MThe NBA just posted a full Friday card and it starts with a monster in Boston.
LKnicks at Celtics. Both teams oh-and-one. That's a home opener with real teeth.
MThe league's own account is hyping 12 games and 24 teams, and the numbers from night one are already ridiculous.
LGiannis drops 35 in his Miami debut. Anthony Edwards drops 45 with nine threes.
MTy Jerome went for 45. Paolo Banchero put up 35 and 10. Opening night was a fever dream.
LIt's one thing to have a hot night. It's another to need a win on night two. That's Boston and New York.
MNeed? It's October twenty-third. Nobody needs anything yet.
LBoston just lost to Detroit. At Detroit. You cannot go oh-and-two at home with that roster.
MWhy not? The Knicks lost their ring night to Philly. If anyone is feeling heat, it's the defending champs.
LOh, come on. The champs can absorb an oh-and-two start. Boston can't. This is their whole identity.
MTheir identity? One loss, after one game, and you're questioning their identity?
LThey added Paul George and Robinson, brought back Tatum, and lost to a Detroit team that's rebuilding. Yes, I'm questioning it.
MA Detroit team that won. That's the NBA now. There are no easy road games.
LThen tonight is a measuring stick. If Boston loses at home to the Knicks, you can't tell me that's fine.
MIt wouldn't be fine. But I'm not putting a season on it.
LI am. Because I think Boston's window is now. An oh-and-two start with that talent is a red flag.
MYou want to talk red flags? Mitchell Robinson said he played like trash after the opener. That's a guy who knows.
LHe did play like trash. They brought him in to protect the rim, and Detroit scored 121.
MSo the fix is in-house. That's better than panicking after one game.
LI'm not panicking. I'm setting a standard. Championship teams don't lose home openers to their biggest rival.
MThe Knicks just lost their home opener on ring night. Championship teams do lose home openers. The champs literally just did.
LOkay, fine. But that was ring night, emotion, banners. Boston has none of that excuse.
MSo now the champs get an excuse and the challenger doesn't? That's backwards.
LI'm not giving them an excuse. I'm saying tonight, Boston has more to prove.
MI'll meet you halfway: both teams need this game for different reasons. But the pressure is on the champs to prove last year wasn't a one-off.
LAnd I say the pressure is on Boston to prove they're actually built for a title. So we'll watch the same game and see two different seasons.
MExactly. That's why it's the best matchup of the night.
LAnd you thought I was burying Boston.
MI still think you were. But I like the fight.
LWhile the NBA is tipping off, the WNBA might have already started its Finals. But hold on.
MI don't like that "might."
LA post from Don Stefan says Golden State beat Atlanta 68-64 in Game One, Gabby Williams with 26.
MThat's a first-year Valkyries team in the Finals, winning Game One? That would be enormous.
LIt would be. The account is listing it as one of the seven biggest sports events of the last day, with fire emojis and everything.
MFire emojis are not a box score. Is there any official word?
LNot yet. No league post, no final, no reporters. Just this account.
MThen we call it a rumor. A fun one, but a rumor.
LIf it holds, the Valkyries are one-nil, and Gabby Williams is the story.
MWilliams with 26, if that post holds up. That's a closer's line.
LYou're already writing the headline.
MI'm not writing anything until the league confirms it. But I'll say this: an expansion team pushing Atlanta in the Finals is good for the WNBA.
LIt's great for the league. New market, new star, first finals. TV loves it.
MSo now you're a TV executive?
LNo, but I know a good story when I see one.
MA good story needs facts. We'll wait for the final horn.
LFair. For now, the NBA is real, it's tonight, and I'm taking Boston by six.
MYou're picking Boston? After all that?
LI said they had more pressure. I didn't say they'd lose.
MNow you're just messing with me.
LKnicks by four. Flip a coin.
MThere it is. No conviction.
LI have conviction: this is the best opening week in years.
MCan't argue that.