It's an eventful opening week in the Atlantic Division, where the defending division champs opened their season last night with a loss in Miami. Despite Hurricane Sandy, the battle of New York will proceed as scheduled tomorrow, with the Knicks traveling to Brooklyn to face the Nets. And the 76ers' big offseason acquisition, Andrew Bynum, remains out indefinitely with knee troubles. As a pair of Atlantic teams (the Sixers and Raptors) prepare to host their home openers tonight, let's round up a few more links from around the division:
- Looking ahead to the matchup against the Nets tomorrow, Carmelo Anthony noted that his own situation could have played out much differently (link via Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com). "When I used to sit back and reflect on what happened throughout that whole trade process and the whole quote, unquote Melo-Drama that was going on," Anthony said. "I could have easily been sitting there with a Brooklyn Nets jersey on at this very moment."
- The Raptors' roster is finally composed of pieces that make sense, writes Bruce Arthur of the National Post.
- John Smallwood of the Philadelphia Daily News compares the Sixers' summer acquisition of Bynum to the team's signing of Moses Malone decades earlier, though he warns that the championship impact almost certainly won't be as immediate.
- Not all of the Celtics' offseason additions were particularly impressive in the team's opener against the Heat, but the newest Celtic, Leandro Barbosa, was a bright spot, writes Matt Porter at ESPNBoston.com.