Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman: Only one thing could have sent the start of this Thunder season spiraling from bad to worse, and given the team’s recent string of misfortune maybe we shouldn’t even be surprised that it actually happened. But in the second game? You’ve got to be kidding. Russell Westbrook joined the comically-long list of injured Thunder players when he left Thursday’s 93-90 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers with a right hand injury. The severity of the injury is unknown, but after receiving medical attention in the locker room Westbrook returned to the bench and appeared to be in good spirits as he watched most of the second half with his right hand wrapped. The Thunder was relying on its electric point guard to captain its injury-riddled roster for at least the first month of the season. Now, it’s anyone’s guess how soon Westbrook will be back. Westbrook will be re-evaluated Friday in Oklahoma City. He joins Kevin Durant (foot), Reggie Jackson (ankle), Jeremy Lamb (back), Mitch McGary (foot), Anthony Morrow (knee) and Grant Jerrett (ankle) on the injury list.

Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman: The Thunder’s preseason nightmare has turned into a regular-season horror story. Already ravaged by the most severe of injury bugs, OKC was dealt another crippling blow on Thursday night. Late in the second quarter of the Thunder’s loss to the Clippers, Russell Westbrook fractured the second metacarpal in his right hand. He will be re-evaluated by the team on Friday.

Vincent Bonsignore of the Los Angeles Daily News: As for the new “Be Relentless” advertising campaign, maybe it’s just a coincidence, but it fits the Clippers perfectly. The new owner and new beginning comes with much higher expectations. Sterling wasn’t just the Clippers’ biggest curse over the years, he was also their crutch. When in doubt, blame the inept owner. That’s all changed under Ballmer. And that raises the Clipper bar considerably. Be relentless, indeed. “I think for us, and I’m not trying to play on the word or the slogan or whatever it is. We have to be relentless in the season.” Rivers said. “I think when you’re trying to, especially in this conference, when you’re trying to establish yourself you have to attack the season through the season. You can’t have a lot of bad nights or you’ll lose the game. And it will come back and haunt you later.” At least now the Clippers are responsible for their own fate. Sterling is long gone, their biggest curse and greatest crutch is no longer around to screw things up or be the excuse for the failures. You get the idea the Clippers won’t be needing many excuses from here on out, though.

Bill Livingston of The Plain Dealer: LeBron James had a very difficult night, making only five of 15 shots for 17 points with a stunning eight turnovers. After a strong start, with off-the-ball movement that was crisp and purposeful, the Cavs overpassed (seven times on one possession after the ball was already in the paint, ending in a turnover), defended without vim, and often looked like a team that had only played together for a few weeks. This is of course exactly what they are. It will take an adjustment period, both for the big board and for play execution to even remotely match expectations. ... Thursday night was supposed to have been for the fans, whose fervor James respects even more after he rekindled it. James is back for one ring here, 50 years in the pursuit and counting, one worth more to the city and to his legacy than any sought in the fantasy movies by hobbits and elves. "Obviously it was a special night, not only for myself, but for everybody. I'm glad it was great," said James. "But I'm also glad it's over." "Play the game, not the occasion," new coach Blatt said he told his team before the game. Not Thursday night. The Cavs lost the homecoming game to a team closer to the Washington Generals than a contender.

Frank Isola of the New York Daily News: LeBron James could not have played any worse, from the opening tap to the final buzzer. And this was his homecoming, no less, a day James matter-of-factly called “probably one of the biggest sporting events that is up there ever.” If you say so, LeBron. But if you’re the one hyping the game like a boxing promoter, you’d better come out flying. James came out flat and stayed flat as Derek Fisher recorded his first career coaching victory in the Knicks’ surprising 95-90 win over the Cavaliers Thursday night. “It was a huge night,” James said afterward at his locker. “It was exciting for the fans, exciting for the city. Now we can just play basketball.” It was an exercise in futility against a beaten-down Knicks team that had been embarrassed 24 hours earlier in their season opener against the Chicago Bulls. James may never get another chance to make a second impression. In his first game back in a Cavs uniform, James looks as bad as he did in his last game in one. Funny thing is, his night looked an awful lot like the last biggest-ever sporting event in Cleveland. That was in 2010 against the Boston Celtics when James stood passively in the corner as the Cavs’ season was slipping away. That defining performance was James’ final home game in a Cavs uniform until Thursday, a night all of Ohio had been waiting for since LeBron announced he was taking his talents to South Beach. Anyone have any idea when that talent is being shipped back?

Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: Dan DeVos was talking about his father, Magic owner Rich DeVos, 88, before the club's 105-98 home-opening loss Thursday night to the Washington Wizards. He said Rich's health is good. It might even better than his team's. "He's got a bruise on his leg, but he's tough," Dan said. "You know Dad: He won't give up." The Magic are going to need to be as resilient as their owner this season. And they maybe need to ask for help from a higher authority if they keep turning over the ball every three seconds. ... Orlando also is being ignored to an extent in Orlando. There were plenty of empty seats at Amway Center, not surprisingly, given the product in progress. Patrons have seen lousy basketball the past two seasons without Dwight Howard. "We fought back. It's a learning process," Vucevic said. "We had a lot of those the past two years." More are ahead. The question is whether the Magic can grow to be as tough and resilient as their owner.

J. Michael of CSN Washington: When John Wall orchestrates a masterful floor game, with 30 points, 12 assists and just two turnovers, this is a 50-win team. Their offense stalled in the fourth quarter as they tried to run out the clock rather than put away Orlando. But Wall's ball security has the Wizards starting the season averaging just 13 turnovers per game. They didn't make shots for a while, but they didn't create easy buckets for the opponent by giving the ball away. The defense still needs work. The Magic are far from an elite team and made 37 of 72 shots overall, or 51.4 percent.

Tom Powers of the Pioneer Press: This is all new to Flip Saunders. Usually, a coach wants to ride his starters for as long as he can. He often has a sixth man, and sometimes a seventh man, that he really trusts. Last year, Minnesota's bench was horrid. Now you can't tell the starters from the subs. "That's a luxury a coach has, but it's tough," Saunders said. "Because as coach, when you work with these guys every day, you work with them, you have demands of them, the reward is to play in games. When you can't play them as much as you'd like to, or they'd like, it's tough." Yes, and there eventually could be some strife when a veteran or two starts squawking. "Some guys didn't play," Flip noted. "Chase (Budinger) didn't play. Some guys, I know, are not playing as many minutes as they want. And a lot of times you go in there and guys had their heads hanging. And we had no head-hangers. I think everybody knows what we're trying to do as a franchise." Give it time. But for right now, the Wolves' strength is in their numbers. And on Thursday night the mob ruled.

Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News: Despite the Pistons making a 19-point comeback against the young Minnesota Timberwolves on the back of a veteran player who's seen it all, Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy seemed to direct all his ire toward a group that, in his words, "were willing to let the game go." The starting five of Brandon Jennings, Josh Smith, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Singler and Andre Drummond allowed the Timberwolves to blow open a one-point game at halftime to 11 in the blink of an eye, while Jennings and Drummond started barking at the officials before the lead ballooned to 19 minutes later, after a 27-5 run. Van Gundy, clearly irked, pulled Jennings after a technical foul for D.J. Augustin and didn't turn his way again, either planting the seeds for a lineup change or trying to straighten Jennings out before the season goes along any further. ... Jennings, who played 20 minutes in the opener against Denver, played just 16 against Minnesota and tried his best to hide his disappointment. He asked the media members at his locker, "He didn't tell you why? He didn't tell you guys?" When someone replied Van Gundy said Augustin was playing better, Jennings quipped, "Then he should start and I'll be the backup, if that's the case. That's all I got."

Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune: Big D it was not. At least, not for the Utah Jazz anyway. Since the very first day of training camp, new coach Quin Snyder has put a premium on getting stops, running his young team through hours of drills and preaching the importance of the discipline of defense. But through two games, both losses for the Jazz, the effort hasn’t been there when it matters. "I don’t want to make any kind of sweeping statement about trends, but yeah, I’m concerned," Snyder said after the Jazz’s 120-102 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday. "You’re concerned if you play bad defense for one game, so two games ..." Well, that’s the reality for the 0-2 Utah Jazz right now. On opening night, the Jazz watched the Houston Rockets shoot 52 percent from the floor. On Thursday, the Mavericks shot 55 percent.

Gil Lebreton of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: On the one hand, you could say that sending the Utah Jazz here, after playing in Houston only 24 hours ago, was the Mavericks’ easiest layup of the night. But, no, there actually turned out to be lots of easy layups and head-rattling dunks for the Dallas Mavericks on this first night of their NBA home schedule. Coach Rick Carlisle attributed the offensive side of his team’s 120-102 victory Thursday to “good spacing,” and he was mostly right. More accurately, though, the Mavericks rained baskets on the outmanned Jazz both in close quarters and from distant corners. The Mavericks scored on their first nine trips down the floor, and the night’s tenor was set. With three minutes to play in the first half, Carlisle had already mostly cleared his bench, and the Mavericks were running away with things 65-35. Afterward, Carlisle graciously made public note of what the NBA schedule-makers did to Utah. “Hey, we played a team that was on the second night of a back-to-back,” Carlisle said. “They were tired.” The NBA returns the favor next week, he pointed out. “We have to play these guys again a week from tonight in Utah on the second night of a back-to-back,” Carlisle said. “And it’s always a meat grinder when you play them because they play so hard.” A meat grinder it was Thursday, but it was the Mavericks, talented and deep, who did the grinding.