The Heat got their rings, and then continued where they left off

Image from the Miamiherald.com

Lebron James finally got his ring, while Dwyane Wade got his second and the rest of the Heat raised their championship banner. Opening night was a spectacle down in Miami, from Ray Allen in a Heat jersey to Rondo Clotheslining Wade to Lebron getting cramps. Yet one thing was certain, this Miami Heat team is clearly the best team in basketball and they looked in mid season form in the first of 82 games.
The first defensive play of the game for the Heat was indicative of it. With crisp rotations, the possession started with a Bosh block of a Bass jumpshot, followed 10 seconds later by a Wade block, and which culminated with a Shane Battier 3 at the other end. The Celtics will definitely be the team challenging them for the eastern conference but it will be tough to stop Miami from going to a third straight finals. Their two superstars destroyed the Celtics, Lebron James looked like the best player in basketball, picking his spots and attacking when he had to, he had a double double by halftime and it seems like Spoelstra will continue to use this "no position lineup". Then there's Dwyane Wade, there were concerns amid his offseason surgery on his knee ( He played during last year's title run with the knee injury) and how he would look. Well he looked like his usual self, attacking the basket, posting up smaller defenders and wrecking havoc on the defensive end, he finished with 29 points and don't be surprised if he leads the team in scoring this year.

The other big story is the Heat's bench, Ray Allen had 19 points and was giving Boston nightmares. He will clearly be a six man of the year contender and looks much more healthy than last year. Rashard Lewis had 10 points on 4 out of 5 shooting as well, looking in great shape. You can argue that the Heat's bench could have several members in a starting lineup for some of the other teams.
The Celtics on the other hand have some things to work out. While Rondo looks great, and Pierce looks like he's going to have a big season, the Celtics defense allowed the Heat 120 points and simply allowed the Heat to do whatever they wanted. Jason Terry was profoundly outplayed by Allen, and Jeff Green was held to 6 points. The bright side for the Celtics was Leandro Barbosa, who scored 16 points on 6-8 shooting. The Celtics will get better of course, they are still waiting for the return of Avery Bradley and the new pieces to get used to the system, but even then beating the Heat seems like a long shot.
-Kyrie Irving had 29 points in his first game of his sophomore year, and Varejao had 23 Rebounds 9 points and 9 assists as the Cavs defeated the Wizards
-Dwyane Wade passed the 15,000 points milestone early in yesterday's game

James Harden traded to the Rockets, who are the real winners?

Image from Slamonline.com

The Oklahoma City Thunder traded James Harden, Cole Aldrich, Daequan Cook, and Lazar Hayward to the Houston Rockets for Kevin Martin, two first round picks and Jeremy Lamb. Now, in essence, the issue between Harden and OKC was that Harden (deservingly so) wanted a max contract. OKC could not give him a max contract of course because of the earlier contract  to Serge Ibaka. Houston of course will provide him with that max contract as soon as possible.
Let's look at the winners of this trade. The biggest winner was of course the Houston Rockets, who have tried so very hard to obtain a star caliber player for months (remember all those little Howard trade rumors before he got traded to the Lakers?) and now have two GREAT young pieces and presumably their backcourt of the future, in Jeremy Lin and James Harden. The Rockets are young, and their offense will no doubt revolve around Harden. Speaking of those Lakers, they are clearly the next winners of this trade.
The Lakers were favorite to come out of the west as soon as the Howard trade went through, and those who still believed in OKC (this humble writer included) as the favorites, did so out of respect of last year's run to the finals and on the brilliance of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, AND james Harden. Yes they get draft picks and a promising young player in Jeremy Lamb, but isn't OKC trying to win a championship now? Kevin Martin is a good player, but come on, he is not James Harden. Can you honestly think of one big important game that Kevin Martin has played since he's been in the league? James Harden is fresh of a 6th man of the year award, and while he struggled against the Heat in the finals, did you see what he did to the Dallas Mavericks in the closeout game of the first round?
Harden was also a much better compliment to Oklahoma's other two stars, he was their best pick and roll player and playmaker in general. We know Westbrook is going to shoot the ball, and Martin is primarily a shooter. All in all just ask yourself one question, if you ask Kobe Bryant or Dwyane Wade, who would be an easier matchup for them to dominate, Martin or Harden, which name would they say?
In addition, Harden outside of Sefolosha was Oklahoma's best perimeter defender.
The thunder are still absolutely title contenders, but you cant help but smile deep down if you are a Lakers fan. As far as the Thunder, how are Durant and Westbrook going to react to the news that their good buddy got traded? Harden may initially be disappointed but not for long. He will now be the marquee player for a young team, the go to guy, and he will get his max contract. So ultimately the team who seemingly loses the most, is the team that pulled the trigger on the trade.