After serving a 10 games suspension due to drugs, Rashard Lewis will be finally back with the Magic. He can play in the Magic's eleventh game of the season against the Charlotte Bobcats. So far, the Magic won 7 out of the 10 games played. The three losses are against the Detroit Pistons, Cleveland Cavaliers and Oklahoma City Thunder. They failed to score above the 100 points level for all the 3 losses. This is mainly due to the injuries to the team.


    In the loss against the Pistons, they were without Pietrus and of course Lewis. Howard played for only 17 minutes in the game before fouling out. His replacement, Marcin Gortat fouled out after 23 minutes of action. In that game, they scored only 80 points. Scoring is definitely the main reason for the loss here as the Magic attempted 35 three pointers but hitting only 10 of them. The overall shooting percentage is a ugly 37% for the game.



    The Magic scored only 74 points in Oklahoma City. This time around, they were without Ryan Anderson, Vince Carter and Lewis. The scoring issue have not been resolve as they made only 25 out of 68 field goal attempts (37% again!) Except for the 25 points first quarter, the Magic didn't even break through the 20 points per quarter mark for the rest of the game.



    The Cavs came to Orlando for a rematch of the last year Eastern Conference Finals. The Cavs came up victorious, winning by 102 to 93. The Magic shooting are decent in this game, but they are the one having match up problem now. Shaquille O'Neal kept Howard in foul trouble for most of the game. The Magic's forward are an outside threat compare to last year's Hedo Turkoglu and Lewis.


    With Lewis clear to play now, expect the Magic to storm back in the scoring department and winning games. Lewis is similar to a younger Rasheed Wallace, a big guy with an outside scoring touch. He will definitely create matchup problem to any teams with less agile big man.

    The Nets are going from bad to worse even before the start of the season. They are currently on a 7 game losing streak and the only NBA team without a win. Only Brook Lopez started for all the 7 games this season as the 4 other starters are out with injuries. The Nets are without Tony Battie and Keyon Dooling ever since the preseason. Jarvis Hayes has picked up an injury in the first game of the season.


    Four of the Nets' starters are out with either illness or injury as well. Devin Harris, Courtney Lee and Yi Jianlian are all out for at least 4 more games. To add more bad news for the Nets, Chris Douglas-Roberts is diagnosed with the H1N1 virus. He too going to miss some games. So far, out of the possible combined 28 games, they only managed to play a total of 17 games.


    Not to mention that the injured players are among the team's leading scorer. The injured starters have a combine average of 52 points per game for the season. That number could be higher if the starters are still playing up until this level.


    On paper, the Nets could be able to push for a final playoffs spot since the team is full of young, exciting and explosive players. However, the hope of making the playoffs are fading fast as the injuries starts to catch up with the Nets.

    Add one more name into the 2010 FA Frenzy. Rudy Gay, currently with the Memphis Grizzlies couldn't reach an agreement with the team and will be a restricted FA next summer.


    Rudy Gay led the team in scoring last season. Should Grizzlies lose Gay to another team next season, the team won't be short of scoring option. Zach Randolph, OJ Mayo and Marc Gasol are the team's three top leading scorer this season with Gay a close fourth.


    Gay is just what many people would label him as a second tier FA after the likes of Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh and Amare Stoudemire. Realistically, team will have a higher chance of getting Gay rather than any of the mentioned top FA.


    Scoring is what Gay is well known for and he's a decent defender as well. However, he's not a very good playmaker as he averages less than 2 assists per game through his 4 years in the NBA.


    Nevertheless, Gay will be a very good addition to any team. Turning 24 next season, he still have plenty of good years ahead before finally reaching his prime. Of course, his restricted FA status means the Grizzlies can match any offer by other teams. The chances of him remain as a Grizzlies is there.

    The first game features the Boston Celtics against the home team Cleveland Cavaliers, two teams with the most wins in the East last season. The Cavs acquired Shaquille O'Neal, signed Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon to strengthen the squad. The Celtics too signed Rasheed Wallace, who can spread the floor and further strengthen the bench with Marquis Daniels and Shelden Williams. A victory for the Cavs as they have a winning streak of 11 games at home against the Celtics.

    The Washington Wizards will be visiting the Dallas Mavericks for the second game of the night. Both teams have sufficient depth on the team to cover every position. However, one thing to note is that the Wizards have lost their post scorer Antawn Jamison for at least 8 games while the Mavericks have a healthy squad. The Mavericks should be getting an easy win in this match.


    A replay of the first round of the 2009 playoffs, the home team Portland Trailblazers will take on the Houston Rockets. The Rockets have a serious problem as they don't have a proven scorer on the team. However, their defense are still as good as ever. On the other hand, Blazers have signed veteran Juwan Howard and Andre Miller to gives veteran guidance to a very Blazers' young squad. Blazers to win comfortably.


    Bad news for both the LA teams. The Lakers most probably won't be having Pau Gasol for opening night. Andrew Bynum could be missing in action too due to injuries. As for the Clippers, the most anticipated rookie Blake Griffin will miss the opening night due to injuries as well. While both team's front court players are out, Kobe Bryant and Baron Davis will keep the crowds entertain with their potential of scoring a lot of points. The Lakers will win this since nobody in the Clippers can slow down Bryant's scoring ability.

    1. Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, LA Lakers, San Antonio Spurs and Portland Trailblazers will win their respective division.


    2.The Milwaukee Bucks will have the worst record at the end of the season and Michael Redd will be gone before the February trade deadline.


    3. Washington Wizards will be the most improve team having won only 19 games last season. They will win at least double that amount if everyone can stay healthy.

   4. Detroit Pistons and the Philadelphia 76ers won't be in the playoffs for the coming season. Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards will take their place.

    5. Over at the West, the Houston Rockets will miss the playoffs, with the Phoenix Suns manage to sneak into the 8th spot with a small margin over the LA Clippers.


    6. Steve Nash will average in double digit assist this season after averaging 9.7 assist last season.




    7. Kevin Durant will break into the top 3 leaders in the Points Per Game column. He was sixth last season.




    8. Brandon Jennings will finish among the top 3 for the the Rookie of the Year award.

    9. The winner for the Eastern and Western conference will be the only teams that will win more than 60 games.

    10. Allen Iverson will publicly voice out his dissatisfaction about his playing time and demand to play more minutes.



    11. The Rockets team will not have anyone averaging more than 20 Points Per Game at the end of the season.

    12. Philadelphia 76ers will finish last in the Team Assist Per Game at the end of the season.


    13. For the first time in his career, Tim Duncan will average less than 10 Rebounds Per Game.



    14. Aside from Ricky Rubio currently playing in Spain, Hasheem Thabeet will be the only rookie picked in the Top 10 that won't be making significant contribution to the team.

    15. Hedo Turkoglu's points, rebound and assist average will drop down compare to his previous season.