Each weekday morning, Ball Don't Lie serves up a handful of NBA-related stories to digest with your breakfast nachos.

Mike Jones, The Washington Times: Washington Wizards fans have wondered all summer and preseason which Gilbert Arenas(notes) they would get for the 2009-10 NBA season. The player who made only cameo appearances the past two seasons while recovering from three knee surgeries? The three-time All-Star, who could score with the best of them? Something in between? Shortly before his Wizards tipped off the season Tuesday night against the Dallas Mavericks, coach Flip Saunders admitted that he too was curious. 'I'm like everyone else — I'm waiting to see,' Saunders said. [...] Saunders got exactly what he wanted — the former MVP candidate — as Arenas led Washington to a 102-91 victory. The guard, playing in his first opener in two years, recorded a team-high 29 points and nine assists, fueling the Wizards to their first season-opening victory since 2005. 'If you want to be good, you've got to win on the road,' Arenas said. 'It feels good to win, but we've still got a lot more to play.'"

Ben Golliver, Blazersedge: With the Rose Garden (nearly) full, the television cameras rolling, all four local television stations in the house, and the games counting, Greg Oden(notes) played nervously. Period. Frustratingly so. He got called for offensive fouls, had the ball poked out of his hands, threw a bad pass, traveled, the list goes on. It was unfortunate to see because, in most people's minds, his solid preseason offensively (which no one saw) gets wiped away just like that. But after the game, Greg 'Giggles' Oden seemed more concerned about whether fashion paragon Jerryd Bayless(notes) approved of Oden's unusual aviator-esque sport coat than he did about his offensive struggles. For the record, Bayless didn't approve, prompting LaMarcus Aldridge(notes) to jump to Greg's defense, joking that Oden's one-of-a-kind jacket was 'Changing the game!' This cut everybody up, Oden included. When asked, Oden admitted that he was subject to opening night jitters. 'But it's the first game of the season, everybody has nerves.' As if to remind himself, he continued, 'You can't get nervous every game, you have to go out there and play and be ready.'" 

Bob Ryan, Boston Globe: "Whatever the state of Cavalier readiness, put this down as a very satisfying win for the Celtics, who were annihilated the last time they came here. This in fact, snapped a run of 16 consecutive Cavs home victories in this rivalry. Neither team had won in the other guy's gym since the Cavs beat the Celtics in whatever they were calling the Garden Jan. 3, 2007. 'That was a bad loss,' Rivers acknowledged about the whipping his team had received last spring. 'But I didn't bring it up.' 'Different team,' sniffed point guard Rajon Rondo(notes). 'Last year has nothing to do with this year.' It's a team that can, and will, beat people in many different ways. They've got scoring punch all over the floor. They will pass the basketball. They can rebound. They've got a bench. And they will guard you."

Bill Livingston, The Plain Dealer: "If Shaq is going to have an impact several orders of magnitude below decisive, even though it is early, that is not promising. If [LeBron] James is going to have to make chase-down blocks, drain 3s late in the shot clock, slash like a character from a gore movie, and orchestrate the offense — well, we have seen this plot before. The Cavs put time in a bottle Tuesday. But it is not the same as champagne. James finished with 38 points to go with eight assists. O'Neal had 10 points, only two in the second half, and 10 rebounds. O'Neal was 1-for-5 in the second half. The Celtics burned him with spot-up baseline jumpers by Kendrick Perkins(notes), who also snuffed Shaq when he tried a power move in the fourth quarter. Some of O'Neal's misses came on good looks. You simply have to live with that. The Cavs are carrying a heavy burden, not only in terms of history with the 45-year championship drought in all sports, but also because they are the only source of civic sports hope, given the Indians' rebuilding and the Browns' usual morass."

NBA Offseason 2009: "On a scale of 1-10, how great would it be if the Staples Center played the Adams Family theme music every time the Kardashians show up on the Jumbotron? I'd say just shy of a million."

Bill Plaschke, L.A. Times: "One by one they marched to the center of the Staples Center floor Tuesday, a parade of Lakers champions, gathered for the most unusual of championship ring ceremonies. These weren't the Lakers wearing the new diamonds. These were the Lakers who cut them. Jerry West, Norm Nixon, Jamaal Wilkes ... In the finest of this town's greatest sports traditions, an opening night intended to honor last season's Lakers' NBA champions first recognized the nine previous ones. Before celebrating what they won, the Lakers' organization celebrated why they win. James Worthy, Michael Cooper, Magic Johnson ... Nine former players, one for each title, not just photos on a wall, but live, large, as only the Lakers can do it. On their backs this organization was built, and at their feet the fans now roared."

Jonathan Feigen, Houston Chronicle: "The Blazers' size advantage with Yao Ming(notes) conspicuously missing from the middle was a factor but not nearly as much as it might have seemed. They outrebounded the Rockets 51-33, but the Rockets missed 51 shots to help Portland pad its rebounding stats. The Blazers scored only three more second-chance points. Portland blocked 12 shots, but much of that was from the Rockets forcing the ball inside rather than looking to drive and kick as the offense is designed. The Blazers gave the Rockets more trouble when they went small, using Travis Outlaw(notes) as a power forward. He had 23 points, making nine of 14 shots, most with Landry late to come out defensively to him. 'They played small on us, did a lot of switching, things like that,' Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. 'I just thought we tried to do everything one-on-one, and we made a lot of mistakes in the second quarter that gave them some easy baskets that were unnecessary. We're a work in progress, and we've got to build off what happened in the fourth quarter.'" 

Tim MacMahon, ESPNDallas: "After grabbing a microphone and giving a brief pep talk to the sellout crowd moments before his Dallas Mavericks debut, Shawn Marion(notes) gave the fans a glimpse of the impact he can make. Then he ran out of gas. The first seven minutes of Marion's tenure with the Mavericks were spectacular. He hit his first three shots and was active defensively as Dallas jumped out to a six-point lead over the Washington Wizards. Marion didn't make much more noise until garbage time of the Mavericks' 102-91 loss Tuesday night at the American Airlines Center. 'It's a rhythm game,' Marion said. 'I got out of rhythm a little bit. My legs got a little heavier.' His statistical line (16 points on 6-of-12 shooting, seven rebounds, three blocks and a steal) was fine. But Marion didn't make the Mavericks better most of his time on the floor. After his strong initial seven minutes, the Mavericks were outscored by 21 with Marion on the court."

RealGM/South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "A veteran NBA agent believes that Dwyane Wade(notes) will be the hardest of next summer's unrestricted free agents to retain. Wade, along with LeBron James(notes) and Chris Bosh(notes), could all be unrestricted free agents after the 2009-10 season if they don't take their player options for the 2010-11 season. 'I think D-Wade will be the toughest to retain of the high-profile free agents,' the agent told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "I just get the sense that he envies his buddy in Cleveland who has a better team around him.'"

Doug Smith, Toronto Star: "You can't touch it or smell it or measure it in any quantifiable manner. It's an elusive concept that many talk about but no one can really clearly define. Yet it may be the one thing that determines whether the Raptors' season, which opens Wednesday night as they host the Cleveland Cavaliers, is a wild success or an unqualified failure. It is team chemistry, which can be getting disparate personalities not familiar with each other to mesh into a cohesive unit or asking some to accept lesser roles for the common good or simply respecting each other as people and co-workers. Maybe the best way to put it is that the elusive 'chemistry' means never having to say you're sorry. 'It's being able to challenge each other,' said guard Jarrett Jack(notes). 'Getting on somebody when you feel they're not pulling their weight. Somebody getting on you and you being able to accept it and not take it personally.'"

Mike Cranston, AP: "Raja Bell wants to tough it out without being a liability. The Charlotte Bobcats likely need their starting shooting guard if they want a realistic shot at the playoffs. Tuesday was a day of optimism for both sides, with Bell hopeful he'll be able to play this season with a torn ligament in his left wrist and put off surgery that would sideline him up to four months. 'I'm going to (sit out) for another week to see if it continues to progress as it has, then I'll probably wind up playing,' Bell said after participating practice with his non-shooting hand heavily taped. 'If it doesn't, then we'll go back to the drawing board.' Bell was injured when his wrist bent awkwardly as he tried grab a loose ball in an exhibition game on Oct. 18. [...] Bell got a second opinion from a Chicago hand specialist who told him if he can withstand the pain, he can play. 'I'm pretty encouraged,' Bell said. 'It's feeling a lot better than it did. I still have some hurdles to clear with it, but I feel good.'"

Ailene Voisin, Sacramento Bee: "So what should the Kings expect from [Spencer] Hawes? More consistent rebounding. A greater willingness to absorb contact down low. More offense generated in the low post. More resistance underneath. More of everything. This isn't to suggest that Hawes should suddenly emulate a frontcourt bruiser; he has neither the physique nor the inclination. Shaq and the other brutes will continue to bump him out of the post. But he has enough length, agility, strength and intelligence to counter force with finesse, with movement, with the occasional hard foul. 'I want him to be the best Spencer Hawes(notes) that he can be,' [Paul] Westphal said. 'I think he has so many things, he tells himself so many things, that he paralyzes himself from doing what he does best.' For the record, Westphal's apparent decision to start Sean May(notes) and bring Hawes off the bench for tonight's season opener at Oklahoma City qualifies as his first gutsy move, his center's shaky preseason notwithstanding. This isn't a young Kevin McHale playing sixth man behind Cedric Maxwell. Pressed about his reasoning, Westphal said he is concerned about the tendency of Hawes and Jason Thompson(notes) to get into foul trouble, a situation compounded by the club's lack of size. To his credit, Hawes is disappointed, but he isn't pouting. He even understands. Sort of."

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