Los Angeles (AFP)
Four months after Toronto's unheralded rivalry, serious contenders for his succession to the NBA have rarely been so numerous and are still concentrated in the West, like the Los Angeles, Clippers-Lakers duel, which opens the season Tuesday.
The first episode of the announced rivalry between Kawhi Leonard and Paul George on one side and LeBron James and Anthony Davis on the other is highly anticipated, but it is anonymous that could end up attracting attention around the Staples Center Tuesday .
Supporters of the Hong Kong protesters made social appointments, four days after several hundred other activists invited themselves to a pre-season match between Brooklyn and Toronto.
The prospect of seeing other black t-shirts bearing the inscription "Stand With Hong Kong" ("Support Hong Kong") is part of the political crisis that has raged for two weeks between China and the NBA, born a polemical tweet from Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey in support of the Hong Kong protesters.
Despite threats of "punishment" against his boss Adam Silver, who refused to apologize and punish Morey, and the unfortunate financial consequences of this schism, the NBA hopes that media attention will finally wear on basketball.
- "Not in talk mode" -
The first Clippers-Lakers should help, with three superstars expected on the floor, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kawhi Leonard (Paul George heals his shoulders), to give the first lessons of a thrilling season that sees Los Angeles move back the big favorites for the title, not with one but two teams.
In addition to Davis, with which automatisms are already visible, James has recorded the reinforcements of Dwight Howard and Danny Green, who knows how to win champion rings (San Antonio 2014, Toronto in 2019).
"I'm not in parlous mode," warned James, determined to 35 years to play a tenth final to pocket a fourth title (two with Miami, one with Cleveland). Like Green, but also Leonard, he can join Robert Horry and John Salley in the closed circle of champion players with three different clubs.
On its way, will stand up Clippers who finally dream of existing and gave themselves the means. Around their two All-Stars, Doc Rivers has a team of warriors (Harrel, Williams, Beverley) who snatched the play-offs in the past year.
The competition will also be Texan, since Houston has bets to recruit Russell Westbrook to help James Harden to bring back a title to rockets, a pittance since 1995. Two MVPs (2017 and 2018) balloon-eating and obsessional shots will they be enough?
Harden is confident that the pair he formed with Westbrook in Oklahoma between 2009 and 2012 will once again work. "When you're good at basketball, you get on the field and you put the baskets in. That's what's going to happen, it's going to be easy," the bearded man promised at 36.1 points last season.
- What about the Warriors? -
Thursday's reception of one of the favorites for the title, Milwaukee, will have test value, against a backdrop of Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has won his MVP trophy.
Golden State, champion 2015/2017/2018, saw its supremacy waver in June by yielding in the final against Toronto. Kevin Durant, who suffered a rupture with an Achilles tendon, has gone east to Brooklyn. As for Klay Thompson, he is treating a rupture of a cruciate ligament and hopes to return at the end of February.
"The title remains our goal," said lone star Stephen Curry, "top physically and mentally," according to coach Steve Kerr. Thursday, the reception of the Clippers, in their new room of San Francisco to 1.4 billion, should allow to verify it.
Behind, the competition is getting up to speed, and by coming closer, Denver, Portland and Utah, supported by talented duos (Jokic / Murray, Lillard / McCollum, Gobert / Mitchell), could reach the goal.
In the East, in addition to the Bucks, it will be Brooklyn who also attracted star leader Kyrie Irving, and Philadelphia, led by Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, now supported by Al Horford.
In December, finally, two matches will take place in Mexico and another in Paris in January, between Charlotte and Milwaukee. Proof that the globalization strategy of the NBA does not stop at China.
© 2019 AFP