By Mike Kahn
SportsLine Executive Editor

SEATTLE -- Overtime on opening night.

It began early and never stopped.

The introduction ate up six minutes. Sparklers flew off the head of a dressed up Sasquatch, the home team's mascot. Smoke billowed from the entrance where the Seattle SuperSonics would be introduced, as scantily dressed dancers shucked and jived around the floor to blaring music. Sirens followed the dancers out to the floor and then it was even more obvious, the dancers were the sirens.

Thirty seconds into this ludicrously overdone display, the Dallas Mavericks headed back to their locker room. Shortly thereafter, fireworks began, colorful spotlights circled KeyArena. The Sonics were finally brought out one by one. No doubt, the circus had finally returned to town.

WELCOME TO THE NBA SEASON WITHOUT a hyphen, the Silly Season with only 50 regular-season games after just two weeks of training camp. So many players changed addresses, it was like a fantasy basketball draft in real life.

And yes, games were played from coast to coast Friday night, with the Sonics finally beating the Mavericks in overtime, 92-86. Just like old times, All-NBA guard Gary Payton scored 28 points to lead the Sonics to victory.

Despite the 204-day lockout and general fan apathy, the player transition created enormous interest and the true basketball fans all showed up, selling out nearly every arena from coast to coast.

In KeyArena, the fans appeared to love all the pre-game garbage, right up to tip-off. Nobody would ever compare this to a game typically played the first week of February. After three months of no games, nobody would ever mistake this for elegant basketball.

By the end of the third quarter, with the Mavs leading 67-64, the best players from each team -- Payton (6-of-16) and the Mavs' Michael Finley (3-of-12) -- were a combined 9-of-28 from the field. They often resembled iron-workers more than basketball players.

Nonetheless, the fans loved it. The place rocked with the same pace as it always has for Sonics games. Throughout the contest, different Sonics would appear on the scoreboard screen with semi-sincere thanks to the fans for returning despite the tattered season. Said Sonics guard Hersey Hawkins, "Thank you for coming back ... I've always said the greatest basketball fans in the world are in Seattle."

Shawn Bradley and the Mavericks held on for a while, but couldn't outlast the Sonics. (AP)

All that lacked was an applause sign considering such contrived antics.

AND YET, WITH SEVEN MINUTES LEFT, THE score was tied and the NBA was back in business. Payton and Vin Baker were making slick feeds for easy layups as the Sonics took the lead. The Mavericks battled back behind the typical garbage buckets from Cedric Ceballos (who actually looked like his fat older brother), scoring from implausible angles with either hand.

Anxiety hung in the rafters as if nothing had ever happened to detract from this NBA season. When Finley finally sank a 3-pointer to tie the score with 3:40 left, you knew it was going to be a thriller. It mattered little that the shooting was often horrendous. Or that Mavs guard Steve Nash at one point had a wide-open lane to the basket on a fast break only to attempt a left-handed (he's right-handed) behind-the-back pass that went out of bounds.

Ah, the Silly Season.

Out of shape, out of sync, out of mind -- that's what Friday figured to be.

None of that mattered.

It was still the NBA. When a desperation 3-pointer from Nash clanged long to A.C. Green, Payton hacked him. With the scored tied at 84, the Mavs had the ball and called timeout with 4.9 seconds left. The fans loved it. The players were into it. Everything was back to normal as they went into overtime, setting up the eventual Seattle victory.

Isn't adaptability grand?