The NBA season begins Tuesday night, when the Oklahoma City Thunder host the Houston Rockets and raise their first championship banner.

In the nightcap on NBC, the Warriors will visit the Lakers in Los Angeles.

The league completely eschewed the Eastern Conference on its first showcase night in four months, indicating it understands something many fans have felt for some time now: The West is the far better conference.

That’s especially true this year as Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton are recovering from Achilles tears in the playoffs and likely to miss all of this season.

Can the Thunder climb above Denver, Minnesota, the Los Angeles teams and the Warriors to repeat as champs? Will the Knicks or Cavaliers break through to reach the Finals from the East? And can

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