“When this is over and that banner goes up, there’s only one thing left to do,” said Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert after receiving his 2016 NBA championship ring from Commissioner Adam Silver at center court of Quicken Loans Arena. “Repeat.”
The long journey to back-to-back titles begins with a single step, one the Cavs took confidently on Tuesday night, as LeBron James and Kyrie Irving put the hammer down on the visiting New York Knicks in the third quarter to open the 2016-17 NBA season with a 117-88 victory.
James began his evening by feeding red meat to the Northeast Ohio faithful at the ring ceremony — “If you’re not from here, live here, play here, or get yourself to Cleveland, then it makes no sense for you to live at this point,” he said, capping his post-ring-receipt speech with the exclamation, “Cleveland against the world!” — and continued feeding his people all night. James finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds, 14 assists and one block in 32 minutes of work, notching the 43rd triple-double of his career — and his first ever on an opening night — to pace the Cavs to a victory that they broke open after halftime.
The reigning NBA Finals Most Valuable Player continually toyed with the Knicks’ defense, bending and distorting New York’s coverages and finding open shooters all over the court, many of which led to 3-point shots in the Cavs’ high-powered offense:
7 of the Cavaliers' 9 3-pointers have been assisted by LeBron James. James has 12 assists and the Knicks have 9— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 26, 2016
While James’ own jumper continued to look a bit iffy, the man who will turn 32 this December and who’s carried an unprecedented workload as he enters his 14th NBA season looked as spry as ever attacking the basket, throwing down a half-dozen thunderous dunks to send charges through the Q.
Irving offered the lightning to complement James’ thunder, working over New York’s defenders with his snare-drum tight handle and super-smooth shotmaking on his way to a game-high 29 points on 12-for-22 shooting. Nineteen of Irving’s points came during a third quarter that saw Cleveland turn a two-possession game into a 20-plus-point laughter in just over six minutes of game time.
Irving made three of his four 3-point tries in the third, helping spark a team-wide turnaround that continued after intermission. In the first half, James and the Cavs offense generated plenty of open looks against a scrambling Knicks defense, but couldn’t convert, going 4-for-21 from beyond the arc. The lid came off the bucket in a big way in the third, though, as Cleveland scorched the nets in the second half — 25-for-40 (62.5 percent) from the field, 9-for-14 (64.3 percent) from long-range — to kick off their repeat bid in style and send the new-look Knicks to their first loss of the season.
After the extended pre-game championship ring ceremony and banner-raising, both teams came out looking rusty, combining to shoot just 6-for-22 from the field in the first 4 1/2 minutes of play. Playing their first regular-season game under new head coach Jeff Hornacek, the Knicks clearly seemed to be looking to push the pace from the outset, seeking early offense both in transition and with dribble-drives into the paint in half-court sets. But outside of All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony, who scored 11 of New York’s first 17 points, no other Knick had the early knack; non-Melo Knicks made just two of their first 11 shots.
The Knicks were able to stay close early despite sloppy play thanks to the Cavaliers’ own misfiring. But once New York started coughing the ball up, letting Cleveland loose in transition and struggling to find quality looks with its largely untested second unit on the floor, LeBron and company began to open things up. The Cavs closed the first quarter on a 21-8 run over the final 7:12, fueled by nine points off seven Knick turnovers, to take a 28-18 lead after 12 minutes.
Cleveland extended the lead early in the second quarter behind a variant of the hammer small-ball lineup that served Tyronn Lue so well in the 2016 postseason, with floor-spacer Channing Frye at center alongside James, new addition Mike Dunleavy Jr. and Richard Jefferson on the wings, and Irving at the point. That group stretched the Knicks out, leaving New York defenders running ragged and taking advantage with smart ball and player movement:
— NBA TV (@NBATV) October 26, 2016
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