Luis M. Alvarez / AP Photo

There were seven games on the schedule last night, but the Knicks and Magic didn’t play because Madison Square Garden is not safe. I’ll start with the one game that came down to the wire:

The Wizards beat the Sixers 116-115 in overtime. It wouldn’t have made it to overtime if not for Cartier Martin (representing the D-League) tying the game with a last-second three-pointer that could easily have been an and-one. John Wall could not have been introduced better in the Wizards’ home opener and proceeded to put up a monster line: 29 points (on 16 shots), 13 assists, a franchise record-tying 9 steals, and, gulp, 8 turnovers. Since there are always fun numbers in overtime games, check out some other stats: Lou Williams started 0-8 but finished with 30 points on 16 shots (15-17 FT!), Elton Brand had a super-efficient 21 and 9, and Jrue Holiday had 14 points and 13 assists. I wanted a second overtime, but I was happy that Wizards fans got this win and EXTREMELY happy for Mr. Martin.

The Hawks beat the Cavs 100-88. Great to see Marvin Williams score 22 and get fourth-quarter burn. For Cleveland, J.J. Hickson was awesome. He hit a bunch of mid-range jumpers to start, which opened up his game. He’s coming along quite nicely. Wish I could say the same for Ramon Sessions, who is way better than he’s showing right now. He and the returning Mo Williams combined to shoot 9-31 and dish out only 5 assists. I thought it was over when the Hawks scored 40 points in the first quarter, but Cleveland worked its way back. Byron Scott said he loved the effort.

Portland beat Milwaukee 90-76 in an unsurprisingly slow-paced (87 possessions) game. The Blazers couldn’t hit anything at the outset and the Bucks started off on a roll. It looked like Carlos Delfino was going to do what Luol Deng did to the Blazers a night earlier, but the difference was that Wesley Matthews came in and stopped Delfino like he couldn’t stop Deng. The Bucks’ offense pretty much died near the end of the first, which was when the Blazers’ came to life. 6 turnovers and 0-4 shooting behind the arc was not what I was hoping for from Brandon Jennings after his awesome triple double on Saturday.

There were three blowouts yesterday: Boston 109, Detroit 86; Miami 129, Minnesota 97; and Lakers 124, Grizzlies 97. I won’t discuss these ones, but I will share three great dunks.

Credit to Zach Harper, Ben Golliver, and @jose3030 for the videos in this post.

Before I get to today’s feature, where I’ll quickly take stock of every team in the league after one week of basketball, I want to share a couple of links:

The Wall Street Journal profiled Anthony Morrow, which is awesome because he’s the best damn shooter in the world. There are a bunch of Steve Kerr quotes within.

And I don’t know how this got by me a few days ago, but CelticsBlog interviewed the great Jackie MacMullan. Really great read on her early days in the business, the 80′s in the NBA, Kevin McHale, and a couple of current Celtics.

Week 1 Catch-up

The Hawks are undefeated and they are getting to the line, but they haven’t been tested and it doesn’t look like Jeff Teague is who they hoped he would be.

Rajon Rondo has 67 assists in 4 games and his Celtics are rebounding their way to wins, but Nate Robinson has been bricking everything and they still need to cut down the turnovers.

D.J. Augustin’s been better than expected, Boris Diaw is still playing more than Tyrus Thomas, and Charlotte’s defense is almost the league’s worst after being the league’s best last year.

Derrick Rose is leading the league in usage rate, James Johnson does stuff now, and Keith Bogans has played more minutes for Chicago than Kyle Korver and Ronnie Brewer.

J.J. Hickson looks suited for his bigger role, Antawn Jamison has been all kinds of disappointing, and Ramon Sessions has been about 1/100th as good as I thought he would be in Cleveland.

The Mavericks have been awesome defensively against weak competition and Dirk Nowitzki is too good for Halloween costumes.

Arron Afflalo’s force people to spell his name right and Denver’s playing very good defense, even Al Harrington!

Rodney Stuckey’s getting assists now, the Pistons’ bench is outplaying their starting five, and they’ve looked fairly good in each loss before the C’s game last night.

Andris Biedrins and Brandan Wright get to play now, Monta Ellis is lovable again, and the Warriors really need Stephen Curry’s bum ankle to heal.

The Rockets have lost all three games, two of them close, but Kyle Lowry’s back and Erick Dampier will arrive shortly.

Roy Hibbert’s dominating from the high post and McBob is dunking on everyone in Indiana.

Blake Griffin is everything we hoped he’d be, but his team is still Clippering its way to losses and Baron Davis thinks that, before this season, “getting in shape was never a problem.”

Lamar Odom is shooting 6-8 on threes and 27-38 overall on the season and the Lakers are making me think they could go another month without a loss.

The Grizzlies looked good in half their games, they need Zach Randolph back, and you’re going to have trouble watching Mike Conley play without thinking about his contract.

The Heat are playing incredible defense and they’re going to win tons of games, but we’d like them to start running – the blowout against Minnesota last night was their only fast-paced game.

There are still too many missed jump shots in Milwaukee, but Brandon Jennings had perhaps the best game of his career the other day.

Kevin Love is averaging 15.5 points and 11.3 rebounds and has yet to play over 30 minutes in a game this season.

The Nets look nothing like they did last year and Derrick Favors is not a bust.

Chris Paul has the Hornets undefeated against three playoff teams and Marcus Thornton had 17 points and 7 rebounds in 30 minutes in San Antonio the other night.

Gallo’s been awful, Chandler’s been awesome, and the Knicks are going to need some time to put it together.

The Thunder have not been playing the awesome defense we saw last year, but that should change.

After the Magic lost by 26 in Miami, I can’t wait for the rematch that’s three weeks from today.

Elton Brand’s averaging 16.3 points and 9 rebounds, Evan Turner’s had three 7-rebound games, and the Sixers haven’t won a game yet.

The Suns can’t rebound or stop anybody, but Goran Dragic’s PER is 25.8.

Armon Johnson’s been a pleasant surprise and you have to watch the Blazers play against Oklahoma City tomorrow.

Tyreke-Cousins-Casspi is my favourite young trio and I’d much rather talk about the Kings’ much improved offense than their inconsistent, often-terrible defense.

Hope you’re as excited as I am to see more from Tiago Splitter and Gary Neal for the Spurs against Phoenix tonight.

In Toronto, Andrea Bargnani and Reggie Evans are perfect for one another.

The preseason may have tricked us into forgetting that the Jazz need time to gel, but Paul Millsap deserves your attention right now.

John Wall’s a must-watch, but I wish he had better teammates and wish the “new and improved Yi Jianlian” would put on a Wizards uniform.

Ahh, G-State. The G-Men. Okay, maybe not the G-Men, though I think they’d trade their issues for one Plaxico bullet wound. Where do I even start with these guys? They have so much talent it’s ridiculous. They play entertaining ball. They have a great crowd. There’s so much to love, yet they continue to self destruct. First, their captain and rock, the ever-sane Stephen Jackson, publically declares he doesn’t like the direction of the team and wants a trade. Gets fined. Now he gets fouled up, T’d up, sent from the bench and suspended for a few days. Also, their next best player, Monta Ellis, has publically questioned whether he and new stud draft pick Stephen Curry can play together. Fans are as thrilled with this as they were when they heard about a potential Monta Ellis salary dump in September.

Speaking of salary dumps, they sold Marco Belinelli to the Raptors for just over $1.5 million in the summer (yes, they got Devean George, but the Raptors gave the Warriors cash to cover his contract this season). Not to say Belinelli’s an all-star or anything, but unless we’re talking soccer the phrase “sold a player” should be reserved for when asking for a loosey. They were rumoured to be interested in Amar’e, until Stephen Curry fell to them at #7 in the draft. Now, they’re being linked with Bosh again, but that’s pure speculation. There’s no way Colangelo is interested in trading Bosh until closer to the deadline at least. And as a Raptors fan, I certainly hope it’s not for a package “centered around Andris Biedrins”. Brandan Wright’s hurt and out for a few months. Sure, they have Anthony Randolph, but Coach Nelson is notorious for sitting young players for… well, no good reason at all. They’ve got Andris Biedrins locked in for four years at $9 million a year (And Raptors fans were complaining about Turkoglu’s contract!), Corey Maggette for four years, increasing every year from almost $9 mil this year to almost $11 million in 2012. Those two, plus Jackson and Ellis take up $40 million of salary space in 2012! They’re already several million over the cap, and, as it stands, do not figure to be a big player in free agency for a while unless they find a way to dump one of their four biggest contracts. So why do I like these guys? Why do I support this Picasso of a mismanaged and chaotic team? As a fan of the Toronto sports teams, I am a card-carrying masochist, which helps, but I can also see talent and charisma. And even with all of their problems, the Warriors just ooze talent.

In addition to Monta and Captain Jack, they have personal favourites Ronny Turiaf (don’t ask) and Corey Maggette (I’m a masochist, remember?). They have summer league sweethearts Anthony Morrow and Anthony Randolph. They have Speedy Claxton and Andris Biedrins (I can like them and hate their contracts), and most importantly, they have Stephen Curry. Ask anyone who watched the NCAA Tournament in 2008 about Stephen Curry and their faces light up. There aren’t many shooters who can throw a team on their back and carry them, yet Stephen Curry almost carried tiny Davidson all the way to the Finals; losing in the elite eight to after upsetting Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin. The team that beat them: The eventual champion Kansas Jayhawks, who won by 2 points after the potential game winning 3 didn’t drop (Curry dished, he was in double coverage). It was an awe-inspiring run. Just ask LeBron. Generally, there aren’t too many rookies who excite me. Curry, though, is something special. If nothing else, I’d be tuning in to Warriors games JUST for Curry and he doesn’t even have close to the most potential on the team. Anthony Randolph has the tools and potential to be a STUD in this league. Yes, I said it. With his skill set, if he is given a real chance by Don Nelson he could a superstar in the making like Kevin Durant (the last rookie to excite me like Steph does).

What can’t the guy do? He can shoot, he can break men down, he can pass, he can dunk, (oh can he dunk), he can rebound, he runs the floor, and he can block shots. His length and speed are things to marvel at. His nose for the ball is something that can’t be taught. His willingness to get down and dirty and do whatever’s necessary to win is endearing. I don’t even have anything else to say about him, other than if Don Nelson doesn’t let this kid on the floor he should be committed. Or shot. Either way, he shouldn’t be allowed within 500 feet of any school, gym or NBA arena. Same story with Anthony Morrow. He may not have the pure raw talent like Randolph, but he can ball and needs to be given a shot.

What other positive things can I say about the Warriors? Well, as much as it may be to their chagrin, both Captain Jack and Monta are still in the Bay Area. Say what you will about Stephen Jackson, the cat can still play. Someone should tell Nellie that he’s not a point guard or a power forward, but he still is a hell of a player on the wing. And don’t forget that Monta missed training camp and half of last season after a little workout mishap, uhhhh contract violating high speed motorcycle accident, errrr falling off a moped. I still don’t understand how you can shred your ankle on a moped. Anyway, that’s beside the point. I’m not here to talk about the past; Monta’s back, healthy, and he will have a full training camp and hopefully a full season. This can’t be a bad thing.

In fact, the thought of seeing Monta Ellis, Stephen Curry, Stephen Jackson, Anthony Randolph and Andris Biedrins together makes me turn into the Lonely Island guys when I think of it. I dunno if Nellie will let that happen, but hey, a guy can dream. And let’s not forget they still have Acie Law (another personal favourite), Morrow, Claxton, Maggette, Turiaf, and Mikki Moore on the bench. Yowzers. Yes, I said it: Yowzers. By now it should be apparent why I can support this club. They are the Raptors West. They can score 110 points a game, they can give up 110 points a game. The only difference between the two clubs is pure talent. The Raptors have good players, yes, but the talent coming out of Golden State is truly remarkable. There’s a reason I called them a Picasso. A Picasso is a chaotic mess, but it’s a thing of beauty. It’s taking pieces of a puzzle, scattering them in a random order and turning it into art. The Warriors are art on the court, a thing of beauty. As a fan of the game of basketball, I can’t wait to see what they can do this year. They had enough talent to make the playoffs last year, and this year they’ve improved the club. Sure, there’s a few ifs; mostly relating to IF Nelson actually plays the young talent he’s been blessed with, and IF they don’t make some stupid salary dump, but with that kind of talent they can’t lose! Can they? You’ll have to tune in to find out. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed, win or lose.