Here we are, the first game of the new NBA season! This whole “starting the season 10 days early” thing is legitimately a good idea, but it’s so odd to see the season starting so soon.
In any event, hilariously enough, the Knicks get to face their former teammate, Carmelo Anthony, for the first time since they traded him…in the first game of the season!! Timing can be such an odd thing.
Honestly, in a lot of ways, the thing that I’m most fearful for tonight is that a Knick injures himself. We’ve already seen Gordon Hayward and Jeremy Lin, two of the more fun players in the NBA, both suffer season-ending (and in Lin’s case, possibly career-ending) injuries in their team’s first games, so hopefully the Knicks are all wrapped in bubble wrap tonight. No severe injuries, fellas!
It will be nice to not be too bummed about losses, as the top picks of the draft are so good that having a really bad team this season could be very useful to the future of this team, but hey, if they surprise some folks, I don’t mind that, either. The issue isn’t about actively trying to lose, it’s about setting the team up for the future and if Ntilinka shows up and is awesome and Porzingis and Hernangomez take big strides, that’s a GOOD thing and it will be well worth a drop in the draft spot, even with such awesome top guys at the top of the draft in 2018.
With that in mind, then, I can say, with all honesty, let’s go Knicks!
Knicks will start:
Sessions PG
Hardaway Jr. SG
Lee SF
Porzingis PF
Kanter C
Thunder will start:
Westbrook PG
Roberson SG
George SF
Melo PF
Adams C