Won't be no 82-0

The game could never equal the hype,but no one (me included) saw the New York Knicks ,coming off a home opening loss,traveling to Cleveland and upsetting the Cavaliers in the homecoming of LeBron James 95-90.

The Knicks didn't turn the ball over and managed to have an answer each time the Cavaliers scraped their way back into the game.

Kyrie Irving led the Cavaliers with 22 points with Kevin Love adding a double-double of 19 points and 14 rebounds.
LeBron James finished with 17 points but on a poor shooting night of 5 of 15 for the game.

Cleveland hits the road to Chicago and the Bulls tomorrow night.....

Swashbucklings

1) LeBron James was bad for him.
Eight turnovers and six of his 17 points at the line.

James looked to me to make one error in judgement-he didn't drive to the basket.

When James doesn't drive to the basket,he doesn't build up early fouls and the defense has to respect the drive and allow the uncontested jumper.

Didn't happen tonight...

2) Not a lot of help from the bench-just 12 points with six each from Tristan Thompson and Matthew Dellavedova.

That is going to put pressure on the starters for more minutes.

Let's see how that plays out as the season moves on.

3) Shawn Marion and Mike Miller are expected to be the keys to the second unit.

Neither scored a point and Miller saw just three minutes of play,

Interesting to watch...

4) Kevin Love finished with 19 points,but 12 of them came in the first quarter and often Love seemed isolated from the offense.

That's going to come in time.,

5) For all the hype of the David Blatt offense,I saw a lot of confusion and standing around.

Tons of pick and rolls and everything but what the offense was said to be.

It's game one,but Blatt looked a bit overcome by the moment.

6) Loved all the hype and pregame intros,but I could have done without the Spike Lees and Justin Biebers being around.

Some of that is part of being the best,but somehow I don't see this around the San Antonio Spurs...

7) This game looks bad and it was,but the bigger game is against the Bulls on the road.

Chicago is the only threat to the Cavaliers in the Eastern conference and this game can set the stage for future battles.

8) Anderson Varejao's game is hustle and yet I often saw him out-hustled a bit.

Perhaps that was confusion and will adjust over time,but again something to watch,..

Back later with the Devils win over Winnipeg