Winners and losers from NBA's Opening Night

After halftime, it was all Jokic. Davis went scoreless in the second half, while the two-time MVP put the clamps on him defensively as Denver won, 119-107. 

Rivalries

For a league where star players change teams regularly and players seem to be great friends off the court, with loyalties determined by sports agencies more than the actual teams, it's refreshing to see teams that seem to genuinely not like each other.

The Lakers don't like how the Nuggets talked after beating them last May. The Nuggets don't like that the media talked about the Lakers even while the Nuggets were sweeping them. The Warriors squabbled with the Suns while Phoenix had Chris Paul, and now that they have CP3, he's salty about his old team as well. Meanwhile, Kevin Durant always has something to prove against the team and fan base that never loved him as much as Steph Curry.

Denver played like it was a playoff game, and so did the Lakers. Nuggets coach Michael Malone even rested Jokic for short, three-minute stretches, as if it was a playoff game. 

Making the regular season matter was a point of emphasis for the league this summer. All the teams on opening night brought a playoff mentality to their first games at least.

Devin Booker’s toe

A few hours before the opener, Devin Booker was listed as “questionable” with a toe injury. Then he got upgraded to “probable.” Then he scored 21 points in the first half on 10 shots.

The short-handed Suns had to face the Warriors without Bradley Beal, suffering from back spasms, but Booker and his toe kept Phoenix afloat in the first half. He finished with a game-high 32 points and added a team-high eight assists.

Losers

The Lakers bench

When LeBron James was on the floor, the Lakers looked like the team that made a surprise run to the Western Conference Finals. When he sat, the Lakers struggled on both ends. Los Angeles didn't get any points from their bench until the start of the second quarter. In a 12-point loss, James was +7 in his 29 minutes, meaning the Lakers were outscored by 19 in the 19 minutes he sat.

Lakers bench players made just one three-pointer in the game and dished just two assists, both from new point guard Gabe Vincent. Meanwhile, the Nuggets bench bounced back from the loss of Bruce Brown this summer, getting quality minutes from Reggie Jackson and second-year players Christian Braun and Peyton Watson.

Steph Curry

One huge weakness for the Golden State Warriors last season was their high rate of fouling. They continued the reaching and hacking in their first game of the 2023-24 season, led by Steph Curry, who picked up his fifth foul early in the fourth quarter of Golden State's 108-104 loss to Phoenix.

Golden State’s fouling got so bad that TNT’s Stan Van Gundy openly speculated about what the single-game record for and-ones was, after Kevin Durant scored through contact again. But for the Warriors, foul trouble limited Curry’s minutes and kept him from getting in rhythm. Perhaps that’s why he shot an un-Curry-like 4-of-14 from three-point range.

Referees 

It’s important to remember that NBA referees need time to warm up, too. That might explain why Lakers-Nuggets featured a plethora of missed calls, ranging from missed fouls, unseen foot stomps and a spectacular dunk that was actually a blatant offensive goaltend.

Gordon hung in the rim, which is OK after a dunk, but not before. The officials also missed Reggie Jackson tripping LeBron and LeBron’s bloodied nose on the other end, plus a blatant foul on a Jamal Murray jumper.

It didn’t decide the game by any means, but let’s just say there were more bad whistles than a Ying Yang Twins coverband show.