin as he shot 8-11 from three ending the game with 37 points. The rest of the starters all had at least three threes, it was the bench that was not firing on all cylinders shooting a horrific 3/20 3pt. Maybe we got opposite outliers between starters vs bench but either way the emphasis of this teams shot profile is to get them up there at a fast pace.
The defense for the Celtics was there as well, no star Knick player really found a consistent footing on offense. The Celtics didn't let a Knick team that last year dominanted offensive rebounding out rebound them. Knicks lost the rebounding battle offensively and defensively. Totals wise they're only 6 rebounds apart but for a team that was recognized as a offensive rebounding team losing 11-5 does worry me. With Mitchell Robinson injured and Isaiah Hartenstein traded, the two best rebounders are unavailable which makes me fear that Josh Hart can't rebound the Knicks to win anymore as he doesn't have the other rebounding partners. After an impressive rebounding preseason, KAT lost the rebound battle to bench big Jericho Sims who plays the same (24) minutes. I believe this team can find a rebounding foothold as they have good rebounding wings however, with the new look Knicks I'm afraid that the elite offensive rebounding they had is now gone.
What does this new look Knicks look like? Because, the only thing that has looked consistent between preseason and this regular season game is that Mikal Bridges can't shoot. In the Knicks vs Wolves preseason article I mention Bridges jump-shot and how it's not fluid anymore. Bridges shot 7/13 Fg and 2/7 3pt which makes me feel like the coaching staff just want's him to shoot his way out of the slump. Bridges took the most threes for the Knicks and the defense was giving him some open looks which leaves me to infer that coaching staff told him to continue to take them if they're open. This mind set boggles me as this was an issue game one of the preseason and makes you play right into what the defense want's. The Knicks are talented enough to where if Bridges can even find his corner three it would help this team out immensely. The overloaded defensive wings only work if they can coincide with each other and in order for that to happen their shot needs to be falling. My biggest takeaway from the Knicks game is that Miles McBride seems to be ready to replace the scoring of Donte DiVincenzo and could see a world where if Bridges never comes around this guy will close games. Already breaking the lineup with being a POA defender McBride has added dynamic shooting. McBride had 22 points on 8/10 Fg 4/5 3pt on 26 minutes. Yes, the three point shooting was impressive but the part of the game he really worked on was being ball handler and finding his shot off that. I was very impressed to see McBride's screen navigation with the ball, finding open pockets in the midrange from him to rise into. McBride has the potential to be this teams second ball handler and can run a lot of he same actions as Jalen Brunson.
Lakers vs Timberwolves had all media eyes on when Bronny James Jr. was going to play his first regular reason minutes with his Dad LeBron James. With that being the media's main focus, I was dialed in on how this new Lakers team is ran and how Randle fits in with the Wolves. This game solidified my thoughts I had on these new aspects to these teams as the Lakers seemed to running actions Coach Darvin Ham never did and the Randle tendencies were apparent in game one.
LeBron was used in a lot more screening actions really setting up shooters who weren't hitting this game but Coach JJ Redick was happy with the looks they're getting. Redick was unhappy and confused why they're playing with new basketballs and game ready basketballs. "You think I'm joking, I'm neurotic" (JJ Redick). Redick goes on to talk about the involvement of Anthony Davis and how their offense is looking to go so there might be times where AD's trailing and doesn't get the ball a few times down the court. When the fast offense isn't there AD trailing is now resulting into a three on top of the high post offense AD gives you throughout the game. AD had 36 points 16 Reb 4 Ast and shot 13/15 ft. This brand of basketball shows how versatile AD is as he did this against last years DPOY. AD seemed to have his way when the ball got his hands in the midrange, shooting with a soft touch, then later using that soft touch to draw out the defender more to then attack the basket drawing bodies and fouls.
Redick's offense does put the stars into different actions but Redick also seemed to give Rui Hachimura offensive reign when the stars aren't in. A clear emphasis to go at is a sometimes lazy defensively Randle, by using backdoor cuts and putting Randle into Rui actions he just didn't want to be a part of. Coach Redick has played with and against some of these players which informs him on their tendencies. Redick mentioned how preparation started with matchup base which leaved me to wonder what are the games where another role player might run off on a run. My guess for a lot fo the bench minutes would be Dalton Knecht, who showed off a little of his shooting and playmaking upsides in the season opener for the rookie. Blowing leads is what the Lakers were kings of which made me nervous for when the Wolves started catching some fire but being able to close out this game while also interjecting the Bronny storyline makes me feel a lot better on this teams composure.
Finally the Wolves performance was not as electric as their preseason feud against the Knicks but still seemed to be gelling as Mike Conley found his points late in the game, Jaden McDaniels was not aggressive offensively and Randle seemed like a good new player going up a grade. For the Conley and McDaniels offensive struggles, I can only hope more time will find their roles with this team. Whereas all the negative questions I had about the fit with Randle on this team were present. Like I said Rui had his way with him when he wasn't engaged and you felt the same intensity on the rebounding end where Randle didn't feel the need to put his body on someone. When it seemed like Randle did something "right" I bet you Conley or Edwards didn't get that ball that possession. I felt as if Randle could fill in some holes but seems to be the biggest black hole for this team, as the team enters a different style when introducing Randle into the game.
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