The match was blemished with a gruesome accident, abruptly ending Gordon Hayward’s first season with the Boston Celtics. From that point on, the Cleveland Cavaliers were expected to swiftly beat the shocked Celtics players. It never happened.

A number of NBA analysts and commentators quickly pointed to Derrick Rose and Dwyane Wade’s rough start. Combining for measly 8-of-24 shots made for just 22 points and was forced to make six turnovers, the two All-Stars doesn’t seem close to playing at the highest level. But should Cavs coach Tyronn Lue push the panic button this early?

Too predictable

CBS Sports’ Matt Moore believes that Derrick Rose made a lot of mistakes during his first game wearing the Cavaliers jersey. While he removed the first-game jitters from the equation, Moore pointed to Rose’s usual errors, “He over-dribbled, isolated, tried to take on superior defenders, didn't look for kick-outs, made bad defensive rotations, and clogged spacing, on top of missing shots.”

This is in total contrast to what Channing Frye said about Derrick Rose, “I have never seen a man so violently go to the rack like he does, and then loop-the-loop, and all of a sudden the ball floats up and just goes in every single time.” Frye was also amazed at Rose’s passing ability, attacking bigger defenders and penetrating the basket.

In the game against the Boston Celtics, Rose scored 14 points on 5-of-14 shooting, grabbed 4 rebounds, dished out two assists and made four turnovers. But was there anything wrong about these numbers? Since the 2012-13 NBA season (where he only played 10 games), Derrick Rose has registered almost the same numbers during his first game of the season.

James Herbert, also from CBS Sports, took notice on how Rose forces his shots rather than involving his teammates. In addition, his low 3-point shooting percentage doesn’t give any threat against his defenders, allowing his moves to be more predictable. Somehow, the 2011 NBA Most Valuable Player knows about his outside shooting predicament:

Scoring dilemma

Talking about the scoring output from the previous seasons, Dwyane Wade’s numbers playing his first game with the Cleveland Cavalier definitely dipped.

His 8-point performance against the Celtics playing for 28 minutes is undoubtedly his lowest output since 2013-14 NBA season when he only played 54 games due to injury.

Yet as what some analysts pointed out, Wade still has that offensive thrust and mentality of posting up down the baseline. However, this type of play won’t help him pile up numbers in the scoreboard.

The Cavaliers have dominant big men ready to pound the baseline: Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, Jae Crowder, LeBron James and even Jeff Green. This is why J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert are more effective. Aside from being licensed to shoot from beyond the arc, the two play better defense.

Another factor to consider is when a superstar plays alongside other superstars.

Coming off as the league scoring leader in 2009, Wade found his numbers dwindled down after teaming up with LeBron James and Chris Bosh two years later. Same is true last year with the Golden State Warriors when Kevin Durant arrived. Wade’s case is the same now that he's playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers: LeBron, Kevin Love, and Derrick Rose.

The season is still young and surely, there are lots of improvements and adjustments that will happen. Plus, Isaiah Thomas is expected to return to playing court in January and then there’s the trade deadline in February.
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