BBNBA: Anthony Davis, Tyrese Maxey drop NBA season-openers
Three Wildcats headlined NBA Opening Night but none were able to come away with the victory. In the Western Conference, Anthony Davis and Wenyen Gabriel of the Los Angeles Lakers fell to the 2022 NBA champion Golden State Warriors. In the East, Tyrese Maxey and the Philadelphia 76ers fell to last year’s Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics.
Maxey Starts and Leads Sixers in Minutes in Debut
Tyrese Maxey was the talk of the Philidelphia 76ers’ offseason. The general consensus around the league was that a Maxey breakout was imminent. Some NBA GMs went as far as to say that he’ll play a bigger role for the team than 10x NBA All-Star James Harden. It’s easy to forget that Maxey averaged a blistering 17.5 points per game last season, and he even broke that mark on Tuesday night.
Playing 36 minutes is a lot for any player, let alone in game one of the entire season. But that is exactly what head coach Doc Rivers asked of Maxey on Tuesday night in Boston. Not only did he lead the entire roster in minutes, but he also added a crisp 21 points on 50% shooting. Another great development for the guard is his lack of turnovers. While Harden handles most of the point, Maxey is asked to handle the ball a good amount. Even with this responsibility he only had a singular turnover.
Last night the Big 3 of Philly did show up, with Harden having 35 to go along with Embid’s 26 and 15 rebounds. The question remains: how do you lose with that performance? The answer is Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. The dynamic duo carried their success over from last season’s playoffs by scoring 35 points each. The final score was 126-117 in favor of Boston.
Check out this great video of Maxey and Brown mic’d up last night.
Lakers woes carry over from last year in loss to Golden State
Last year’s season for the Los Angeles Lakers was anything but good. Unless you’re a reporter on ESPN or in LA, the season was a complete train wreck. The team finished the season at 33-49 and missed the playoffs. While Anthony Davis only played 40 games, the team needed an overhaul. The franchise brought in Patrick Beverly to be the “DAWG” and vocal leader that will hold people accountable.
Welp, the accountability didn’t really do much as they dropped game one of the season to the Warriors by 14 points.
Despite the loss, Davis had a great 27 points and six rebounds. He looked like his old self on defense — ask North Carolina about it. But his problem revolved around the outside shot. Check out this tweet from Kirk Goldsberry to see what I mean.
If Anthony Davis can get back in that mid-range/post game he can up his efficiency by a decent amount. Wenyen Gabriel was able to get eight minutes for the Lakers but went 0-1 from the field, recording one rebound and one assist.
Statistics
| Player | Result | Points | FG (3PA) | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks | Turnovers | Minutes | Plus/Minus |
| Tyrese Maxey (PHI) | 126-117 L @ BOS | 21 | 8-16 (2-5) | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 38 | -6 |
| Anthony Davis (LAL) | 123-109 L @ GSW | 27 | 10-22 (0-3) | 6 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 35 | -21 |
| Wenyen Gabriel (LAL) | 123-109 L @ GSW | 0 | 0-1 (0-0) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
Tonight in the NBA
7:00 PM: Magic @ Pistons (Diallo, Knox, Noel)
7:00 PM: Wizards @ Pacers (Jackson)
7:30 PM: Rockets (Washington) @ Hawks
7:30 PM: Pelicans @ Nets
7:30 PM: Bulls @ Heat (Adebayo, Herro)
7:30 PM: Cavaliers @ Raptors
7:30 PM: Knicks (Quickley, Randle) @ Grizzlies
8:00 PM: Thunder @ Timberwolves (Towns)
8:00 PM: Hornets (Richards, Washington) @ Spurs (Johnson)
9:00 PM: Nuggets (Murray) @ Jazz (Vanderbilt)
10:00 PM: Mavericks @ Suns (Booker)
10:00 PM: Trail Blazers (Sarr, Sharpe) @ Kings (Fox, Lyles, Monk)
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