BATON ROUGE — LSU players got off to a good start in the 2008-09 NBA season when Chicago Bulls forward Tyrus Thomas went for 15 points and 10 rebounds in a 41-minute starting performance Tuesday night in opening night play of the National Basketball Association.
The Bulls defeated the Milwaukee Bucks, 108-95.
Also Tuesday night, the Boston Celtics received their championship rings for their 2008 World Championship and included in that group was Glen Davis, who entered his second year in the league with the Celtics. He played 16 minutes in the Celtics 95-90 win over Cleveland and had two points and four rebounds.
Three more players from LSU were scheduled to go for their teams on Wednesday night with Stromile Swift and the New Jersey Nets facing Washington; Phoenix and Shaquille O’Neal will be at Sacramento and the New Orleans Hornets will travel to Golden State where rookie NBA player Anthony Randolph resides.
Swift will be in his ninth season in the league and second with the Nets after being traded in February 2008, while O’Neal, also traded to Phoenix in February from Miami, will go for his 17th year in the NBA. Randolph averaged 4.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in six preseason games.
The sixth LSU player on NBA rosters, Brandon Bass of the Dallas Mavericks, will begin his fourth season in the league on Thursday when the Mavs travel to Houston to take on the Rockets.