With the cancellation of the first two weeks of the season, 100 NBA games went down the drain.
Hang an asterisk on this season — these are games commissioner David Stern said are gone. He said there is no chance of making them up.
But what games are we now going to miss?
How about a great opening-night doubleheader — the Chicago Bulls heading into Dallas on the night the Mavericks raised the banner. Then a battle of generations as the Oklahoma City Thunder faced the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Lakers’ second game was to have Chris Paul come in and test Kobe Bryant. Not any more.
How about the Miami Heat vs. the New York Knicks? Gone. The Orlando Magic taking on the Heat? Gone.
The Bulls start their annual circus trip Nov. 13 — when the circus comes to the United Center and the Bulls are kicked out of the arena for weeks. Which means that if the owners and players figure this out in the next couple weeks and the season starts Nov. 15, the Bulls will be on the road for the first chunk of it.
The more likely scenario is that more games will get canceled and the entire trip will get wiped out. The league is going to do it in two-week increments — it’s more painful for fans that way.
And this is going to be a lot more painful before it ends.