Pelicans (0-0) at Raptors (0-0)

There was a Zion-sized cloud of depression hovering over Scotiabank Arena Tuesday night. But it didn’t matter, because the NBA is back. And it was a great game! The Raptors Championship rings were enormous. The defending Champs outlasted the Pels in OT.

Raptors 130, Pelicans 122. OT

Pelicans Notes:

Brandon Ingram looked sharp early. Can we get Point Ingram to be a thing?
Lonzo attempted Harden’s one legged 3. It was an air ball.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker had an ULTRA green light and was letting it fly. Although he was 1 of 7 from three, and 1 of 10 from the field, NAW showed brazen confidence and slick left handed passes.
The Pellies are DEEP. Alvin Gentry rolled out 12 players that all played at least 12 minutes.
Nicolo Melli hit 4 threes!

Raptors Notes:

He took a while to get going, but once he did, Pascal Siakam looked like the same Spicy P that dropped 30 in Game 1 of The Finals. Siakam finished with 34 points and 18 boards but fouled out before the end of regulation.
Fred VanVleet also kept his scorching hot shooting from last year’s playoffs, knocking down 5 of 7 threes, en route to 34 points of his own.
Kyle Lowry did not look like Skinny Kyle Lowry. More like Semi-Thicc Kyle Lowry fresh off a championship hangover.
The polar opposite of Gentry, Nick Nurse played only 8 players. It’s a long season, bud. Perhaps this already shows us a slight hint that Toronto is trying to run it back?

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Lakers (0-0) “at” Clippers (0-0)

We missed the beginning of this one thanks to OT in the first game. We jumped in about six minutes into the 1st, the Lakers had an early lead and looked in command with Kawhi on the bench. Then Kawhi came back in and went full Terminator mode. He got to his spots and there was no doubt that his jumpers were hitting the bottom of the net, 7 of 9 from the field in the 2nd quarter, including 7 straight.

Clippers 112, Lakers 102.

Clippers Notes:

Moe Harkless was everywhere. Snatching steals and dunking dunks.
Pat Bev was his usual bull dog self. The enforcer. The spirit. Menacing.
Lou Will got fuckin’ buckets. Some sweet floaters. Some slick jumpers while moving to his left. The 2-man game with Trez was there, too.
Speaking of Trez, he feasted on mismatches. Jared Dudley? We don’t think so!
JaMychal Green drained 4 wide open threes from the corner that were huge momentum swings.
Zubac was a force in the 10 minutes he played. 4 of 4 from the field.
The Clippers D looked legit. Just like we all thought.
OUT: No PG but he was rocking a killer outfit. A bow tie with a gold chain bow tie below the real one.

Lakers Notes:

LeBron and AD were solid in the first half, but they lost steam in the 2nd. LeBron had the power dunk of the night on a fast break, his usual Bron Hammer. LeBron also had a fantastic chase down block on Landry Shamet.
Danny Green was on fire. Seriously, he had his Finals flamethrower out. 7 of 9 on threes! 28 points. He even hit a step-back and had a nice drive/slide to the hoop.
KCP in 27 minutes: 0 Points, 5 fouls and 3 rebounds. Gross. Melo was trending on Twitter.
Dwight did not do much. He mostly fouled and complained.
A lot of Quinn Cook and it was not good. Missed open threes. Random pull-up jumpers.
OUT: No Kuzma or Rondo. The Lakers bench was outscored 19 to 60.

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It’s so great to be back. We love this game!