Fansided

5 best things from NBA opening week

By Hunter Kuffel

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 17: Boban Marjanovic #51 of the LA Clippers dunks the ball against the Denver Nuggets during a game on October 17, 2018 at Staples Center, in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 17: Boban Marjanovic #51 of the LA Clippers dunks the ball against the Denver Nuggets during a game on October 17, 2018 at Staples Center, in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The NBA season is finally back in our lives after what feels like an eternity, and there’s already plenty to discuss. Let’s recap the five best things from the first three nights of action.

We’re just 16 games into the 2018-19 NBA season, and already our cup overfloweth with dazzling performances, nail-biter victories and dunks that caused us to rethink what the human body is capable of. Let’s not tarry a second longer and get right into it.

5. Boban is 1-0 against rims

The NBA is the greatest for countless reasons, far too many to list on this slide. You’ve got transcendent team excellence like this iteration of the Golden State Warriors. You’ve got rich narratives like LeBron’s return to Cleveland. You’ve even got whole subcultures as offshoots like sneaker culture and the like.

Among all those reasons, can we agree that Boban Marjanovic is probably in the top 50 at least? THE MAN DUNKED WITH HIS FEET SQUARELY ON THE GROUND. It’s easier for Boban to dunk over 6-foot-11 Mason Plumlee than it is for me to reach the extra paper towels in my apartment. That’s a true fact.

Plumlee wasn’t safe from the wrath of the NBA’s fiercest giant, but at least he had company. Also personally victimized by Boban’s standing reach was the rim itself, as two guys had to bring a ladder on to the court in the fourth quarter and fix it back in place.

To those of us who haven’t battled John Wick himself face-to-face, the rim is an impartial, unwavering judge, a stiff demarcation deciding what shall be awarded points and what shan’t. Not my guy Boban, though. Boban sees the rim for what it is: just another shackle standing in the way of his complete basketball dominance. He rejects it, and I applaud him.

It’s overwhelmingly likely that Boban’s impact on the largest storylines of the NBA won’t loom as large as it did on Wednesday night — the Clippers lost by nine by the way — but at least we’ll have that moment.

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