The NBA season is now started up and after one day of play, the Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers and Indiana Pacers have the early division leads and those teams all could push it even more on Wednesday, as they will be in action against the Philadelphia 76ers, New Orleans Pelicans and Golden State Warriors respectively.
The schedule has a number of big games, including the debut of the new Madison Square Garden when the New York Knicks take on the Milwaukee Bucks and the Memphis Grizzlies taking on the San Antonio Spurs. The Atlantic division will have its first games on Wednesday and the Brooklyn Nets will be taking on the Cleveland Cavaliers in a nice matchup, while the Boston Celtics and Toronto Raptors will have the first true division game of the season. The Nets and Knicks are looking like the top two teams in the division this season, while the Raptors and Celtics as well as the 76ers seem pretty hopeless.
The central division has the Indiana Pacers out to an early lead with a 1-0 record and they could push that to 2-0 on Wednesday night against the Pelicans. The Bulls are 0-1 after losing to the Miami Heat to open the season and on Thursday they can cut into the Pacer lead with a win over the Knicks when they host the team at the United Center. The Cavaliers, Pistons and Bucks all will play on Wednesday night and the Pistons are one team to watch this season, as they pulled off the Brandon Jennings trade and also signed Josh Smith and the central division could be one of the best in the NBA.
The Bulls are expecting to be very good with the return of Derrick Rose and the Pacers are coming back looking even stronger after playing against the Miami Heat in the playoffs last season. The team brought back David West and added Luis Scola in a trade as well as CJ Watson and they should have a very good bench and they already have a budding superstar in Paul George. The Bulls obviously feel great about the return of Rose, but it remains to be seen how good he will look after coming back from serious surgery and the battle in the division could be one of the best, as Chicago won 45 games last season without Rose playing any games and that means the Pacers have a true challenger this season.
The Miami Heat have the early lead in the division and that is likely to stick for a while, as no team can really challenge them within the Southwest. The Hawks lost Josh Smith and the Orlando Magic already are 0-1 after losing to the Pacers and the Bobcats and Wizards have not improved enough to win the division. The Heat are working on a three-peat and should not have problems winning the division. The Northwest in the western conference has not had anyone play yet, but the Oklahoma City Thunder are expecting to win that division again.
The Los Angeles Lakers started off the season on a positive note with a win over the Clippers and now they have an early division lead with the Clips expected to take it. The Suns and Warriors as well as the Kings will play on Wednesday, as will the southwest division. The games kickoff with the Mavericks playing the Hawks and the Pelicans play the Pacers, while the Houston Rockets play the Bobcats and the San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies will face off.