Ballin': What's Wrong With the Lakers and Celtics!?

Miami 120, Boston 107 – The Celtics were balanced with 7 players scoring between 8 and 23 points, shot 52% from the field and 46% from behind the arc and LeBron James sat most of the 4th quarter. The end result was that the Celtics had it all the way down to a 6-point deficit in the 4th before Miami pulled away.

LeBron James went for 26 and 10 in 10 minutes before leaving the game with leg cramps. Ray Allen scored 19 off the bench against his former team, Chris Bosh had 19 and 10 and Dwyane Wade had 29. Rajon Rondo had 20 points, 13 assists, 7 rebounds, 1 flagrant and 1 technical for the Celtics. After the game, D-Wade, the recipient of the flagrant was asked about the play. From the Sun-Sentinel:

“We’re in the NBA,” Wade said after the 120-107 win. “I got my kids watching, so I stopped myself, but it was a punk play. The league will take care of it.” I asked Wade if he said the P-word to Rondo when they were nose to nose. “I just did,” Wade said with a wink. “There’s a lot of cameras here.”

Orlando Dallas 99, Los Angeles 91 – No Dirk? No problem. The new look Mavs used a balanced attack to take down the Lakers in L.A. on opening night. The Lakers modified Princeton offense was universally planned, but L.A. probably could have won if Dwight Howard shot better than 3-14 from the free throw line. Elton Brand, Brandon Wright and Eddy Curry were all effective down low against the Lakers twin towers. Kobe Bryant was at his most efficient, scoring 22 points on 11-14 shooting to go along with 1 rebound and 0 assists. Steve Nash had 7 points and 4 assists in 34 minutes. Don’t worry, I’m sure Mike Brown will help his team figure this out.

Cleveland 94, Washington 84 – What a difference a Brazilian makes, eh? The Cavaliers are back! Anderson Varejao scored 9 points to go along with 23 rebounds and 9 assists in his first regular season game since his season ended in February.

The Wizards trimmed a 16-point deficit all the way down to 2 in the second half, but the Cavs held on behind 29 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists for last year’s Rookie of the Year, Kyrie Irving.

The Cavs rookies looked good too as Tristan Thompson had 12 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists and Dion Waiters added 17.