Our five-star review takes a look at the night in the NBA and lets you know what you missed and how good...or not, it was.
UNDEFEATED : The Houston Rockets, who topped CBSSports.com's Matt Moore's first power rankings of the season on Monday, are now 4-0. No, it wasn't a particularly impressive 11-point win -- the lowly Philadelphia 76ers actually had a brief lead in the third quarter and were within five points a few minutes into the fourth -- but you have to be impressed with Houston's start overall. Vegas had Kevin McHale pegged as the coach most likely to be fired first this season, but the (extremely) early returns indicate that he should be safe. James Harden is a monster, Dwight Howard is leading an improved defense and offseason additions Trevor Ariza and Kostas Papanikolaou look more than comfortable.
Ariza had 24 points, six rebounds and seven assists (!) against Philly, making six of his nine three-point attempts. Backup point guard Isaiah Canaan filled in for the injured Patrick Beverley just fine. Of course, the Rockets' schedule is about to get about a trillion times tougher: they face the Heat, Spurs and Warriors this week.
The Memphis Grizzlies also remained unbeaten, beating the New Orleans Pelicans 93-81. That defense is as stifling as ever, as they held the Pellies to 33.7-percent shooting. This was an ugly affair, but the Grizz got contributions across the board.
New Orleans' Ryan Anderson and Omer Asik combined to shoot 3-for-21 in Memphis. Yiiiiikes.
LINE OF THE NIGHT -- JAMES HARDEN : The man scored 35 points on 18 shots. And, you guessed it, almost half of that was free throws. Harden shot 17-for-18 at the stripe, and with nine rebounds, five assists, one block, one steal and 4-for-8 shooting from behind the 3-point line, this was an easy call.
NO-EL : Harden did the "walk the dog" thing up the court before trying to go one-on-one for the last shot of the third quarter. Sixers rookie Nerlens Noel was waiting, though, and you can already guess how this ended:
That last angle? Damn. Do not challenge that man. That 20-year-old, hi-topped man. Noel had 10 points, five assists and six steals, by the way.
PUTBACK YAM OF THE NIGHT : Good grief, Anthony Davis:
I have interviewed this man before, but I still have trouble believing he is a real earthly being.
VINO : Vince Carter, or "Half-Man, Half-Amazing, and All-Grizzly," as Memphis play-by-play guy Pete Pranica put it, gave the Pellies a vintage layup:
THOSE SUNGLASSES, THO : Fabolous announced the Nets' starting lineup for some reason. He wore sunglasses. He read from cue cards. He hesitated before getting to Bojan Bogdanovic, but pronounced it correctly.
TWEET OF THE NIGHT : Now, this is just good reporting.
THAT'S AN NBA TEAM? Jay-Z and Beyonce were in their customary courtside seats at Barclays, and we can only assume that they're marveling at an Oklahoma City lineup here:
By the way, Thunder swingman Andre Roberson had to leave the game near the end of the first quarter because of a sprained left foot. OKC started Sebastian Telfair and Reggie Jackson in the backcourt in the second half. I wish I was making this up. Blerg.
WHEN NICK COLLISON IS YOUR BEST OFFENSIVE OPTION : Sad face. All of the sad faces. Brooklyn won this game 116-85.
PLUMDUNKOVIC : First, Mason Plumlee can pass:
Second, he can finish:
Bogdanovic is not Paul Pierce, but he's pretty fun. That pass!
PELICAN'T : Tyreke Evans had a nice steal, and then he had a whoopsie:
MAHCUS SMAH : Boston Celtics rookie Marcus Smart is a treat to watch. Yeah, his jumper's shaky, but he defends like a maniac and he does stuff like this:
It's better if you watch it loop a few times.
THE CELTICS WILL NOT DIE : Boston was outscored by the Dallas Mavericks 40-19 in the first quarter, and then roared back and lost by just five points. I'm not sure how this happened against a title contender, but it's possible Brad Stevens is a sorcerer. Also, there was the small fact that Jeff Green and Avery Bradley erupted for 35 and 32 points, respectively. No Celtics duo had scored 30 apiece since Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo in 2009, per Boston play-by-play guy Sean Grande.
In its season opener, Boston looked surprisingly feisty and dominated the Brooklyn Nets. Then the Celtics were a mess against the Houston Rockets. In Dallas, we saw Jekyll and Hyde in the same game. Here's the rather nutty Gametracker:
ALLEY-OOP YAM OF THE NIGHT : DeAndre Jordan treated 7-foot-2 Rudy Gobert like 6-foot-3 Brandon Knight:
You can't fault Gobert for trying, but yeeeesh. What a pretty play and violent finish.
CP3x10 : Trip dub alert! Chris Paul finished with 13 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds in the Clippers' 107-101 victory over the Jazz. This is his first triple-double as a Clipper, and the first in the NBA this year.
#FREEDREGGIEBULLOCK : Clippers head coach Doc Rivers let second-year swingman Reggie Bullock out of the doghouse, and he delivered. In 18 minutes, he hit four 3s. It seemed strange that he couldn't get on the floor in the team's previous three games.
GRIFFINCREDIBLE : Blake Griffin continues to look the part of an MVP candidate, as he had 31 points on 14-for-21 shooting, plus nine rebounds and four assists. No member of Utah's frontcourt could handle him.
BOOK IT : Jazz head coach Quin Snyder has Trevor Booker shooting 3s now, and he made two of his three attempts. On the season, the power forward is 5-for-10 from behind the arc. Before this season, he was 1-for-10 in his career.
ARE THE KINGS FOR REAL? : On a back to back in Denver, earned a 110-105 win. They're now 3-1, with victories over the Clippers and Blazers. Not quite buying that this is sustainable yet, but they should definitely have our attention.
Darren Collison had 21 points on 5-for-9 shooting, six assists and four rebounds. Ty Lawson had nine points on 1-for-8 shooting, 12 assists and two rebounds. Just putting that out there.
McLeMORE : Dude almost banged his head on the rim, and the degree of difficulty here was high because of Kenneth Faried chasing after him: