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NBA Week in Review: Kevin Love talks cereal, recapping big debuts and more

A look back the NBA’s best offerings this week both on and off the court.

Welcome to the NBA Week in Review, a look back at the week's best offerings on and off the court. Today, we have the return of Kevin Durant, the DeAndre Jordan saga and a ruined childhood just three nights into the regular season. 

Game of the Week

Dallas Mavericks vs. Los Angeles Clippers. This game had everything. Mark Cuban is still super salty about DeAndre Jordan. Lance Stephenson is already dribbling too much and sleeping on defense. Dirk Nowitzki got into a mild altercation. The Clippers eventually won because they are a much better team than the Mavericks. But when Chris Paul is hitting reverse layups off spin dribbles and we get to re-live the DeAndre saga, everyone is a winner. 

One Up, One Down

A big up for C.J. McCollum, who scored a career-high 37 points in the opener for Portland. The Trail Blazers will struggle this season, but watching a young player like McCollum have a chance to grow will make their season watchable. But what is with this lame #tbt on Instagram, C.J.? Is this a video of a photo? Who does that? I had to click play to look at a still image. Give me something from your childhood, or don’t #tbt at all. 

Rookie Watch

Jahlil Okafor’s most memorable moment as a 76er before the regular season was looking super dejected at his welcome press conference. He quickly changed the narrative in his first game, scoring 10 points within the first six minutes of his career. We’ll try to keep track of at least one standout rookie performance—good or bad—in this space every week. For now, you can head here to see how most of the top picks fared in their regular season debuts. 

Tweet(s) of the Week

That show used to bang. 

#CuBOMB.

Vine(s) of the Week

#https://vine.co/v/eY3uvtgZ3Qw

PorSPINgis.

Kiss Cam gets me every time. 

#https://vine.co/v/eY3UgHrerEw

The kind of acting you only learn from Kia commercials. 

Roundup

Some NBA stories of interest...

Grantland’s Kirk Goldsberry dove deep into Russell Westbrook’s underrated playmaking ... This Andrea Bargnani airball was almost the end for Lionel Hollins ... Thabo Sefolosha tells his story of the assault by the NYPD to GQ ... Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck has a fascinating feature on Kevin Durant’s pivotal season ... How the Pistons plan to uncover the NBA’s secrets ... I wrote about why your team won’t win an NBA title this season ... Will Carmelo Anthony have the patience to wait out the Knicks’ rebuild? ... ESPN’s Mike Wallace writes the Miami Heat insist their LeBron hangover is finished, even if they’re all still friends.

Ben Golliver’s YouTube Corner

SI.com staffer Ben Golliver thinks our attention spans are too short, so he recommends we watch basketball the way it was meant: via YouTube. 

The Fashion Spot

Dwyane Wade released the Way of Wade 4.0’s last week, his latest shoe with Chinese company Li-Ning. The special “Liberty” editions are on sale now, if the blue-green toothpastey thing is your look: 

Also, Russell Westbrook looked fabulous before the Thunder’s opener against the Spurs. The jacket probably costs more than everything I own:

The One-Question Interview

Off-the-court only...

SI.com: Do you eat cereal ever? What’s your favorite kind of cereal milk?

Kevin Love: I eat cereal very rarely. Every now and then I will go on a cereal kick, but I would say I eat cereal like twice a year. My favorite has to be Cocoa Puffs, because of the chocolate milk.

(For more from Love on milk and basketball, check out SI.com next week)

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