As the Cleveland Cavaliers take on the Boston Celtics in the NBA’s first game of the 2017-2018 season, the Kyrie Irving-LeBron James rivalry will be born.
For three straight seasons, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving led the Cleveland Cavaliers to complete dominance over the Eastern Conference. In those years, it was clear to fans, teammates, and the entire NBA that LeBron James was the alpha dog in Cleveland. For that reason, Kyrie Irving wanted out.
This past offseason, he got his wish. Instead of being a “son” to LeBron, he is his own man with his own team in Boston, which is apparently a “real” sports city to Kyrie Irving. The next question will be: Can he take down his former mentor? In the meantime, fans should be thrilled for this rivalry. Those three seasons of dominance together and the way the split happened, when these two meet on the court, NBA fans will be treated with some of the best basketball this planet has to offer.
On Tuesday, the Celtics will travel to Cleveland where the two completely made over teams will have their first crack of each other. These two are assumed to meet in this season’s Eastern Conference Finals, and with the history between them, this game should give a good preview of what will come this postseason.
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To go along with the player’s history, both of these stars are playing the best basketball of their lives. LeBron James, last season, averaged career-highs in assists (8.7) and rebounds (8.6). At 32, James has learned to dominate in other ways than just physically overpowering his defender. And, in the Cavaliers’ new small-ball lineup, which was made possible by bringing over Jae Crowder in part of the Kyrie Irving trade, LeBron James will have the ability to play with four dynamic sharpshooters while having a capable defense on the court at the same time.
For Kyrie Irving, his offensive arsenal was in full effect last season. He averaged 25.2 points per game and shot a career-high 47.3% from the field. Irving did have his pitfalls though. In his third season with the King, Irving seemed to be more of a defensive liability than ever before. Irving ended the season with a 112 defensive rating which was four more than the Cavaliers’ team rating of 108. The trade that sent Irving to Boston brought Isaiah Thomas to Cleveland who is equally inept at defense, so that problem was certainly not resolved this offseason.
In games against his former team, Irving and his sidekick Gordon Hayward should produce some solid, thrilling basketball, and for the foreseeable future, Boston and Cleveland will dominate the Eastern Conference while giving us some of the top NBA games of the season.
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This rivalry will be born on Tuesday. You won’t want to miss this season opener. If you needed more of a reason to watch it, here are three.