ESPN Insider: Jon Barry makes the Elias Sports Bureau

Elias Says ...
By Elias Sports Bureau, Inc.
Special to ESPN Insider

• The Bulls were down by 21 points entering the fourth quarter and rallied to beat Charlotte 109-105 in overtime. It was only the sixth time in the last 50 years that an NBA team won a game after trailing by 21-or-more points at the end of the third quarter. The previous largest comeback of that kind in a season opener was 19 points. On Oct. 19, 1974, Phoenix led Kansas City-Omaha 73-54 at the end of three quarters, but the Kings came back to win, 94-91.

• Chris Duhon is the first NBA player in five years to record a triple-double in a season opener. Jason Kidd (Phoenix) and Gary Payton (Seattle) each did that on Oct. 31, 2000.

• The Rockets defeated the Kings 98-89 and the leading scorer in the game was - of all people - Jon Barry with 24 points. It was only the second time in Barry's 802-game NBA career that he was a game's high scorer. The other instance was on Jan. 18, 1994, when he scored 21 points for Milwaukee in a win against Detroit.

• The Heat won in Memphis, 97-78. Last year, Miami won at New Jersey on opening night, 100-77. Only one other team in NBA history won back-to-back season-opening games on the road, each by at least 15 points. The Lakers did that in three straight seasons from 1971-72 to 1973-74.

Shaquille O'Neal found a few roadblocks, Lorenzen Wright being one, against the Grizzlies.
• Shaquille O'Neal was held to 12 points in Miami's victory, tying Shaq's career low for a season-opening NBA game. His other 12-point performance came in his professional debut on Nov. 6, 1992. O'Neal's Magic beat Miami that night, 110-100.

• LeBron James scored 25 points on opening night as a rookie in 2003 and 28 points in Cleveland's first game last season. With 31 points on Wednesday night, James became only the third NBA player in the last 40 years to score 25-plus points in a season opener in each of his first three years in the league. Grant Hill (25-29-25) did that as did Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (29-32-31).

• The Celtics beat the Knicks 114-100 in overtime. That's the largest margin of victory in an overtime game in almost 15 years -- since Dallas beat the Lakers 112-97 on Dec. 12, 1990.

• The Bucks have opened the season with road victories on back-to-back nights. Only one other NBA team in the last eight seasons did that. Last year, the Wizards started 2-0, with road wins on consecutive nights.

• Michael Redd and Allen Iverson have each begun the season by scoring at least 30 points in back-to-back games. No NBA player in the previous two seasons scored 30-plus points in each of the first two games of the season. The last player to do it was Atlanta's Glenn Robinson in 2002-2003.