The NBA begins another season with three matchups on opening night. Some highlights from around the courts:
NO KOBE: The Lakers opened a season without Kobe Bryant on the floor for the first time since 2006.
Bryant is still recovering from surgery on his torn Achilles tendon last April. Coach Mike D'Antoni doesn't know whether Kobe will be tweeting during games, as he did occasionally last year, but is confident he's doing everything possible to return.
"We want to get him back as soon as we can, so he's really concentrating on that," D'Antoni said. "He talks to the guys on the side. He'll take Nick (Young) to the side, and I'll see him talking to different guys. He'll be there. We touch base all the time, and I'll get his opinion."
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DOC'S DEBUT: Doc Rivers' first regular-season appearance on the Los Angeles Clippers' bench was a road game, only not really.
The Lakers were the designated home team at Staples Center on Tuesday night, and Rivers is still getting used to the quirk of sharing a building with a rival.
"I've never had one of these where the road game is where you play your home games," Rivers said. "Actually it's really cool, but it's different."
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LET THE BANNERS FLY: Doc Rivers made preseason headlines when he directed the Clippers to cover up the Lakers' championship banners with larger-than-life portraits of his players during Clippers home games.
Since the Lakers were the home team in Tuesday's opener, the banners were hanging unobstructed on the Staples Center wall. Rivers took the opportunity to make it clear he meant no disrespect to the 16-time champions down the hallway.
"I didn't do that because, 'Man, I don't like the Lakers,'" Rivers said. "That was no intent at all, and I've said that 100 times. That was about, 'We're the Clippers, and when we play in our arena, it should be our arena.' It's just like thousands of other arenas around the country where two teams share."
But the longtime Celtics coach slightly wavered from that description a moment later.
"That 2010 banner, I've got to say I don't like seeing," Rivers said of the banner celebrating the Lakers' last win over Boston in the NBA finals. "I can 'fess up to that part."
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QUESTIONS, ANYONE?: Coach Mike D'Antoni is just as eager as the Lakers' fans to see what his team looks like this season.
"We've got about, I would say, seven or eight question marks," D'Antoni said. "You hit on five of them, you'll have a really good season."
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SHAWNE'S TURN: Forward Shawne Williams was the Lakers' starting power forward for the season opener.
The well-traveled former first-round pick is on his fifth NBA team after playing in China last season. D'Antoni is excited about Williams' potential — and the Lakers don't have anybody better to take the starting spots vacated by Dwight Howard and Metta World Peace.
"He fits in exactly with what we want to try to do, in the sense of spacing the floor, giving Steve Nash and Pau a lot more room to operate," D'Antoni said. "He makes 3's. I've coached him for a year (in New York). I can trust him. I know what he's going to do defensively. He's going to battle."
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HOME COOKING: Paul George and Roy Hibbert picked up where they left off last season leading Indiana to a 97-87 win over Orlando. The two-man tandem looked every bit as dominant in the season opener as they did leading the Pacers to the Eastern Conference finals last season.
George's buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter gave Indiana a 69-64 lead and sparked the decisive 17-4 run to open the fourth.
Hibbert nearly matched his career-high for rebounds (17) in the first half. He had eight points but left the game midway through the fourth quarter after injuring his knee in a spill underneath his own basket. Team officials said it was not serious and he could have returned.
But it was George's 3 that provided the spark Indiana needed to seize control.
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NO MORE DELAYS: LeBron James knew it was coming.
He threw an alley-oop lob to Chris Andersen with 20.7 seconds left in the first half, and the ball sort of caromed back to him after the play. As decades of instinct told him to do, he grabbed it.
That's a no-no this season.
James was whistled for delay of game, a point of emphasis for the league this season in an effort to speed up play. James had a resigned look on his face, knowing the call was coming.
A look at the scoreboard probably put him in a better mood: The Heat led 54-33 at halftime.
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GETTING IT GOING: Miami got rolling in the second quarter using a 17-0 run to open up a 21-point lead. Chicago struggled from the field with Derrick Rose, who was playing his first real game — not counting preseason exhibitions — since a knee injury derailed him in April 2012, looking rusty. He missed six of his first eight shots.
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ROUGH START: Maybe they were blinded by the rings which weighed nearly 5 ounces each and included 242 round-cut diamonds, 1½ carats of custom baguette-cut diamonds, and three black onyx stones totaling 10.3 carats, but Miami and Chicago got off to a slow start. The Heat lead 17-15 after one quarter as neither team could find much rhythm on offense.
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PRESIDENTIAL TWEET: Pat Riley, the President of the Miami Heat, received his ninth NBA championship ring on Tuesday night.
Barack Obama, the President of the United States, was rooting for the other guys.
At 7:07 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, about an hour before tipoff, the following message — "Welcome back, @drose. (hashtag)BullsNation" — was posted to Obama's Twitter account.
Probably a good chance it'll get brought up when the Heat visit the White House sometime later this season in recognition of their 2013 NBA title. Obama makes no secret of the fact that he's a Bulls fan.
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CELEBRATION: Tuesday was a day for Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade to celebrate. There was a new banner for his team to raise, a third NBA championship team for his finger, and an 11th pro season for him to begin.
Oh, and there was birthday cake as well.
Wade's longtime girlfriend, actress Gabrielle Union, turned 41 on Tuesday night. And a few months ago, when Wade saw the schedule for the first time, his first thought was that "we can't lose on my lady's birthday."
How did he do on the birthday-present shopping front?
"Solid," Wade said. "What can you do? There really isn't much you can do. A couple nice gifts."
For the record, Wade will be working on his birthday this year as well. He turns 32 on Jan. 17, a night the Heat play in Philadelphia.
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RINGING IN THE NEW YEAR: Everybody got a ring in Miami on Tuesday night. Well, just about everybody.
While the Heat staff, coaches and players were getting their baubles to commemorate last season's NBA championship, even fans got a ring of sorts to go home with. One of the giveaway items for fans in Miami was a T-shirt with a ring emblazoned on the front, accompanied by the words "Strive for Greatness."
The shirts were presented by Nike, and the "Strive for Greatness" theme is one that LeBron James is using to coincide with his latest ad campaign for the shoe company.
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BIG BIRD: Larry Bird has been a larger-than-life personality in his home state.
On Tuesday night, fans got to see just how big. A statue of Bird, which will be dedicated at his alma mater, Indiana State, next weekend was on display inside the Bankers Life Fieldhouse for the Pacers' season opener.
The statue, which shows Bird in a shooting motion and an Indiana State uniform, stands 15-feet tall, and though Bird said he was "sort of embarrassed" by it, he was happy that it the statue is taller than Magic Johnson's on the Michigan State campus.
"It should be, c'mon," Bird said with a chuckle.
Pacers fans won't get to see it for long. The dedication of the statue is scheduled for Nov. 9, before the Sycamores face Ball State at Terre Haute, Ind.
Bankers Life Fieldhouse is one of the few newer NBA arenas that does not have any permanent statues, so when Bird, a former Pacers coach and the current president of basketball operations, was asked whether he would support putting one in for Reggie Miller, Bird was in favor.
"My feeling was always more along the lines of get your number retired and those sorts of things," Bird said. "But if they put one in, I would be the first one to see it."
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- Sports & Recreation
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- Doc Rivers
- Kobe Bryant
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