The Stankoniforous Files

The hype surrounding this game was stratospheric.  Unfortunately the commentators and casual fans are already sounding the death knell.  There are 82 games and this was just the first one. Let's get to what we learned.

• LBJ is still a force to be reckoned with. Whether or not you agreed with Lebronapalooza, the man can still ball. [ll] 
• D3 will need about 2-3 weeks to get his basketball legs back. He's probably at about 85-90% which is still top 10 but he just didn't have that extra that we know him to have. 
• The Celtics have a plethora of bigs and bodies to throw at anyone.  If they don't make it to the Finals, it'll be their own fault.
• The Heat don't have a legitimate big, and that might be a problem later in the season. 
• The Heat need their shooters to get healthy.  Mike Miller would have knocked down some of those open looks.
• The Heat still need to figure out their rotation.  They are still figuring out who can play with whom.

Unfortunately for the NBA, we already saw 2 of a handful of teams most people want to see. The others would be the Lakers, the Thunder, and the Bulls. 

The Lakers-Heat game ended exactly as it should have, with Black Mamba takin the shot that would win the game or lose the game. I won't ruin for anyone go check for yourselves.

DWade and Kobe were goin hard at each other. It was tight most of the game, with the largest lead for either team about 6-8 points. That's a game I can get into.

A few observations from the game:

B-Easy, you need to slow down son. You try to do too much at once.

Mario Chalmers has a great future in this league.

The Lake Show has an insanely deep bench.

Phil Jackson needs his beard back.

Andrew Bynum needs to work on his defense so he can stay on the floor. If he is necessary to the Lakers gettin to the chip, his defensive prowess will have to quantum leap like Scott Bakula.

Fish can still wet treys even in his 13th year.

The L is startin to make more travelling calls, which is fantastic and sad all at the same time.

The Heat offense literally runs through DWade, and that's not good.

The Lake Show doesn't NOT need Kobe to be on to win, and that's scary.

Matrix looks lost in the Heat offense. He needs the Suns (and by extension Steve Nash) more than he thought he did. That offense was perfectly tailored to Matrix' strengths. When was the last time you heard Trix name throwin around on ESPN, NBA pre-game, etc. etc.? EXACTLY! He essentially just rebounds and runs the floor now.