Ok, so maybe this is going to take a little while.
The Cavs on Oct. 30 unveiled Humongotron.
But enough about Lou Amundson.
Amundson was inactive on opening night – and so were most of the Cavaliers for most of the game. Even the active ones.
The party pooping New York Knicks, playing on the second night of a back-to-back games, ruined the Cavs’ opening night, welcome home LeBron James lovefest by doing the unthinkable.
Winning.
The gall.
It was a 95-90 Cavs loss on the night that was supposed to end with a Cavs win. For most of the night, the Knicks made the Cavs look a step slow, a step confused, and a step discombobulated.
The Cavs, in short, looked like a team with a lot of new players – which they are.
It was a night that was supposed to be a salute to the official return of the prodigal global icon. Three months after The Revision, LeBron James is back in his hometown, playing for his hometown team, wearing his hometown uniform and creating hometown grid lock on the streets of Cleveland that you wouldn’t believe.
Word to the wise: when you leave home for Game 7 of the Finals vs. the Spurs, give yourself plenty of time.
On Oct. 30, never have so many people been stuck in so many cars, going nowhere, and been so happy.
Happy because He is back where he is supposed to be, and it’s like the last four year didn’t exist. The civic cleansing is officially complete, and the subtitle for the most anticipated Cavs opening night ever was obvious:
‘Now, where were we?’
As it turned out, artistically, the pre-game theatrics were better than the basketball theatrics. The new scoreboard – Humongotron – lived up to the hype _ until, like the Cavs, it short-circuited in the second half. Prior to the game Humongo was used to show the new Nike ‘Cleveland’ video, which if you haven’t yet seen, you must. It’s spectacular.
Usher sang the National Anthem. At least he started to, until the antsy crowd took over and beat him to the finish line. An introductory video of James saying ‘There’s no place like home’ nearly brought down Humongotron and the house.
Then the game began, and it quickly became apparent that there was another team in the gym besides the Cavs. After the Cavs outscored the Knicks by seven points in the first quarter, the Knicks outscored the Cavs, 77-65, in the last three quarters.
The dagger came with less than a minute to play when Carmelo Anthony hit a baseline jumper over James.
To the astonishment of everyone, including, presumably, himself, the local hero was his own worst enemy.
James missed nine of his first 10 field goal attempts – one of them an airball. He finished with just 17 points, and almost twice as many turnovers (8) as field goals (5). For most of the game, he looked like he was playing too fast, trying too hard, and thinking too much.
All of that might be understandable for a player in his situation, except that there has never been a player in the exact situation he was in on this night.
Not surprisingly, given all the new faces, the Cavs looked choppy on offense and scrambled on defense. On the plus side, they have shooters everywhere on the court, and they constantly look to run. Once they become more familiar with each other’s tendencies and new coach David Blatt’s offense, they will be difficult to contain.
On opening night, however, it was mostly overpassing, over-trying, and over-everything.
The best of the bunch was Kevin Love, who wasted no time in showing what all the fuss was about during the summer when word emerged that he was trying to maneuver his way from Minnesota to Cleveland.
Love nearly had a double double in the first half, scoring 14 points and pulling down nine rebounds. Two of his field goals were 3-pointers, and for several minutes in the first half he dominated the glass. Overall, he was the Cavs best player on the floor, scoring 19 points with 14 rebounds.
James finally hit his first three point field goal, from the top of the key, halfway through the third quarter, and the crowd exploded with a roar that was half excitement and half relief. It was like everyone got rid of a giant gas bubble.
James’ 3 triggered a brief Cavs run, but the Knicks regrouped and the Cavs degrouped.
Next up, it’s the Bulls, in Chicago on Oct. 31.
The euphoria, and disappointment of opening night is over. The Cavs were losers at their own welcome home party.
Who’d have thunk it?
