By Kevin Parker
Round Table Executive editor-in-chief
The Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets are rolling, Gilbert Arenas is scoring at will, and week two of the NBA season has provided heated high- and low scoring battles across the board.
From Denver’s 133-123 win over the Memphis Grizzlies (highlighted by Carmelo Anthony’s 42 points) to the Chicago Bulls’ thrilling 83-81 win over the Milwaukee Bucks (featuring an 18-point comeback by the victorious Bulls), week two took the positive momentum from the opening week and took it to another level.
Competition level is the highest I’ve seen in a long time. Here you have the Oklahoma City Thunder, perennial cellar-dwellers of the Northwest Conference, taking the NBA-Champion Los Angeles Lakers to overtime before losing a heart-breaker (Kobe Bryant proved to be too much for the Thunder defense).
The Detroit Pistons missed their two top players – the two remaining pieces from the championship team in 2004 – Tayshaun Prince and Richard Hamilton, and took beat an upgraded Orlando Magic team that went to the NBA Finals last season, 85-80. A three-guard lineup smothered Dwight Howard, forcing him to foul out in only 17 minutes of action.
Ben Gordon, Rodney Stuckey, and Will Bynum, the Detroit’s three small, speedy, high-scoring guards, combined for 63 points and stifled Vince Carter and Jameer Nelson on the defensive end of the floor.
New Orleans continues to struggle, and are going nowhere fast. Chris Paul has been lights out for the Hornets, but his team has let him down.
Even though he scored 32 points and dished out 15 assists against the lowly Knicks, the Hornets faltered late, allowing Al Harrington of the Knicks to take over with 13 points in the final quarter. Riding the momentum of a late 10-2 run, the Knicks won 117-111.
The most impressive win of the week had to be the Nuggets dismantling the New Jersey Nets with a 44 point third quarter. They took a 51-50 lead into halftime, but ended the third quarter with a 94-77 lead en route to a 122-100 win.
Carmelo Anthony, who shot 1-11 in the first half, scored 11 of his 22 points in the decisive third quarter, which was only 5 points shy of the most points the Nets have ever given up in the third quarter.
With the heated action of the second week of the NBA season, look for the action to get even better week three as players re-adjust to the NBA season and rookies begin to get their feet under them.