It seems like only yesterday (no, really) that the Cleveland Cavaliers upset the basketball betting favorite Golden State Warriors to win the 2015-16 NBA championship. And here we are again, kicking-off – or tipping-off, as the case may be – yet another NBA season. As they say, time flies like an arrow. And fruit flies like a banana. So let’s see how the teams we love – and love to hate in many cases – did on their opening salvoes, along with their current odds to win this season’s title.
Golden State Warriors (-115). The Warriors are the very picture of consistency; they started this season the same way they ended the last one – disappointing basketball betting fans. If anything, they are an even bigger disappointment now; few teams can afford to choke as bad as they did with Kevin Durant on the starting line-up. Let’s look on the bright side, though; Draymond Green didn’t kick anybody in the b****, and local fans who left early – the vast majority of them – at least beat the traffic.
Cleveland Cavaliers (+340). The current, reigning, defending NBA champions, the Cleveland Cavaliers got off to a rip-roaring start, defeating Derrick Rose’s super team – you can’t see it but I’m using air quotes right now – the New York Knicks. LeBron James scored 19 points, and had 11 rebounds and 14 assists. In other words, his 43rd career triple-double. That’s why he is the King of Kings. All hail.
San Antonio Spurs (+805). Even a life-long Spurs hater like yours truly can rejoice in the fact that San Antonio took Golden State down a peg or three. And coming to think about it, with Tim Duncan in a retirement home – by which I mean that he is retired and thus spending a lot more time at home, and absolutely nothing else – the Spurs suddenly don’t look so bad anymore.
Boston Celtics (+2050). The Celtics don’t have a bench mob as much as they have a bench mop – as in the Brooklyn Nets wiped the floor of the TD Garden with them until head coach Brad Stevens sent his starters back on the court. Should this concern Boston fans? Not necessarily; the Warriors unceremoniously dismissed most of their reserves – without whom they wouldn’t have made it as far as they did last season – and they’re still the odds on basketball betting favorites to win the championship at the top sportsbooks… for now.
Toronto Raptors. DeMar DeRozan and Jonas Valanciunas made a strong case for them to be named the new (noun/adjective/verb) Brothers, as they became the first teammates in league history with a 40-point game and a 30-point game in a season-opening contest – the Raptors 109-91 win over the Detroit Pistons.
In summary, all of our favorite teams won their respective opening games, with the only exceptions being the Clippers – who have yet to debut as of this writing – and the Warriors, who were so underwhelming that quite a few of their fair-weather fans (I know one or two) may have already jumped ship.