knicks spoil Cavs opener.

There is no good reason to overreact over anything that happens during the first week of the NBA season.  Training camp is nothing like the regular season.  This is the time when teams see what sets work and what tweaks need to be made.

The Cleveland Cavaliers treated their first home game like it was game one of the NBA Finals.  The Cavaliers struggles since LeBron James departure in 2010 have been well documented.  The city is as excited as ever to have King James back home.

The celebration seemed to be a bit overwhelming.  LeBron looked out of character for much of the night.  Keep in mind LeBron's wife Savannah gave birth to a baby girl three days ago. A shaky performance from LeBron would only be natural.  LeBron was unlike himself indeed.  He finished Cleveland ' s home opener with only 17 points, including a team high eight turnovers.  The King was nowhere in sight.

Carmelo Anthony was clutch in the waning minutes of the Knicks first road game.  He drained a baseline jump shot with less than a minute remaining to secure New York ' s first win of the season.  Carmelo finished the night with 25 points.

Carmelo has been known as a clutch player during his career.  However, in recent years he's come up small at the end of games.  Maybe Carmelo's explosive start is a sign of things to come.  New York is going to rely on his offensive output heavily this season.

Cleveland fans need not to put too much emphasis on this loss. The LeBron, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving experiment is going to be a work in progress. They should end somewhere around the 55 win mark.

The Charlotte Hornets new uniform design is definitely the wave right now in the NBA. Charlotte chose to return to the same color scheme the old Charlotte Hornets had prior to the franchises departure to New Orleans.

Charlotte was a great basketball city during the 1990's.  The team led the NBA in attendance on multiple occasions. These new uniforms represent a change of culture in the city of Charlotte.  A few years ago Charlotte was the laughing stock of the NBA.  Today Michael Jordan and company have built a team good enough to make noise in the Eastern Conference.

A new look can make a team feel different.  Last year Charlotte proved they could win games on a consistent basis.  This year is about building on that success.  The Charlotte Hornets new jersey look gets two thumbs up!

Respect Mr. Manning

Athletes usually don't age like fine wine.  In fact, it's usually the opposite.  Some athletes begin their professional careers on top, only to retire as a shell of who they once were.  In Peyton Manning's case none of this applies.

It's hard to imagine Peyton playing any better than he did during his time with the Colts. However, that is exactly what Peyton has done in Denver. He became the NFL'S all-time leader in passing touchdowns in a rout over the San Francisco 49ers earlier this season. He set the leagues single season touchdown record a year ago.  He owned that record before Tom Brady broke it in 2007.  He's also added another MVP trophy to go along with the four he won in Indy.

This is a golden era in terms of passing quarterbacks.  Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Matthew Stafford, Aaron Rogers and Tony Romo have all taken part in phenomenal passing numbers during the last eight years.  Peyton appears to be taking it to another level.  If he throws a touchdown in each of the Broncos remaining nine games he will break Brees ' s consecutive games with a touchdown pass record.  Just another notch on Peyton ' s belt.

Whether you like or dislike Peyton, you must respect him.  He is truly a once in a generation type of player.  He won't be truly appreciated until his days of lacing up those cleats on Sunday afternoon are over.  Fans enjoy Mr Manning, he won't be around much longer.

Kobe # 40???

Kobe Bryant is one of the most motivated players in the NBA.  While some guys show up for a check and a shot at stardom, the black mamba plays with a passion not rivaled by many.  At 36 years of age that fire burns deeply in Kobe's soul.

ESPN recently ranked Kobe as the 40th best player in the NBA for this upcoming season.  I find it hard naming 10 players in the league better than Kobe.  40 is outright disrespectful. The doubts are well deserved.  The Lakers are four years removed from their last NBA Finals visit.  However, this is one of the best players in NBA history we are discussing. When you work as hard as Kobe, you don't fall off the map in the same manner as other players.

Kobe's body has been through it all.  To expect him to produce the way he did eight to 10 years ago would be foolish.  He played in the NBA playoffs at an age when his peers were getting acclimated to campus life.  This is what all those years of training were for.  To remain elite at all times, even when father time tries to tell you otherwise.

Kobe is one championship away from tying the great Michael Jordan.  Based on his team, most would say Kobe's ring count is not getting any bigger.  Regardless of who suits up for the Lakers Kobe will go hard this season.  Even at 36 Kobe Bryant is one of the 10 best basketball players in the NBA.

Don't sleep on the Heat

The Miami Heat are no longer the team to watch in the NBA. This time four years ago the world waited in anticipation of what the monster Pat Riley had created would look like.  No team throughout the course of league history had come together in this manner.  Sure those Celtics teams in the 1980's were stacked.  But they were constructed through the NBA Draft.  The Shaq and Kobe Lakers was a combination of good drafting and key free agency acquisitions.  The Miami Heat changed the way general managers approach building organizations with their blockbuster Summer of 2010.  Three players with this talent level signing on to play together had never been seen before.

The Heatles were as good as advertised.  Following a slow 9-9 start, Miami finished the 2010-11 season with a 58-24 record.  Not bad for an experimental trial.  They ultimately fell short of their goal to win a championship.  However, looking back in retrospect, for a team to win 58 games and make the NBA Finals during their first season together is a remarkable accomplishment.

During the next two years the Miami Heat would become the most dominant franchise in the NBA.  The team went 112-46 during their back-to-back championship seasons.  LeBron James won consecutive MVP awards.  After knocking off the San Antonio Spurs in game seven of the 2013 NBA Finals, the Heat franchise was on top of the world.  LeBron was months away from his 29th birthday.  Miami could presumably be apart of the championship conversation for the next 8 years.

Dwayne Wade played the entire 2013-14 season on a minutes restriction.  Wade was in and out of Miami's lineup for the duration of the season.  LeBron burdened the load of the Heat scoring attack for much of the year.  During the 2014 season LeBron was forced to go one on five, much like his youthful days in Cleveland.  An embarrassing five game defeat to the Spurs in the NBA Finals was enough to send LeBron packing.  Not even Pat Riley, the man that was the difference in LeBron signing with the Heat challenging his fortitude was enough to keep King James in South Beach.  And just like that the Miami Heat become irrelevant.  Not if the man upstairs has something to say about it.  Riley famously coined the term " there's winning, and there's misery ".

Riley has never been one to back into a corner.  He won championships as the visiting coach at the Boston Garden when no one else had heard of such a thing.  He rallied his Lakers past the Detroit Pistons despite Isaiah Thomas pouring in 25 points in one quarter during the 1988 NBA Finals.  His Knicks are one of the few teams to take Michael Jordan's Bulls to a seventh game during their magical run.  He is also one of the few coaches in league history to recover from a 3-1 playoff deficit. Riley has moxie to say the least.

Chris Bosh was believed to be on his way out of town this past Summer.  The Houston Rockets appeared to be his next destination.  That was until Riley swooped in and re-signed Bosh to a five-year $118 Million dollar deal.  Bosh is expected to assume much of the scoring load LeBron has left behind.  Wade ' s health is Miami's biggest question mark headed into the season.  Can Wade come close to playing 82 games this season?  If so how good will he be if the Heat qualify for the postseason?  All questions that will be answered as the season progresses.

Miami signed Luol Deng during the off season.  Deng is one of the best two-way players in the NBA.  His length on defense and ability to handle the ball make him a solid pick up. Deng is no Lebron, but should be a respectable option down the stretch of games.  During his career Deng has been known for his durability.  That could come into play if Wade misses significant time.

Miami picked up Shabazz Napier in the draft.  Napier won two NCAA Championships during his time at Connecticut.  He is more experienced than most guards that come into the NBA these days.  Mario Chalmers job could be in trouble.  His inconsistency at the point guard position will not be tolerated with the departure of LeBron.  Miami can no longer depend on one guy.  Guys have to hold themselves accountable.

Danny Granger is attempting to resurrect his career.  The former all-star ' s  blue collar style should fit in well with Miami's veteran roster.  Injuries have robbed Granger of his athleticism.  However, his intelligence and hard nosed defense make him valuable to NBA teams.  He could play a key role on Miami's second team.

I predict Miami will finish the season 47-35.  That could be good enough for the number four seed in a softened Eastern Conference.  With the veteran leadership on the roster the Heat could sneak their way in the conference finals.

LeBron may have taken his talents to Lake Eerie, but basketball is still relevant in South Beach.

Manning passes Favre

John Elway had a vision when he signed Peyton Manning to be the Denver Broncos starting Quarterback.  Elway pursued Manning with the intentions of helping him become the best quarterback in NFL history.  So far the Broncos have fallen short of their ultimate goal to bring a Super Bowl back to the Mile High City. However, in just over two seasons in Denver, Manning has been nothing short of spectacular.

Manning passed Brett Favre as the NFL'S all-time leader in touchdown passes in a dominating performance against the San Francisco 49ers.  San Francisco 's Superbowl level defense failed to keep up with Denver.  Manning amassed 318 yards and four touchdown passes. The 49ers Superbowl level defense had no answer for the NFL's leader in passing scores.  The fact that Manning played this well on such a historic night against a good team is a testament to his greatness.

Manning broke Favre's record in 56 fewer games.  Keep in mind he missed the entire 2011 season due to a career threatening neck injury.  The notion of him still playing is a miracle in itself.  Nothing against the legend of Favre, but Manning breaking this record seems a bit harmonious.

Tom Brady will probably go down as the greatest winner of this generation.  Manning must win another ring to challenge that.  However, his regular season prowess goes unchallenged.  Manning is a flat out magician.  He is the NFL'S version of Earvin Johnson.

600 touchdown passes is definitely a possibility for Manning.  He has the opportunity to take the record to a place in which no player in this generation will be able to break it.
The only thing that can top this is finishing this season hoisting up the Lombardi trophy.

Giants travel to big D

When the New York Giants 2014 season schedule was released one thing was apparent. For The Giants to have a realistic shot at winning the NFC East the team would have to defeat either Philadelphia or Dallas in week's six or seven.  The back-to-back NFC East road trip is the start of the Giants most difficult stretch of the 2014 season.  In the next month New York has dates with Seattle, San Francisco and Indianapolis, all playoff teams from a year ago.

This is nothing new for the Giants organization.  The Giants have one of the toughest schedules in the NFL on a yearly basis.

A great deal of hype surrounded the Giants game in Philadelphia this past weekend.  The Eagles showed up.  The Giants left their game in New Jersey.

New York talked the talk prior to traveling to Lincoln Financial field.  That remedy has worked for the Giants in years past.  However, this time around New York 's bite wasn't nearly as resounding as their bark.  Philadelphia trounced New York from the opening gates.  At halftime New York trailed 20-0.

The Dallas Cowboys have been the most impressive team in the NFL thus far.  The offensive line has looked phenomenal.  Demarco Murray's work load has been similar to Emmitt Smith in recent weeks.  A loss to Dallas could send the Giants season in a tailspin. A win pits New York right back in the thick of things.  The Giants are 1-1 in the division. Following this weekend they'll have 3 division games remaining, all of which are at home.

This Sunday will be a blood bath.  There is no love lost between the players, coaching staff and fan base.  The Giants flat out do not like the Cowboys.  The feeling happens to be mutual in Dallas.

Since the Cowboys opened their world class stadium in 2009 the Giants have enjoyed traveling to Texas.  New York has won in Dallas four of the last five years.  If Tom Coughlin and company hope to make the playoffs, New York needs that trend to continue.