Each weekday morning, Ball Don't Lie serves up a handful of NBA-related stories to digest with your beer and cheddar soup.

Brian Windhorst, Plain Dealer: "There are plenty of theories and potential targets of why the Cavaliers have struggled in the first two games of the season, but there is clarity on one issue. The Cavs miss Delonte West(notes). Having a player out of action is a regular occurrence with any basketball team and West, who has missed all 10 games the Cavs have played this season including the preseason, missed 18 games last season with injury. In fact, if you go to West's bio page on NBA.com, he's listed as being injured though technically he's on the Cavs inactive list for personal reasons. But the loss of West seems to be taking a toll on the Cavs that is greater than if he was sidelined with a sprained ankle. He's practicing with them, he's traveling with them, he's warming up with them. Then he disappears into the locker room and the Cavs struggle on the floor in areas where he could certainly help. It isn't something the team is used to and it isn't something they seem to be dealing with easily based on their play thus far. 'It definitely hurts us,' Mo Williams(notes) said. 'Look at what happened with (Kevin Garnett(notes)) with Boston last year, it doesn't matter the stature of the player, it is losing a valuable player. It's evident we miss him.'"

RealGM: "The NBA has pushed the deadline for contract extensions for all players from the 2006 draft class from Saturday to Monday, league spokesman Tim Frank confirmed Thursday [...] NBA front-office sources told ESPN.com that all 30 teams were notified via league memorandum earlier this week that the league's annual Oct. 31 deadline for players in the fourth year of their rookie-scale contracts, according to the collective-bargaining agreement, is moved to the next available business day if the deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday or federal holiday. Rajon Rondo(notes) and the Celtics are the parties most likely to be affected by pushing the deadline back. Andrea Bargnani(notes) (Toronto), No. 2 LaMarcus Aldridge(notes) (Portland), No. 6 Brandon Roy(notes) (Portland) and No. 13 Thabo Sefolosha(notes) (Oklahoma City) are the only members of the class to sign extensions."

Benjamin Hochman, The Denver Post: The Portland faithful painfully climbed the Rose Garden stairs, a few folks occasionally peered down at the court, as if maybe, just maybe, it didn't actually happen. But it did - down one point to Denver with 4.6 seconds left, Greg Oden(notes) missed two free throws, and the Nuggets proceeded to win Thursday's thriller, 97-94. It's not even November, and the Nuggets have notched what could be the biggest win of the season. Consider this: It was against arguably Denver's toughest division foe. It was the second game of a back-to-back, after the Nuggets arrived at their Portland hotel at 4 a.m. Denver played without suspended sharpshooter J.R. Smith(notes). And it was a road win at the thunderous and thorny Rose Garden. Things are getting real fun, real fast. [...] 'The first two games, they weren't just important, they were battles, two fights we had to win,' said Denver forward Carmelo Anthony(notes), who scored a game-high 41 points."

Carol Slezak, Chicago Sun-Times: "During the pregame festivities, Benny the Bull climbed a very tall ladder to bang a drum. And when the Bulls' starting lineup was announced, the players ran down to the court from the stands. The ladder stunt might have been more dangerous, but the sight of the gangly Joakim Noah(notes) navigating those steps was definitely more nerve-wracking. It's a good thing the home opener happens only once a season because the pregame hijinks are not for the faint of heart. The game itself went surprisingly smoothly for the Bulls, who beat the San Antonio Spurs 92-85. 'It was an excellent win for us,' coach Vinny Del Negro said. Yes, it was. I don't know if it will last, but the Bulls actually looked serious about playing defense and attacking the boards against the Spurs. Maybe they'll learn to like playing this way because it really does make things a lot easier. Especially on the road. With the first game in the books, the grind is under way. How good can the Bulls be this season? Expectations range from 'they won't go anywhere' to 'they could be pretty good.' Throw out the extremes, and we could be looking at another .500 season. Would that be acceptable?"

Marcus Thompson II, Oakland Tribune: "The general consensus among the Warriors is that second-year guard Anthony Morrow(notes) needs more shots. 'He's probably the greatest shooter I've ever coached,' coach Don Nelson said. 'And I've had some good ones, but no one like Morrow. You've got to know where he is at all times.' Morrow took seven shots in 22 minutes, making three, during Wednesday's season-opening home loss to Houston. One of them was a 3-pointer in the final seconds, but his game-tying attempt over two defenders was off the mark. Part of the reason he missed the last-second shot was that he had no rhythm. He had just checked in after sitting for most of the fourth quarter. When he was on the court, he averaged one shot every three minutes of playing time. [...] The easy solution for Nelson is to tell the Warriors' primary offensive options — guard Monta Ellis(notes), swingman Stephen Jackson(notes) and forward Corey Maggette(notes) — to share the ball. Wednesday, they combined to take 50 shots, making 20."

AP: "The New Jersey Nets have exercised contract options on starters Courtney Lee(notes), Brook Lopez(notes) and Yi Jianlian(notes) for the 2010-11 seasons. The Nets on Thursday also declined to exercise the fourth-year contract option on forward Sean Williams(notes), the team's first-round draft pick in 2007 and the 17th pick overall. The options that the Nets picked up on Lopez and Lee were for their third seasons. Lopez will earn $2.41 million, while Lee will get $1.34 million. The option on Yi is for his fourth season and it will earn him just over $4 million. Williams would have earned $2.5 million had the team pick up his fourth-year option."

Mike Ganter, Toronto Sun: "Marco Belinelli shook off a pre-season shooting slump to contribute a bench-high 10 points in the Raptors season-opening win Wednesday. Yesterday, with the team still basking in the glow of their upset over the Cleveland Cavaliers, Belinelli had one more reason to smile. General manager Bryan Colangelo pulled him aside after practice and informed the 23-year-old Italian that the Raptors were exercising the team option on his rookie-scale contract. The decision means Belinelli now is guaranteed a job through the end of next season."

Broderick Turner, L.A. Times: "Lakers forward Pau Gasol(notes) missed practice again today because of his strained right hamstring and the team said that Gasol also will not play in Friday night's game against the Dallas Mavericks at Staples Center. However, the Lakers said they hope Gasol will be able to play Sunday, in the team's third game of the season, when they host the Atlanta Hawks. Gasol has been bothered by the hamstring injury for more than two weeks and he missed the Lakers' last six exhibition games."

Dave Toplikar, Las Vegas Sun: "Las Vegas could be moving down the court a little faster on a 20,000-seat downtown sports arena. That's what Mayor Oscar Goodman said today at his weekly press conference, following up on his plans to have the Las Vegas City Council next week look at an exclusive contract with The Cordish Companies to start planning it out. 'These are serious people. These are not people who are operating on a wing and a prayer,' Goodman said. 'Cordish has a proven track record. They don't have time to play games.' [...] Goodman said he had worked hard to get NBA officials and owners interested in the arena. 'I believe as soon as we have an arena - this is my belief, I have nothing that is signed in blood, there's no contract — but I believe we'll have a team,' he said."

Related: Monta Ellis, J.R. Smith, Mo Williams, Carmelo Anthony, Pau Gasol, Corey Maggette, Stephen Jackson, Thabo Sefolosha, Kevin Garnett, Anthony Morrow, Andrea Bargnani, Brook Lopez, Courtney Lee, Sean Williams, Greg Oden, Yi Jianlian, Joakim Noah, Delonte West, Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Rajon Rondo, Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, New Jersey Nets, San Antonio Spurs, Suicide lines