While everyone was waiting for the return of Kyrie Irving to Cleveland to face his former team, but the painful injury suffered by Gordon Hayward at the beginning of the game covered anything else. There were doubts ahead of the meeting about LeBron James's participation after he was away from most of his team's preseason. However, the "King" decided to participate after reviewing the doctors' team. James played alongside with Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade, Jae Crowder and Kevin Love as they were the starting five that chosen by Tyronn Lue. While the Celtics' coach Brad Stevens introduced the rookie Jayson Tatum to the lineup to play with Kyrie Irving, Jaylen Brown, Gordon Hayward and Al Horford.
Cleveland had planned on playing a video tribute for Irving. But the game started and there was no tribute. Why was there not a tribute? Because reportedly Cleveland's players did not like the idea.
An awful Injury
The Boston Celtics star, Gordon Hayward, was forced to leave the game against Cleveland Cavaliers as he suffered a gruesome leg injury. According to ESPN.com, Hayward's left leg bent awkwardly after he went up for an alley-oop pass, collided with LeBron James and collapsed under the basket with six minutes and 45 seconds left in the first quarter. The frustration of Hayward's colleagues made the Cavs scored 20 points versus 7 for the guests. Hayward's injury placed additional responsibility on Irving, who played his first game against his former fans.
He made a good game in general and tried to return with his new teammates to the atmosphere of the game in the second half, and almost succeeded in their return to success before he and Tatum failed to score the last two shots. Irving finished the game with 22 points and 10 assists while Lebron finished with a near triple-double of 29 points, 16 rebounds, and 9 assists.
A sensational match in Auckland
The Rockets defeated the Warriors to spoil their celebration by winning the championship's rings and raising their flag at the Oracle Arena when they turned the table over Durant's teammates to win 122- 121 in the last seconds of the game. The Warriors entered the game enthusiastically and imposed their control early.
Despite the absence of Andre Iguodala, newcomer Nick Young scored 20 points in the first half. In the second half, the injury was the hallmark of the game, which began with Draymond Green, who left the game with pain in his left knee, while Chris Paul did not participate in the last minutes of the game because of his knee injury as well.
The Rockets' insistence
The Warriors entered the last quarter with a comfortable 101-88 lead, but James Harden led his teammates back to the game with nine consecutive points. The competition was open between the two teams before the Rockets took their second lead of the game thanks to Trevor Ariza's 3-points. With Harden's basket and P.J. Tucker's two free throws, the Warriors found themselves behind a point before 10 seconds only to the end of the game.
Despite this, Kevin Durant almost stole the game by scoring a jump shot at the buzzer beater, but it came only a fraction of a second after the end of the game. James Harden scored 27points, 6 rebounds, and 10 assists. While Stephen Curry finished the game with 22 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists.
