The first weekend of NBA action did not disappoint. The viewing audience on opening night was double what a regular season game would normally be. The games were exciting and had close finishes.
The Lakers and Clippers headlined the marquee game of opening night. It was a sloppy contest because of the number of turnovers, but still fun. The Clippers bounced back by destroying the Pelicans while the Lakers fell to the Raptors on Saturday.
The teams that shined out of the gate were the Bucks, Raptors, Lakers, Heat, Rockets and OKC. In my opinion, you should avoid betting the Wizards, Grizzlies, Nuggets and the Nets. If the Sixers do not play better defensively and limit their turnovers, the call for Brett Brown to be fired will get louder.
The league has a special stipulation that if a team finishes 9th in the conference and is within 4 games of the 8th seed, they will participate in a play in game to make the playoffs. The 8th team must win one game while the 9th seed must win two. It’s sure to be an exciting finish.
I was expecting the offense to lag and the defense to dominate. That would translate to most games going under — but the under occurred in only 47% of the games between Thursday and Sunday.
Interestingly, the games did not seem strange without the fans. The players were mic’d up and the benches seemed engergized during the tightly contested games. The NBA is using technology so the fans can participate remotely by having their images placed in the virtual crowd. The social justice and responsibility issues were addressed by the players, coaches, and announcers. This was done through commentary and the names on the back of players jerseys.
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