Lots of hype and injuries galore mark the start of another NBA season

Sports Illustrated’s Lee Jenkins apparently wasn’t available to help LeBron James craft his first remarks upon his return to Cleveland.

“There’s no place like home,” James said in a video presentation inside Quicken Loans Arena on Thursday before the Cavaliers opener. It sounded more like something produced by Hallmark than Jenkins, whose heartfelt account of James’ decision to go back to his hometown team had momentarily turned The King into The Bard.

Mercifully, the New York Knicks spared everyone a sappy ending, beating the emotionally overwhelmed James and the Cavaliers in what James had regrettably billed as “one of the biggest sporting events ever.”

The only truly humongous things were the hype and the Humongotron, the name the Cavaliers bestowed on their new scoreboard.

In a victory for the little guy, Travis Wear, the undrafted forward out of UCLA who wasn’t even a star for the Bruins, defended James for stretches and helped harass him into a five-for-15 shooting performance that resulted in 17 points to go with eight turnovers.

James was James again the next day against the Chicago Bulls, scoring 36 points in a Cavaliers victory.

Everything usually regresses to the mean during an NBA season, though there were a few outliers during the opening week.

The Oklahoma City Thunder could be going four on four in practice for a while, after Russell Westbrook joined fellow All-Star Kevin Durant and literally half of their teammates on the bench in street clothes. (Well, for Westbrook it’s more like bizarre outfits that would make Mr. Blackwell wince.)

Westbrook broke a bone in his right hand while fighting for a rebound in the second quarter of Oklahoma City’s loss to the Clippers, forcing the Thunder to go with third-string point guard Sebastian Telfair. As if trying to fit in, Telfair has been playing with a sprained right thumb for nearly a month.

Westbrook will be out for at least four weeks, meaning the Thunder faces the very real possibility of sliding into the lower tier of Western Conference playoff teams and opening the postseason on the road, away from the earsplitting comforts of Loud City.

The teams with home-court advantage in the first round will be jockeying over the final weeks of the season to avoid an opening matchup against a presumably intact Thunder roster. San Antonio Coach Gregg Popovich could rest star players, assistant coaches and any trainer with a roll of tape.

Chicago’s Derrick Rose went down again Friday, making fans hold their breath until they were as red as a Bulls uniform. Thankfully, it was only a sprained ankle, but one has to wonder if the former league most valuable player will ever make it through a full season again without sustaining a serious injury.

“The gods are testing me right now,” said Rose, who has been limited to 12 games since the start of the 2012-13 season.

The Lakers invoked another phrase involving a higher power: The gods must be crazy.

Prized rookie Julius Randle was lost with a season-ending injury, the latest blow for a franchise that should trade in the Los Lakers jerseys it occasionally wears for Lost Lakers ones.

The last time the Lakers fell to 0-3 with a loss to the Clippers, their coach was fired the next week.

At least Byron Scott, hired with the knowledge that this season could be an epic struggle, doesn’t have to worry about suffering that fate. Whew.

Of course, it also wasn’t exactly a banner — get it? — start for the Clippers, alleged championship contenders who posted ragged victories over the NBA equivalent of a junior varsity team (injury-depleted Oklahoma City) and a freshman squad (Lakers).

Maybe someone should insert a line in the new Clippers credo about trying to help the league’s poor, huddled masses. Get on it, Steve Ballmer. You can probably afford Jenkins’ going rate.

Twitter: @latbbolch