It looks like LeBron James and Kyrie Irving have buried the hatchet and put their bitter separation behind as they embraced each other. This came after the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Boston Celtics, 102-99, in their Tuesday’s season-opener at Quicken Loans Arena. The former Cavaliers teammates shook hands and embraced each other after Irving missed a potential game-tying three-pointer as time expired, allowing Cleveland to escape with the close win. Irving also embraced his other former teammates.
The two had a falling out after Irving demanded a trade from the Cavaliers in the offseason, claiming he wanted to become the focal point of a team’s offense.
Also, Irving said he wanted to play away from James’ huge shadow. The Cavaliers gave in to Irving’s request, shipping him to the Celtics for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, and Ante Zizic, the Brooklyn Nets’ 2018 first-round pick and a 2020 second-round selection.
Embrace capped drama-filled game
The embrace between former teammates capped a dramatic game that saw Gordon Hayward suffering a broken ankle six minutes into the game. Hayward was trying to catch an alley-oop pass when he was bumped by James. Hayward then landed awkwardly and snapped his ankle. While he was attended to by medical staff, players gathered around him to give moral support while Celtics teammates embraced each other. Several Cavaliers players bowed down their heads while others looked away as they cannot take a look at Hayward’s direction.
James approached Hayward while he was lying on the floor and visited him in the locker room, offering words of encouragement to the small forward who signed a four-year deal worth $128 million in the offseason after a seven-year stint with the Utah Jazz.
James almost tallied triple-double
Despite coming off a sore ankle that sidelined him most of training camp and limited him to one preseason game, James scored 29 points, grabbed 16 boards and issued nine assists to lead the Cavaliers to the close win.
In his first start at center, Kevin Love added 15 points and grabbed 11 boards, Derrick Rose added 14 points, Crowder had 11 and J.R. Smith chipped in 10 points off the bench. Veteran Dwyane Wade had eight points in his first start for the Cavaliers. Irving, for his part, scored 22 points and issued 10 assists. Jaylen Brown had 25 points, rookie Jayson Tatum tallied a double-double with 14 points and 10 boards while Marcus Smart added 12 points and nine boards for the Celtics. Hayward had two points before he suffered the injury.
