Celtics vs. Cavs NBA Opening Night Preview

Finally, after months of anticipation the NBA is back! This past offseason was the most monumental and pivotal offseason we’ve ever seen in modern basketball. The greatest draft class in recent memory combined with a handful of blockbuster trades and free agency signings has resulted in a practically brand new NBA that is sure to shape how the league will look over the next 8-10 years. Tonight, the first two games played in what is sure to be an absolutely electric season will feature some of the league’s best talent. The later of the two games will be the reigning champs and favorites to win the 2018 NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors, vs one of the Western Conference powerhouses, the Houston Rockets.

But the must watch game of the night is without a doubt between the two top teams in the East, the Boston Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers, which will tip off in Cleveland, Ohio tonight at 8pm ET. These two teams already had a preexisting rivalry, as both teams fiercely competed last season to see which team would represent the Eastern Conference in the 2017 NBA Finals, but the intensity of the rivalry grew tremendously when star point guard for the Cavs, Kyrie Irving, requested a trade in the middle of the offseason. A few weeks after Irving’s announcement, the Cavs and the Celtics finalized a deal that sent Kyrie to the Celtics for 2 draft picks, Ante Zizic, Jae Crowder, and star point guard and fan favorite centerpiece, Isaiah Thomas. The trade left each respective fan base both excited for their new acquisitions and sad to see their former star point guard leave the franchise.

The intensity of the rivalry grew not because of fan reactions to the trade, but from the players’ reactions to switching organizations. Kyrie requested a trade from Cleveland because he was starting to hate playing with LeBron and wanted to be “the guy” or the absolute centerpiece of a team. The new Kyrie vs. LeBron rivalry helps fuel the Boston vs. Cleveland rivalry as their 1 on 1 matchups and the fact that each player is the center of their team will only make each franchise hate the other even more.  There are concerns that Kyrie will face extreme backlash from Cleveland fans tonight for leaving the Cavs for the enemy, but according to LeBron and the latest player to join the Land, Dwyane Wade, he and the rest of the Celtics will “be fine”.

The real story of @KingJames & @DwyaneWade's 14-year friendship: draft camp, playoff battles, ducking batteries, banana boats & so much more pic.twitter.com/7SFzLwzkUe

— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) October 17, 2017

On the other side of the trade, players like Jae Crowder and Isaiah Thomas had some bitterness towards Boston about the entire deal. Jae Crowder initially began to feel some sort of resentment towards the franchise in the middle of last season when he was upset with Boston fans cheering for then Utah Jazz forward, Gordon Hayward. At the time, Hayward was having a record year in the last season of his contract with Utah and Boston fans were showing their excitement of Hayward possibly coming to Boston, as he was Boston’s most sought after free agent. Crowder, however, was mad that the Boston home crowd would be cheering on an opposing player, despite the fact that the Boston fan base is often recognized as being one of the most passionate and die hard fan bases in the entire league. Of course, after the trade with Cleveland went down, Crowder also felt anger towards the C’s with how they treated his teammate, Isaiah Thomas.

Thomas had a much bigger role in Boston than Crowder, which made the trade all the more painful for himself, his family, and the fans of the Celtics. Isaiah Thomas was the centerpiece, identity, and heart of a Boston team during a significant rebuilding era. After losing legendary Celtic, Paul Pierce, the Boston Celtics slowly began to decline until finally trading away Rajon Rondo to the Mavericks, officially ending the Paul Pierce centered era. For a few seasons, and for the first time in a long time for the fans of Boston, the Celtics were abysmal with no clear leader or a plan on how to return to prominence. That completely changed with the addition of Isaiah Thomas. The Boston franchise was back on the path to being a prominent team in the league, and for awhile it looked like Thomas would in fact lead the franchise to banner 18. And last season, when Thomas returned to the team to play in the postseason the day after his younger sister tragically died in a car crash, Thomas solidified himself as a Boston great who embodied the tough, never give up mentality that many Boston sports legends have also exemplified in the past. It was clear that Isaiah was the next Paul Pierce, the next Larry Bird, the next Bill Russell, and he was the answer to how the Celtics would win the NBA Finals.

When Isaiah got the call from Danny Ainge about the trade he felt betrayed by the organization. In his piece he wrote for the Player’s Tribune, Isaiah felt that it was unfair that he could be dealt away after everything he sacrificed for the Celtics. In fact, in a recent interview, IT stated that he absolutely hates Ainge now and could not even bring himself to even speak to Danny due to how angry he still is at the GM for trading him away. These reactions to the deal from both IT and Crowder will easily fuel the rivalry between the two teams, and even though Isaiah Thomas will not be present on the Cavs roster tonight, I guarantee that after he returns to the court in January, the rivalry between the Cavs and the Celtics during their matchups will be the most intense version of the rivalry we’ve ever seen.

Now, after a turbulent offseason between the two best Eastern Conference teams, the Celtics and Cavs will play their first of many games against each other tonight. Personally, with Isaiah Thomas still out with his injury and LeBron James questionable (which means he will most likely sit the game out or get limited minutes), I believe the Celtics will come out with the win tonight, and I even have them projected to finish the regular season atop the East, but with a fully restored lineup I believe the Cavs will once again represent the East in the NBA Finals for a fourth year in a row. The final score tonight will be Celtics 119 – Cleveland 104, with Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward looking impressive and Derrick Rose, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown exceeding expectations and having phenomenal performances. Regardless of how important the NBA is to you, this is a must watch game to say the least.

Written by Erik Clark