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Morning, Interior; Maximilien Luce; 1890

Scores

Rockets 86, Magic 116 | Full game highlights
A few numbers to describe what happened here, with “here” being a pretty thorough beatdown for the Magic in the 2023-24 League Pass Cup debut.

• 17. That’s how many offensive rebounds the Magic grabbed. Houston isn’t that small. Either Orlando is an elite offensive rebounding team (15th last year) or the Rockets need to figure out how to do better on the boards.

• 26.3%. That’s the effective field goal percentage for Jalen Green and Jabari Smith Jr. on 19 FGAs combined. The Rockets obviously need them to be way better.

• 20. That’s Cole Anthony’s points off the bench. Of course it will look it in a runaway blowout, but Orlando looks … deep? Anthony just got paid and he’s making the case that he fits the long-term future here. At least in Game 1. Lots of confidence in his game.

Celtics 108, Knicks 104 | Full game highlights
Kristaps Porzingis completely changes the dimensions of the court for the Celtics. In his Celtics debut, he had nine three-point attempts, 10 free throw attempts and four blocks. He makes life so much easier on offense for the playmakers, and he can paper over the rare mistake on the other end. There’s a reason we used to refer to him as a unicorn. There’s also a reason or seven we don’t do that any more. But his context on this team is a huge shift, one that figures to benefit his game greatly. It showed in Game 1 with 30 points, a record for a Celtics debut.

… and despite that, the Knicks should have won this game. They shot 1/4 from the free throw line in the final five minutes. BRUTAL. Julius Randle and Jalen Brunson were badly inefficient from the floor, but the Knicks’ defense was mostly on point and they had a couple of 6-point leads in crunch time. You have to win those if you fancy yourselves a contender for a top-3 record in the East.

Wizards 120, Pacers 143 | Full game highlights
Indiana scored at least 143 points just once last season: in a March loss to the Sixers. Which is to say: good start against what is already coming into view as potentially one of the worst defenses in modern NBA history? In the first half, the Pacers shot 12/15 in the paint, 3/3 in the midrange and 12/23 on threes. Yeah: 75% on 20 two-pointers and 52% on 23 three-pointers by halftime. Seventy-three points.

And then they scored 70 more points in the second half. Which is to say that the Wizards have played two halves of basketball this season, and have given up at least 70 points in each of them, to a team that finished 19th in offense last season.

Hawks 110, Hornets 116 | Full game highlights
How long do we give the Trae Young-Dejounte Murray pairing? Probably more than “one game into Year 2,” but still. They went 7/33 from the floor (1/12 from three) with 15 assists and 6 turnovers, and a pretty bad L.

I am guilty of forgetting about P.J. Washington. He had an ethical, workaday 25. Lots of variety in his bucket-getting. Low-Gossip John Collins. Paul Millsap II? High potential for some restricted free agency tomfoolery this summer given the other contract stuff Charlotte will have going on.

Timberwolves 94, Raptors 97 | Full game highlights
Toronto has the roster to be a top-5 defense (12th last season), and this is a heckuva start down that path. Karl-Anthony Towns shot 8/25. Anthony Edwards shot 8/27. I can’t remember ever seeing two teammates each taking at least 25 shots and both making less than 10. (Towns: 10 3PAs, 1 FTA. Get your big body inside, my man!)

Your leading scorers for Toronto: Dennis Schroder and O.G. Anunoby, of course.

I have heard multiple smart analysts predict a Chris Finch Coach of the Year win and I want to be on record as saying I predict he could be the first coach fired during this regular season. This team has persistently bad vibes as evidenced by the end of the last regular season (vibe maintenance is a key part of the job of NBA coach) and while I’m sure he’s a brilliant tactician not once in his tenure has Finch’s team looked more than the sum of its parts. Maybe that has to do with the roster — and Towns’ individualistic style particularly — but maybe not entirely. Keep in mind that Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez should be officially taking over the franchise during this season.

Pistons 102, Heat 103 | Full game highlights
Cade Cunningham: 30 points, 9 assists, 3 turnovers. We love it!

Ausar Thompson: three blocks in the first 95 seconds of his first regular season NBA game. He finished with FIVE.

The Miami Heat: taking the regular season as seriously as Jimmy Butler took his Ball Out Boy media day photo.

Cavaliers 114, Nets 113 | Full game highlights
Put Cam Thomas in and leave him there! Let him cook.

Meanwhile, Max Strus had 27-12 in his Cavs debut (with 7 threes, sheesh) with a clutch block of a Cam Johnson three in crunch time.

Donovan Mitchell capped a strong effort with a clutch steal and dunk … then our first game-winner of the season.

No ref is calling the push-off there. Cam has to know that.

The Nets led by six with 80 seconds to go. Rough.

Pelicans 111, Grizzlies 104 | Full game highlights

The Memphis offense without Ja Morant’s creativity and Steven Adams’ bone-crunching screens is indeed a question mark, despite an efficient 31 from Desmond Bane. We will continue to monitor the situation.

Zion Williamson: 23 points in the season opener. When he has played in the NBA, he has been excellent. And when he played last year, the Pelicans were pretty darn good (17-12). Can he get to 65 games? Can the Pelicans get to 45 wins?

Thunder 124, Bulls 104 | Full game highlights
Uh … Bulls? It’s Game 1, babe. Are we doing this already? From Will Gottlieb at CHGO Sports:

After the game, the Bulls players had a conversation in the locker room to discuss what happened, and how to address it.

[Billy] Donovan said he entered the locker room to the discussion, asked if the players needed space to talk, and when they said yes, he left.

They told Billy Donovan to leave the locker room? That’s an official players’ only meeting. AFTER GAME 1 OF THE SEASON. We also have Nikola Vucevic and Donovan having a heated discussion on the sideline after Vooch gets pulled as the Bulls begin to melt down late in the third quarter.

Everyone played everything off after the game (a brutal home loss) and players’ meeting. Zach LaVine said the performance lacked heart and was unacceptable. Chicago has some winnable games over the next 10 days (Raptors, Pistons, Pacers, Mavericks, Nets). They’d better win some of them!

31 for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the win.

Kings 130, Jazz 114 | Full game highlights
I have a lot of thoughts about this game but I will limit it to noting Harrison Barnes’ 33 points on 16 FGAs (early MVP frontrunner?) and this Malik Monk transition dunk on Kris Dunn.

The reactions by Domantas Sabonis and Keegan Murray (who were both awesome in this game) in the screencap say it all.

Mavericks 126, Spurs 119 | Full game highlights
Victor Wembanyama’s official NBA debut was pretty rocky at the start, despite San Antonio jumping on an early lead and the crowd being raucous. Foul trouble was the culprit — he was clearly amped up, clearly a rookie in his first regular season NBA action against a team with 1.5 superstars and all pros. He only ended up playing 23 minutes as a result, and early in the fourth he had registered 6 points and 3 rebounds on the night.

That all changed in the back half of the fourth quarter. He got going as the Spurs finished a dogfight with the Mavericks. Luka Doncic closed it out with a sensational performance (33-13-10) and a nasty dagger. The Spurs offense crumbled in the closing possessions, as you might anticipate the league’s youngest team would.

But the bones of something special — for Wembanyama and the Spurs — are there.

Two notes on the Mavericks:

1. This is the type of game they were losing down the stretch of last season when the Luka-Kyrie pairing was overshadowed by the team’s horrendous defense, and when the clutch offense was clunky. Seems like they figured some stuff out, albeit against a team they have to beat to make the playoffs.

2. Rookie Dereck Lively II did not start as has been rumored in the run-up to opening night … but he had an incredible debut. 16 points on 7/8 shooting, 10 rebounds (5 offensive). Constant motor. If he’s this? Dallas is going to be good. Also, I think he’s the starter now.

Lively was so good he had Luka swearing on national television.

Blazers 111, Clippers 123 | Full game highlights
The good news: Deandre “DominAyton” Ayton did not dominate the ball in the Blazers’ opener. The bad news: he had more fouls (five) than points (four). The worse news: his match-up Ivica Zubac scored 20. The Blazers are in for a long developmental season. That season is going to feel even longer if this is what DominAyton means.

Let’s play Guess That Surprise Clipper In Street Clothes. [Jeopardy! music sounds] Time’s up, the correct answer is … Terance Mann.

Schedule

All times Eastern.

Sixers at Bucks, 7:30, TNT — James Harden is back in Phildelphia. However, the Sixers are not. He will apparently not play.
Suns at Lakers, 10, TNT

What a second night. What a second morning. Be excellent to each other.