MySports Today

It’s still early in the young 2008-9 NBA season, but 3 teams have emerged as the cream of the crop so far:

Boston Celtics – the 2007-8 defending champs – it doesn’t look like anyone has gotten complacent in Beantown. The Celtics are 22-2 so far, going 13-1 at home and 9-1 on the road. The Celtics are still led by Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. The Celtics play tenacious “D”, which they will need on a west-coast road trip later this month – where they will play at the Lakers and at upstart Portland. The Celtics also have a tough game on the road at the surprising Hawks.

Los Angeles Lakers – lost to the Celtics in 5 games in the 2007-8 NBA Finals. The Lakers are 19-3 with a 12-1 home record. The Lakers are also led by a trio of elite players – Kobe Bryant, Pao Gasol and Andrew Bynum. With only 7 games left in December, the Lakers only have 2 tough contests – at New Orleans where the Hornets are starting to regain their amazing 2007-8 form and at home against the Celtics.

Cleveland Cavaliers – Lebron, Lebron, Lebron. He makes everyone on that team so much better. The Cavs are 20-4 overall and a perfect 13-0 at home. The Cavs’ 7 remaining December games are fairly easy – with 3 potential stumbling blocks along the way. Home against the Rockets and a home and home series against the Heat to end the month where Dwayne Wade could pull off an upset all by himself.

Here’s to enjoying watching these 3 top teams the rest of the way – get ready for another Celtics – Lakers NBA Finals…

Lebron James was in New York City Tuesday as his Cavaliers took on, and easily dismantled, the “new-look” New York Knicks 119-101. The Cavs led the Knicks 34-22 after 12 minutes, and then poured it on in the 2nd quarter with 33 points while holding the Knicks to only 14 points. The halftime result – Cavs 67, Knicks 36. Ouch.

In 3 quarters, Lebron made a big impact and statement – he scored 26 points and grabbed 4 rebounds in 30 minutes of play. The rest of his team did the rest, as the Cavaliers had 7 different players score in double-digits. Zydrunas Ilgauskas led the team with 10 rebounds, while Mo Williams grabbed 6 boards, dished out 6 assists and had 3 steals on defense.

The bigger story was what the Knicks did at the end of last week in order to get ready for the Free Agent Class of 2010 – headed by Lebron himself. The Knicks traded away 3 players last week, including their top 2 scorers Zach Randolph and Jamal Crawford, in order to acquire players whose contracts are expiring before the 2010 class hits the free agent market. The Knicks hope to lure Lebron from his midwest home in Cleveland to the big apple spotlight at the world’s most famous venue – Madison Square Garden. The Garden fans cheered his name loudly during pre-game warm-ups, even starting a chant of “Two More Years”. Music mogul Jay-Z, a good friend of Lebron’s and part-owner of the tri-state rival New Jersey Nets was also in attendance at the Garden. Knicks management and fans hope that they will be able to out-maneuver Jay-Z so that he doesn’t end up with the Nets in 2 years. And while James continues to say that he wants to play for an NBA Champion, where he ends up will likely come down to dollars. Asked if he would take less than a “max-NBA contract” to make sure he was surrounded with good players on his next team, he quickly answered “Now, I never said that.” So get your purse strings ready – some team is going to be showing Lebron the money very soon.

As for the Knicks – David Lee put in another solid night with 12 points and 13 rebounds; Stephon Marbury still refuses to play and was inactive; Al Harrington scored 13 points and grabbed 9 rebounds in his Knicks debut; Tim Thomas scored 16 points and grabbed 6 rebounds in his Knicks debut; newly acquired Cuttino Mobley did not play for the Knicks because medical issues.

In a 20-minute ceremony before the Celtics opened up the 2008-9 NBA season against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the 2007-8 Celtics Championship team was honored as the 17th NBA Championship Banner was raised to the rafters of the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston. The emotional ceremony actually brought NBA Championship Series MVP Paul Pierce to tears as he accepted the championship trophy from Celtics’ Hall of Fame legend John Havlicek on behalf of his teammates. Pierce was the captain and longest-tenured member of the team, and helped lead the players in the hoisting of the banner to the rafters.

After the pre-game spectacle, the two teams got down to business, although it was all Cavs early on. The Cavs rode LeBron James’ team-high 22 points to build a 50-43 halftime lead. During halftime, the Celtics were finally able to forgot about the pre-game ceremony and face the task at-hand. The Celtics outscored the Cavs 24-13 in the 3rd quarter (11 points from Pierce) and then finished off the job with a 1-point advantage in the final quarter to win 90-85. Paul Pierce was the man once again – 27 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists. Kevin Garnett added 11 points and 6 rebounds, while Rajon Rondo added 14 points and 6 assists. Ray Allen played the most minutes of any Celtics player (just under 41 minutes), but he did not have a great game – 8 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and an uncharacteristic 4 turnovers. Off the bench, Celtics Head Coach Doc Rivers got quality minutes from Leonard Powe (13 points and 2 rebounds) and Tony Allen (11 points and 3 rebounds). For the Cavs, Zydrunas Ilgauskas contributed 15 points and 8 rebounds, while newcomer Mo Williams added 12 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists in his Cavs debut.

Next up for the Celtics – another home game against the Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls on Friday October 31st. The Bulls defeated the Bucks 108-95 in their home opener on Tuesday night with strong performances from #1 overall pick Derrick Rose (11 points, 9 assists), Luol Deng (21 points) and Tyrus Thomas (15 points, 10 rebounds).

As for local celebrities, Red Sox players Mike Lowell and Kevin Youkilis were in attendance to cheer on the Celtics Championship team, as were Red Sox Owner John Henry and Red Sox President Larry Lucchino. Those guys know something about Championships having won World Series titles in 2004 (all but Lowell) and 2007.