CLEVELAND, (Reuters) – The Cleveland Cavaliers began the post-LeBron James era with a stunning 95-87 victory over the heavily favoured Boston Celtics on Wednesday.
Making the victory all the sweeter for jilted Cavaliers fans was the fact that their season-opening win came over the Celtics, something James and his new team the Miami Heat were unable to do in the NBA curtain-raiser on Tuesday.
When James announced in July that he was “taking his talents to South Beach” to form a super team in Miami with Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, it left Cavaliers fans crushed fearing a return to the bottom of the standings without the twice league MVP.
But for one night at least, the Cavaliers looked every bit a championship contender and the sellout crowd agreed erupting in wild celebration as the final buzzer sounded and confetti rained down from the rafters.
“I’m very proud of my guys tonight, there were times in this game when we got down double-digits and they could have just mailed it in but they didn’t,” Cavaliers coach Byron Scott told reporters.
“This is how we’ve got to play basketball. We played really hard all night long.
“We’re going to enjoy this victory because it was big time for us, for us to win this game at home, to start the season off this way.”
The Cavaliers had trailed by as much as 11 points but showed their mettle in the final minutes, taking an 86-84 lead on a J.J. Hickson layup.
Hickson led the Cavaliers with a game high 21 points while Daniel Gibson provided 16 points and eight assists coming off the bench.
Ramon Sessions chipped in with 14 points while Jamario Moon, who took over James locker and his starting place in the lineup added 10.
The Celtics, arriving in Cleveland off an emotional win 24 hours earlier, appeared to run out of steam down the stretch.
“I think their true strength is playing together,” said Celtics Kevin Garnett. “They don’t have the one go to guy but they do play well together. “They play hard and when you don’t match that you find yourself in trouble.”
Rajon Rondo had 18 points and nine assists to pace the Celtics while Paul Pierce added 13 and Garnett contributed nine points and 15 rebounds.
