October 25 arrived.
The brand-new season that fans had been eagerly awaiting—the 2023–2024 regular season—was finally set to tip off that day!
However, Knicks fans were slightly disappointed that the league had not scheduled a game for their team that day.
The two opening-night matchups on the 25th were the Golden State Warriors against the Brooklyn Nets, followed by the Oklahoma Thunder against the Phoenix Suns.
One featured last season's Finals opponents, while the other pitted the two hottest contenders in the Western Conference against each other.
Their clashes were bound to draw plenty of attention.
That was precisely why the league had chosen them for opening night.
In the end, all four teams lived up to the expectations of the league and its fans, delivering two thrilling, high-quality battles that went right down to the wire.
When the final buzzer sounded in the Nets–Warriors game, Brooklyn had edged out the Warriors by four points, winning 127–123.
Perhaps it was thanks to getting plenty of rest over the summer.
That night, James Harden shook off the poor form he had shown in the playoffs!
In his very first game of the new season, he put up a spectacular 36 points, 7 rebounds, and 12 assists, leading his team to a successful revenge win.
Though... before the game began, they still had to watch their opponents receive, one by one, the championship rings that had remained forever out of their own reach...
That might also have been part of what motivated Harden, Durant, and the others to erupt that night.
But there was no getting around it: the regular season was still just the regular season.
The league was not going to award you a championship simply because you delivered a brilliant performance on opening night.
And compared with that opening-night