The Wild NBA Season Has (Finally) Begun!

After a very long wait, the 2011-12 NBA season has finally started. The Mavericks raised their (incredibly ugly) championship banner to the rafters of the American Airlines Center and then proceeded to immediately play like shit against the Miami Heat.


Before that game, the New York Knicks fought an unexpectedly close game against the Boston Celtics and defeat the Celts for the first time in 9 games.


The Lakers and Bulls had a very close game, with the game being decided by questionable refereeing and a spectacular layup by Derrick Rose, followed by Kobe getting his game-winning shot blocked by Luol Deng.


The Orlando Magic also played terribly, especially Dwight Howard who clearly was not one with team chemistry, losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder.


To close out opening day, the Clippers beat the Warriors in the debut of "Lob Angeles"


And then Day 2 happened. The Mavericks again played like absolute shit, getting blown out by the Denver Nuggets. The Lakers were defeated by the Sacramento Kings in a game that was never close. The Chicago Bulls also stank it up against the Warriors, getting absolutely embarrassed.


Some other notable results:

• The New Jersey Nets looked strong against the Washington Wizards, especially Kris Humphries who quickly quieted the crowd that initially booed him
• Kemba Walker looked fantastic in his debut with the Charlotte Bobcats, leading them to a 1 point victory over the Bucks
• Dwight Howard played better, but the real star of the Magic's second game was Hedo Turkoglu
• Kyrie Irving, the #1 overall draft pick was absolutely terrible in his professional debut with the Cleveland Cavaliers, scoring only 6 points
• The Thunder fought a close game against the Timberwolves, winning by 4 points
• The Spurs got revenge on the Memphis Grizzlies, beating them by 13 points
• The new-look Hornets defeated the Suns by 1 point at Phoenix
• The Blazers and 76ers played a very close game that came down to the final seconds, but the Blazers won by 4

After 2 days of basketball, it's pretty clear that this will be one of the most unpredictable seasons of basketball yet. The teams that were good last year have been terrible while the teams that were bad last year have been excellent.

So far, the best performing teams in the league are the Miami Heat, the Los Angeles Clippers, and the Oklahoma City Thunder. In a lockout shortened season that will feature as many as 5 games a week for some teams, it may be the dawning of a new era in basketball.

The Dallas Mavericks are unquestionably the worst team in the league right now and there is speculation that they might not even make the playoffs. Right now, the Lakers got the last laugh out of that Lamar Odom trade. The Mavericks are on pace to become one of the worst performing NBA champions, ironically, on par with the Miami Heat from a few years ago.

Of course, in a season that is shortened to a ridiculous amount, there is always a surprise waiting.