The Final Score: The heat is on the Heat

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh; what have you done? You play one lousy game, just the first of a very long season, and the world goes upside down. I hear the horrific thud of brass knuckles. Limbs are being torn and eyes are being gouged in internet back-alleys. Oh the horror. Families are now divided. Friends have turned foes. After one game, the civil war is on.

I am amused, disturbed. I hear dismissive chuckles, death knells too. How can the Three Kings of South Beach divide the NBA hoi polloi so easily? They join forces to dominate the league. Yet all they muster on opening night are 17 turnovers (8 from James, 6 from Wade) and the ability to make the antediluvian Boston Celtics look like the preppy Oklahoma City Thunder. In the aftermath, fans either blame the Heat's performance to adjustment or blame the Big Three for not being so big after all.

Yes, I am overreacting to the overreaction. Grand schemes create grand expectations. Besides, talking about the Los Angeles Lakers is so 2008…no, I mean 2009…or June 2010 at best. It's boring. The Lakers beat the Rockets on opening night. Ho hum. Kobe Bryant goes 27, 5 and 7 (and just one turnover, oops). So what? Despite a superb performance from Houston's stars - opening night's real Big Three (Aaron Brooks 24 points, Kevin Martin 26 points and Luis Scola 18 points 16 rebounds), the Lakers prevail with the poise of, what else, back-to-back champions. It's just another day in the sprawling office of Phil Jackson.

What goes on in LeBro'’s world during day one? When people say "Big Three", what they really say is "LeBron James". I don't believe this is a Lennon-McCartney dynamic. This is more like what Ely Buendia is to E-Heads. Uh oh, did I just start another cyber-rumble? Kobe wins like Kobe and it's no longer news. LeBron loses the first game of the season and the world rips in half. Wade and Bosh can disappear during the season and fans will still point the finger at number 6. The last player to polarize the scene this way was Kobe. Yet LeBron seems destined to spark the most number of online brawls in history. I like LeBron's new television commercial where he asks, "Should I be who you want me to be?" I just don't like the prevailing notion it tries to dispel. Is LeBron James the Willie Revillame of the NBA? Is he a joke and juggernaut at the same time?

(Closes eyes and takes deep breath) Let's relax. One loss doesn't make a season in the same way three stars don’t assure a title. Today, I saw two guys bludgeon each other on my Facebook page all because of one game. I don't know if LeBron goes all the way. But I do know this: the battle lines have been drawn. You’re either gallantly for the Heat or vehemently against it. There's no turning back. – GMANews.TV