Cavs Drop Opening Night to Boston
The Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t get the start to the regular season that they were hoping for.
In a battle of two of the East’s best teams, the Boston Celtics one-upped the Cavs for a 95-89 win on Tuesday night at the Q.
Reigning MVP LeBron James was his usual ridiculous self, scoring 38 points, grabbing four rebounds, dishing eight assists, while notching two steals and blocking four shots. But the Cavs couldn’t get much else going, as the next highest scorer for Cleveland was PG Mo Williams, with 12 points.
The Cleveland offense often grinded to a halt, especially when James wasn’t in the game. The Cavs were still working out kinks, adjusting to life with their new 7 footer, four-time NBA champion Shaquille O’Neal. Shaq posted a double-double on his first night with the Cavs, scoring 10 points and adding 10 rebounds and a block in 29 minutes of work.
“We’d like to start off 1-0, but there are 100 games left,” said O’Neal, who sputtered after halftime and missed both his free throws in the game. “We’ll be fine. I’ve been on teams that started 0-1, 0-5, 5-0, 10-0. Nothing matters unless you win the whole thing.”
While Shaq’s self-proclaimed goal to “win a ring for the King” didn’t get off to the start the Cavs were hoping for, both teams gave each other nothing but respect after the game.
“Boston is a great team,” James said. “I think we can all say that we probably will see each other in the postseason. We will be around.”
