Start Of The NBA Regular Season

Yesterday, October 27, the 2015-2016 NBA regular season began. To start the season, only six teams were scheduled to play. The games scheduled were the Chicago Bulls vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Atlanta Hawks vs. the Detroit Pistons, and the Golden State Warriors vs. the New Orleans Pelicans.
At 7:00 pm Central Time, the Chicago Bulls faced off against the Cleveland Cavaliers, in a match up that many believe could possibly be the two teams battling for the Eastern Conference Championship. The game was played at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois and was televised nationally on TNT. Many were in attendance to witness an exciting game to kickoff the season along with the President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, who was hoping for the Bulls to put on a show, and come out on top against last year's Eastern Conference Champs. Both teams' starters looked a lot different from the last time they were seen, as Kevin Love made a return for the Cavs after being injured before the Finals last year and Chicago changed both its starting lineup and its head coach. After a disappointing exit from the playoffs last year against this Cleveland team, the Bulls fired head coach Tom Thibodeau, who had been the head coach in Chicago since 2010. They decided to replace him with the then head coach of the Iowa State Cyclones, Fred Hoiberg. Chicago also decided to make major changes to its starting lineup, with Tony Snell making an appearance as a starter, and Joakim Noah deciding to come off the bench instead of well-known scorer Nikola Mirotic. Throughout the majority of the game, Chicago led the Cavs, who played sub-par for most of the game. However, as each quarter progressed, Cleveland slowly clawed away at the Bulls' lead until they eventually tied the game at 71 all off of a three-pointer by Cavs point guard Mo Williams. As soon as the Bulls saw the fire in the eyes of the Cavaliers, they knew they would have to step up their game. After the game was tied, the Bulls went on a quick 6-0 run to gain some separation, but with each run the Bulls made, the Cavs kept fighting their way back. With just over a minute left to play in the final quarter, Kevin Love drilled a three-point bomb to bring the game to 95-97 in favor of the Bulls. Chicago knew if they could drain some clock and make a basket, the game would be over. Unfortunately for the home team, Derrick Rose could not hit a 20-foot jumper with 10 seconds to go after a frantic play in which Hoiberg neglected to call a timeout to settle his team. On the final possession of the game, the Cavs decided to give the ball to the player most believe to be the best in the NBA, LeBron James. With just three seconds left to play LeBron took the ball all the way to the paint for a layup, but was blocked by Bulls' power forward Pau Gasol, who had been struggling throughout the majority of the game, but came up big when his team needed him most. Fortunately for the Cavs, the ball went out of bounds, and they would have one more chance to score a basket with three seconds left, which does not seem like a lot of time, but can actually be like an eternity for a defense to hold off a basket. On the final play of the game, Mo Williams took the ball out of bounds and threw it to LeBron, but Jimmy Butler, known for his defense, tipped the pass and batted it away from LeBron and the Cavs to end the game in exciting fashion.
The Atlanta Hawks and the Detroit Pistons also played at 7:00 pm Central Time. The game was not televised nationally, but it was played in Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. The Pistons led the game most of the way, outscoring the Hawks in both the second and third quarter. The best performers for each team were Dennis Schroder for the Hawks who scored 20 points, grabbed 3 rebounds, 4 assists, and was a thief stealing the ball twice from his opponent, for the Pistons, Andre Drummond came up big with 18 points, 19 huge rebounds, 3 assists, a steal, and two big blocks for his team. In the end, the home fans went home disappointed as Detroit came out on top 106-94.
The third, and final, game of the night featured the Defending Champions, the Golden State Warriors, as they went to battle against the New Orleans Pelicans. The game was nationally televised on TNT, and tipped off around 9:30. To begin the night, the fans in Oracle Arena got to witness their team's ring ceremony as each player and coaching staff member as well as the general managers of the Warriors received their Championship Rings after a hard fought series against the Cavs in the 2015 NBA Finals. They also saw the team finally reveal another championship banner, the first since 1975. A tribute video to the team and the hometown Oakland fans was shown as well to celebrate the spectacular season Golden State was able to put together last year. While most players don't perform as well the night they receive their championship ring, that was not the case for last year's MVP Stephen Curry. Curry exploded for 25 points in the first quarter alone, finishing the night with a total of 40 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals in just 36 minutes. It was just an incredible performance for Steph that just summarized what he was able to accomplish in last year's dream season for the Warriors. His efforts ended up leading his team to a nice 111-95 victory for his team over his fellow NBA 2K16 cover athlete Anthony Davis' Pelicans.
Overall, these were three great games to kick off the start to a brand new NBA season. I am super excited to see what this upcoming season has in store for all of the fans. It will be nice to see how all of the free agents affect their new teams, and which teams will play well enough to make it to the playoffs for a chance at the NBA Finals.