Cavs Ring in New Season with a Win

As one would expect, both teams started out rather slowly and rust was an obvious factor early on. Neither team shot over 40% from the floor to start the game. Kevin Love opened up relatively strong, totaling 10 points and nine boards in the first half of play. LeBron James also started the new campaign right where he finished off his last one. James filled up the stat book with 12 points, seven boards, and seven assists en-route to his 43^rd career triple double. The second half was much better for the Cavaliers as a team as they blew out New York 118-88.

On a night where everything that happened before tip-off blew out the game in terms of importance, the Cavaliers managed to show up for the actual game and continue right where they left off last June.

Three Swords Up

1. LeBron James looks absolutely nothing like he should at 31 years of age. James was absolutely stellar in the opener totaling 19 points, 14 helpers and 11 boards. There were several instances where it looked as if a younger version of the league’s best player. Multiple high rising fast-dunks highlighted tonight’s contest, along with an incredibly impressive block at the rim. James looks to be playing extremely loose and care-free. This could be bad news for the rest of the NBA.
2. Kevin Love looked very engaged defensively. Yes, seriously. It is unlikely that Love is ever going to be a lockdown defender. In fact, he won’t be. Tonight it looked as if he was far from a liability defensively. Part of this could be due to offensive rust on the Knicks end, but I’m going to take this as a good sign moving forward for Cleveland.
3. The Big 3 thrived. When the Cavaliers signed James and traded for Love in the summer of 2014 they had to have imagined nights similar to this one. As mentioned previously, James recorded his 43^rd career triple-double, Love finished with 23 points and 12 boards, and Irving lead all scorers with 29 points. When these three play up to their potential, they’re going to continue to give opponents fits.

1. 2^nd Quarter let down. As we have become accustomed to over the past few seasons, the Cavaliers have a tendency to get out to a lead early on, and then allow the opposition to creep back into the contest. After the first period the lead for the Cavs was 10, but in the 2^nd, the lead got down to two at one point, and was set at three at halftime. In the second half the Cavs were able to turn it on and outscore the Knicks by 15 in the 3^rd.
2. As mentioned at the beginning, both teams seemed to be rusty at the start. Neither team was able to shoot very well early on. The Cavs started the game going 4-21 from deep in the first half, and picked it up going 5-9 in the 3^rd. Poor shooting was to be expected, but nonetheless, unpleasant to watch.
3. Iman Shumpert dinged up, again. In the third period it looked as if Iman Shumpert was hit in the face with the ball and laid on the floor for a few minutes. Shumpert did not return to the game with ‘concussion-like symptoms.’