We’re finally here, the 77th season of the NBA tipped off last night after months of drama and predictions.
The reigning champs, the Golden State Warriors were given their rings during a beautiful ring ceremony as the team raised their 7th Championship banner and the first in San Francisco. Star guard and Finals MVP, Stephen Curry also took time out during his speech to raise awareness for WNBA star, Brittney Griner.
He said,
“We use our platform and the opportunity to shout out a very special member of the basketball community. Brittney Griner’s birthday is today, she’s 32 years old. We want to continue to let her name be known and it’s been 243 days since she’s been wrongfully incarcerated in Russia, we hope that she comes home soon and everybody’s doing their part to get her home.”
Back to the game of basketball, the Warriors showed why exactly they are the defending champs as the took care of the Los Angeles Lakers. After a rough start, the Dubs went on their now expected third quarter run, outscoring the Lakers 32-19 in the quarter opening up a lead and cruising to a 14-point victory.
Check out the Warriors NBA Championship rings
Curry led the way with 33 points (on 10 of 22 shooting) while Andrew Wiggins finished with 20 points and Klay Thompson added 19 points in 18 minutes.
For the Lakers, Lebron James began his pursuit of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all time NBA scoring record with a 31 point performance in the loss but what was very evident is there are still a lot of problems for the Lakers front office to solve. They shot 10 for 40 from three on the night, with the Warriors daring them to shoot throughout the game.
Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook added 27 points and 19 points respectively for the Lakers, but the rest of the team only scored 32 points on 11-of-34 shooting.
The game ended with a 123-109 win for the Warriors.
On the Eastern side, the Boston Celtics began their NBA season with a win against the Philadelphia Sixers led by their duo of Jay’s. The team’s two wing stars, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown showed up after the disappointment of last year’s finals. The duo scored 35 points each, combining for over half of the team’s scoring offense. They led the Celtics to a 126 – 117 win in interim head coach Joe Mazzulla’s first game.
For the Sixers, James Harden led the way with 35 points on 9-of-14 shooting, the most he’s scored since joining the team while Joel Embiid finished with 26 points and 15 rebounds.
