The NBA is back! With tip-off right around the corner, it’s time to get some money on the line! With some of the best teams in the league hitting the court in a doubleheader, we can’t wait to see how these games pan out. Starting us off, we have the Boston Celtics taking on the New York Knicks. The new in New York has never been so fitting for this team, as the roster has been turned upside down to build out what we believe is a championship-level team! Conversely, they’ll travel to the actual champs home court in Boston. Looking to show last year wasn’t a one-off, this Boston team will show us precisely what the New Knicks are made of!
For our second evening game, we’ll see the LA Lakers take on the Minnesota Timberwolves. Pitting two of the top dogs of the West off early. This will mark LeBron James' 21st season in the NBA, but he won’t be the only James on the court. We expect history to be made as father and son play on a NBA court together for the first time. Though, there will be one man there who will have no trouble raining on the James parade. Anthony Edwards! Edwards is back this year with a vengeance after falling short of the finals last year. This Minnesota team may look slightly different, but one thing is still the same. They’re hungry to provide they have what it takes to win it all!
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Now, this one may seem odd. Bridges has been a good perimeter shooter for some time now, averaging nearly 37% shooting on 6+ attempts a game. So why bet that he won’t make two threes against Boston? Well, there are a few good reasons.
The first is that he’s been changing his shooting form. The Knicks coaching staff have “reworked” Bridges shooting mechanics, and to say it hasn’t been going well would be an understatement. In preseason, he hit just two threes on 39 attempts. That could just be him shaking off the summer rust in those games, but those are concerning results. We’ll lean on this and assume he won’t find his shooting rhythm in the six days between his last pre-season game and their season opener.
The second reason we don’t think he’ll hit two threes is his role. For the last few years, he’s been alone in Brooklyn. They had no direction, and Bridges became the team's de facto number one option. He did well, shooting nearly 38%. However, we expect his role on the Knicks to decrease heavily, which is probably close to what it was on Phoenix. Where he was averaging around 1.8 made threes a game. Bridges probably won’t be a volume scorer with Brunson, and Karl Anthony Towns sharing the court. We expect Bridges to lay low offensively in this one.
We expect KAT to impact his new team significantly early on. As one of the few healthy big men on this roster, KAT will have many opportunities to fill the box score. Hitting the 35.5 mark shouldn’t be wild. He averaged nearly ten rebounds a game in preseason and around 20 points. That was with Thibs playing him short minutes as well. Surrounded by some of the best wings he’s ever played with, KAT will hopefully avoid early foul trouble. We think this line is a lock as long as KAT doesn’t get himself into early foul trouble.
Coming off their championship run, Tatum has proven himself as one of the best-scoring wings in the league. Though, this first matchup might be a struggle for him. The Knicks have one of the best teams to defend Boston. With OG and Bridges, they have two strong and long defender who can both bother Tatum. Good shots will be hard to come by, and we expect Boston to try to play through their guards more. Attacking a much better matchup against Brunson. As for Tatum, don’t expect a scoring symphony from the guy.
This might be a line to hammer. Since the trade, DiVincenzo has been on fire. He has been warming up on his new team, and his role is coming into picture as an off-the-bench sparkplug. The 27-year-old SG has been up and down as a scorer, but he finally put the pieces together in New York. Now, in Minnesota, expect him to get a healthy number of shots up when Anthony Edwards or Mike Conley hit the bench. Especially against a weak Lakers defense, DiVincenzo will be an essential piece to Minnesota’s offense!
We couldn’t leave the king himself off this list. With the season opener in LA, LeBron will be looking to put on a show. Coming into this season with a gold medal around his neck, and rested, LeBron should be his usual force on the court. With the team looking fairly similar to last year’s roster, we expect a large portion of the offense will still be on LeBron and AD. The ball will likely be in LeBron hands whenever he's one the court. If he's making his jump shots, this line is almost guaranteed to hit!