After months of waiting and several blockbuster trades, today finally arrived and it was a chance for six teams to start their long road to an NBA Championship.

Washington Wizards @ Cleveland Cavaliers

Final Score – Washington 84 (J Crawford 11) def by Cleveland 94 (Irving 29)

Both teams started out shooting lights out but once the game settled Cleveland took control off the excellent play of Kyrie Irving and Anderson Varejao.

The Wizards took the lead mid way through the 4th Q but Cleveland put their foot down and cruised to a 10 point victory.

Story of the night has to be Anderson Varejao and his stat line of 9 points, 9 assists and 23 rebounds. You read that right, 23 rebounds!!

Boston Celtics @ Miami Heat

Final Score – Boston 107 (Pierce 23, Rondo 20) def by Miami 120 (Wade 29, James 26)

There were so many stories on the go for this rivalry match-up and the game lived up to all the hype.

Miami received their 2012 Championship rings before tip off and new recruit Ray Allen was given a frosty reception by Kevin Garnett in pre game.

In a high scoring affair it was Miami that had all the answers with LeBron on fire early and Ray Allen knocking down everything.

Boston rallied to within 4 points with two minutes left but several brain fades cost them and Miami walked away with a satisfying victory over the old rivals.

Storyline of the night would have to be the awesome play of Miami but also the injury scare to LeBron. He left the game with leg cramps in the 3rd Q and only came back briefly before being pulled out of the game.

http://youtu.be/2fR-oaW2qg0

Dallas Mavericks @ Los Angeles Lakers

Final Score – Dallas 99 (Collison 17) def Lakers 91 (Gasol 23)

After going 0-8 in the pre season every Laker fan was coming out with “pre season doesn’t matter” but their poor play continued against an undermanned Dallas team.

Without Nowitzki and Kaman out it was expected that the Lakers bigs would walk all over Dallas and claim victory #1 of the Nash/Howard era.

Dallas had other plans and they outplayed the Lakers on both ends of the court. Nash was ineffective and Howard couldn’t put in a good performance after finishing 3-14 from the FT line.

In what has to have alarm bells ringing, the Lakers must sort out their offense quickly or they might become the laughing stock of the NBA.

One upside is Kobe shot 11-14 from the field but it wasn’t enough as his teammates couldn’t match his efficiency.

Storyline of the night has to be the great team play of the Mavericks, led by Collison and backed up well by Vince Carter, Brandon Wright and OJ Mayo.

http://youtu.be/msgdbvuG3aU

What did everyone think of Opening Day? Will the Lakers be able to bounce back from this and will Miami go back to back this season?

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