5 wild overreactions to every NBA team’s first game in 2018-19

No NBA season would be complete without outrageous overreactions to opening night.

Shortly after the 2018-19 NBA season kicked off Tuesday night, hot takes began to pour in.

The Boston Celtics’ 105-87 thumping of the Philadelphia 76ers sent shockwaves throughout Sixers Twitter, which quickly devolved into a sea of rage and self-loathing. A Washington Post political reporter suggested the Sixers needed to “consider trading Ben Simmons now” — following a 19-point, 15-rebound, eight-assist outing, no less — while criticism of Markelle Fultz’s inauspicious season debut spread far and wide.

Houston Rockets fans followed suit with overreactions Wednesday night, as Anthony Davis, Nikola Mirotic and the New Orleans Pelicans toyed with their squad in a breezy 131-112 rout. With Houston’s once-sturdy defense folding like a plastic chair against the Brow and his compatriots, the Rockets went from looking like a championship contender to a demoralized squad unable to shake off the hangover of its Western Conference Finals collapse.

Here’s the beauty of the NBA, though: No matter how crushing a particular loss is, it’s only one game in an 82-game season. As the year wears on and sample sizes grow, we’ll get a better sense of which opening-night storylines were legitimate cause for concern and which were one-game flukes.

In the meantime, we’ll lean into sensationalism and freak out like Jessie Spano.