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I traveled out to Brooklyn for the team's opening night. The first quarter began with ugliness, both teams missing the combined first nine shots before Nate "Tiny" Archibald nailed a 3 pointer. The rest of the period things heated up somewhat, and thanks to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 8 points, the Lakers held a slim 25-22 lead at the end of the first. Lucius Allen had picked up two fouls early in the first, forcing Dwight Lamar to get the majority of minutes. There's little question this Lakers squad was going to be built on defense - The Nets shot just 35% the first twelve minutes, though the Lakers were little better at 40%.
The second quarter was equally ugly, only this time my boys couldn't buy a shot with Rockefeller money, and so we went into the locker room down 41-44. Don Chaney, who I'd praised so much in my preview, was shooting us out of the game, making just 2 of his 11 shots, and not even M.L. Carr's 10 points on a lovely 4 for 5, with a block and steal besides. The Nets used a balanced game against us, though Nate Archibald was taking advantage of too much Dwight Lamar to give us fits, and though the halftime box score didn't reflect it, Al Skinner seemed to be in everyone's face and wreaking havoc.
We continued chipping away at the lead in the third, finally taking it and managing to hang on for a 72-67 advantage going into the final period. Kareem woke up in this one, scoring 10 points to hit the 20 mark. M.L. Carr contributed a lot as well, but though we were holding them to 36% shooting and hitting 47.2% ourselves, they had double our three pointers and 8 more free throw attempts at a higher percentage. This was not going to be an easy one, particularly since we'd had the advantage of Kim Hughes sitting out most of the period, which allowed Kareem to rip apart Jim Fox. Not that Kareem was completely flawless however. Twice Nate Archibald made him like stupid with deft, quick shots around the God of Basketball.
Sure enough, five straight points from Al Skinner early on cut our margin to two points. It was white-knuckle most of the rest of the way, particularly when Earl Tatum fouled out and we had to go forth with Don Cheney. But some magical defensive plays by M.L. Carr, Kareem Kareeming, and a couple key threes from our backcourt made it a 101-91 final, season-opening victory that was far, far closer than it looked. And it felt like we should have won by more, given the 47.2% to 39.5% field goal advantage, but it was still a victory.
No question as to Player of the Game. Kareem muscled his way to 29 points and 11 rebounds. M.L. Carr was exactly what the Lakers had hoped for, too. He had 18 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks, making 7 of 10. Kermit Washington also double-doubled with 15 points and 10 rebounds. But the backcourt defense continued to worry me. Nate Archibald, Robert Hawkins, and Al Skinner combined for 54 of Brooklyn's 91 points. Also troubling was Dwight Lamar getting 33 minutes of playing time. That wasn't going to cut it.
It may seem strange that I focused more on the negative aspects, instead of being thrilled at the win. But as I sat there in my crummy room in the Brooklyn Super 8, I was left alone with my thoughts. I usually called Mihshell after I filed my game report, just to hear the sound of her soft voice. And now I couldn't do that. Nor could I go into Manhattan and look for her - I didn't want to seem desperate, and besides, I still didn't know where she lived. No letter came in the three weeks since she'd been gone. And going to the Vogue offices... that was a movie move, and I already knew how that would turn out after the airport incident.
Instead, I sighed, and picked up Interview with the Vampire. The writing was wretched, but reading a vampire story was a welcome relief from the stresses and unhappiness plaguing me. I didn't want to go out in public, even it meant I might run into Mihshell. I'd be too likely to make a fool of myself. And yet, the sense that was she near... I was tempted. So tempted.
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