I don't expect this thread to survive the whole season, but I'm a die hard C's fan, so of course I was going to make a thread. Needless to say, I'm a very happy boy
For some reason I was reading some of the comments on nba.com and it really is incredibly head-desk inducing. People can't seem to find a happy medium between "OMG, it's only the first game you're all insanely stoopid! heat numba 1!!!!" and "Stupid heat, sooooooooo over-rated!" Personally I came away from the Celtics v Heat game more impressed by how much better players like Marquis Daniels and Glen Davis seem to have gotten; Lebron's ability to control the point; and as always Rondo just gets better and better. Obviously the Heat aren't going to make a trend of losing, and they're destined to be in the top tier of teams this year (and probably for many years to come), but I don't think that necessarily means that Boston will lose to them next time they face off and I don't think that it means they're not a team that can be exploited (They have some serious issues at the 5 spot, where bosh obviously isn't comfortable being rotated to, and against someone like Dwight Howard I don't see how they're going to be able to cope).
As for the other games, I only caught the first half of the Lakers v Rockets matchup (which by the sounds of it means I missed pretty much all the good bits), from what I saw though Kobe did not seem to be firing like usual, even though Gasol was able to pick up a lot of the slack. The rockets definitely have the tools to make it to the playoffs and maybe even win a round 1 series, but it really does all seem to hinge on Yao (I'd forgotten just how much that guy spreads the floor). I only watched the highlights of the portland v phoenix matchup, but there didn't seem to be anything there that really caught my eye.
I also saw my first dodgy 'respect the game' call in the rockets-lakers match, I think it was Kevin Martin who got called for doing what essentially looked like nothing. I'm really not too big on the new rule, I just don't think there was really any need to enforce backtalk to that extent.
So yeah... YAY! Basketball season!