A new season of basketball begins: Beardsanity hits Houston. Heat get their rings. Woes for the Lakers.

A new season of the world's best basketball league has begun. As the 2012-13 NBA season tips off with a bang. Starting today, I'll give you a rundown of a week of NBA basketball. Well since it's a Sunday in the Philippines, while Sunday is just approaching the US. So here are some of the stories for the first four days of NBA basketball.

Beardsanity hits Houston!

Photo ©NBA/Rockets.com

Well, since I'm a huge Houston Rockets fan for 10 years now. We'll start off with the team I support the most. The Houston Rockets made a major roster overhaul this season. Only Patrick Patterson, Chandler Parsons, Marcus Morris and Greg Smith are back from last year's team. They brought in a lot of new players this year like Jeremy Lin, Omer Asik, Carlos Delfino, Toney Douglas, rookies Terrence Jones and Royce White to name a few and recently they acquired the reining Sixth Man of the Year and Olympic gold medalist James Harden from the reigning Western Conference Champions Oklahoma City Thunder alongside Cole Aldrich and Daequan Cook for Kevin Martin, rookie Jeremy Lamb and a host of draft picks.

Harden delievered BIG for the Rockets, making the Rockets a early favorite for playoff contention, at the same time making the Thunder think on why they traded him to Houston. Harden scored 37 points, dished out 12 assists, grabbed 6 rebounds and 4 steals in his season debut against the Detroit Pistons en route to a 105-96 opening game victory at The Palace. He followed it up with a career-high 45 points with 7 rebounds in a 109-102 victory against the Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena. Though the Rockets came up short today in overtime in their home opener against the Portland Trail Blazers 95-85. There is a new buzz in the air in the city of Houston long after a man who once wore #11 was leading the charge for this Rockets team. With a young roster including a great backcourt duo in the making with Harden and Lin. Indeed, A NEW AGE has begun for the Houston Rockets which brings excitement to the Red Nation who has been star-crossed with injuries over the past couple years which derails the team moving forward and getting better every year.

 The champs get their rings.

Photos ©NBA/Heat.com

The 2012-13 NBA season began in South Beach as the Miami Heat celebrate their second championship in franchise history as members of the 2012 NBA Champions from the Big Three of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. To role players like Shane Battier, Udonis Haslem, Mario Chalmers, Mike Miller, Norris Cole to name a few get their championship rings and raise the second championship banner for the South Florida franchise. 

After the celebration, it was back to business for the champions as they were dead set to face their archrivals the Boston Celtics, the team they defeated in the Eastern Conference Finals en route to the NBA Finals. Another story of that game was Ray Allen, the all-time three point king who took his talents to South Beach from Beantown during the off-season will get to battle his former team in a Heat uniform. The champs make work of the Celtics as they came out with a 120-107 win. Dwayne Wade led the Heat with 29 points. LeBron James added 26 points and 10 rebounds, but had to leave in the 4th quarter due to cramps. Chris Bosh and Allen each scored 19 points. However, the Heat went into a early season roadblock in New York City as they lost by 20 points to a inspired New York Knicks team fresh off the tragedy of Hurricane Sandy, the game finished with a 104-84 blowout against the champs. They would bounce back at home on a big night for Chris Bosh who scored 40 points and Ray Allen who delivered the game-winning 4 point play as the Heat pull off a 119-116 victory against the Denver Nuggets. The reigning champions are still the team to beat in the NBA today. The question is can they go back-to-back this year?

Flat start for the Lakers.

Photo ©NBA/Lakers.com

No other team in the NBA made a lot of noise in the off-season this year than the Los Angeles Lakers as they aquired two big names for their campaign with two-time MVP Steve Nash from Phoenix and three-time Defensive Player of the Year Dwight Howard from Orlando joining forces with Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol and made the Lakers a star-studded starting lineup and a championship contender on paper.

Unfortunately for the Lakers, the promise of this new team has not clicked as they start the season at 0-3. Suffering from a 99-91 opening night loss against the Dallas Mavericks who were playing without their star in Dirk Nowitzki, a 116-106 loss in Portland against the Trail Blazers and a 105-95 defeat against their co-tenants at the Staples Center the Los Angeles Clippers. This is the first time since 1978 the Lakers begin the year at 0-3. Too add more insult to injury, the Lakers lose Steve Nash for a week because of a leg fracture which brings more bad news to a team trying to compete for a championship. Things are uncertain right now for the men in the purple and gold.

Here are the standings across the league after the first four days of the new season:

Western Conference: 

1. Spurs (3-0), 2. Timberwolves (1-0), 3. Warriors (2-1), 4. Trail Blazers (2-1), 5. Clippers (2-1), 6. Hornets (2-1), 7. Mavericks (2-1), 8. Rockets (2-1), 9. Thunder (1-1), 10. Grizzlies (1-1), 11. Suns (1-1), 12. Jazz (1-2), 13. Lakers (0-3), 14. Kings (0-3), 15. Nuggets (0-3)

Eastern Conference:

1. Bucks (2-0), 2. Nets (1-0), 3. Magic (1-0), 4. Knicks (1-0), 5. 76ers (1-0), 6. Bulls (2-1), 7. Heat (2-1), 8. Pacers (2-1), 9. Bobcats (1-1), 10. Celtics (1-2), 11. Cavaliers (1-2), 12. Hawks (0-1), 13. Raptors (0-2), 14. Wizards (0-2), 15. Pistons (0-2).

Right now, the standings are still scrambled, within the next few weeks, the standings will balance out, and we'll get a clear picture of who's in a groove and who's fumbling out. Watch out for my next NBA blog entry next week.

HERE WE GO! 

A GOOD START TO THE BASKETBALL NEW YEAR!

K-Smoove