The new season in the National Basketball Association of the United States and Canada began in the best way to the best player in 2015 – Stephen Curry and his team Golden State. The champions won 111-95 over New Orleans and Curry scored 40 points for success.
Before the game in the Hall of the Warriors ‘Oracle Arena’ the championship banner of the team for season 2014/15 was raised and the players received their championship rings.
The good mood among the fans spilled over the field as Stephen Curry started the match on fire and scored 24 in the first quarter. His good performance allowed Golden State to lead at the break with an advance of 10 points (59:49) and eventually the difference reached 23 points.
With his 40 points in the game, Curry set several records. He became the first player in the last 20 years who scored 24 points in the first quarter of the first game of the season. Furthermore, Stephen Curry became current MVP who scored the most points in the first game of the season after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who scored 41 for the Milwaukee Bucks in the first game of the 1963/64 season.
Besides Curry, a valuable contribution to the success of Golden State had the centres Festus Ezeli and Andrew Bogut. Ezeli scored 13 points, while Bogut scored 12 and didn’t miss any of his shots to the basket, but then he left the game in the third part due to the arcade above the right eyebrow after a head-on collision with Dante Cunningham of New Orleans.
In the most controversial match of the opening day, Chicago achieved minimal victory – 97:95 over the finalist in the last season, Cleveland. The meeting was attended by the President Barack Obama, who is known as a fan of the Bulls.
During the entire match, the game went equal, as the hosts had kept minimal advance from the first quarter. And then in the final moments of the match, three seconds before the final siren LeBron James had an attempt to score for 97:97, but was parried by the Spanish centre of the Bulls Pau Gasol. The top scorer for Chicago was Nikola Mirotic with 19 points. Derrick Rose added 18 and Jimmy Butler scored 17 points.
In the last match of the night, Detroit surprisingly achieved an away win against the champions of the regular season – Atlanta (106: 94). The guests improved their performance shortly before the halftime, and they even lead by 19 points at the beginning of the third part. In the little time remaining to the end of the game, Atlanta started to play better, but failed to melt the big difference. Top scorer for Detroit was Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who scored 21 points and Andre Drummond, who finished with 18 points and 19 rebounds. Dennis Schroeder scored 20 points for Atlanta and Paul Milsap added 19.
All the results from the opening day:
Atlanta 94:106 Detroit
Chicago 97:95 Cleveland
Golden State 111:95 New Orleans