NBA Nitecap Blog: Night of Rivals

Kobe Bryant doesn't like being elbowed by Dwight Howard. Photo credit: NY Daily News

For my first installment of NBA Nitecap, a daily blog about the NBA, we begin exactly where we left off...San Antonio, Texas.

by +Rodney Fisher

Spurs vs Mavs Still Special

The 2014-15 NBA Season tipped off with the San Antonio Spurs home opener against their rival Dallas Mavericks. The Spurs, without Kawhi Leonard, looked just as good as they did winning the championship last year. The only change was seeing the new "Sean Connery look" that Coach Pop is sporting these days. His candor with the media remains the same.

Both teams look very good and will be formidable opponents for any team in the NBA. Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker look as good as ever. The game was high drama, coming down to a last second miss from Chandler Parsons. It was weird for a Mavs fan, like myself, to watch Dirk pass the ball in a last shot situation like that. But if we are to believe what the Mavs believe that Parsons is the future, then we better get used to it.

Oh yeah, the Spurs got their rings too...

The Brow and The Big Man

All the preseason talk about Anthony Davis having a breakout year has me intrigued. Tonight, him and newcomer Omer Asik put up worldly numbers against the Orlando Magic. Davis: 26pts, 17 boards, and 9 blocks. Asik: 14pts, 17 boards, 5 blocks.

So much for the debut of Elfrid Payton, only 4pts in 30 minutes...

Long Season in LA

We all knew that the Lakers would be a long shot to even make the playoffs, but we believed in the Power of the Black Mamba. We forgot just how bad his supporting cast was. I completely forgot that this would be the first time Dwight Howard would face his old team with Kobe Bryant on the court and I must admit, watching the two bark at each other in the second half was great.

The Rockets looked good, even Jason Terry turned back the clock hitting three-pointers and taking off on the runway. James Harden was 7-17 from the field, but finished with 32pts by hitting 3 of 6 from the three-point line and 15-16 from the free throw line.

Another preseason prediction I will have to can is Julius Randle winning ROY. He broke his leg in his first game and miss the most of the season, if not all of it.The season will be long for the Lakers...

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