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Overview:

On Tuesday, October 17th, the (0-0) Boston Celtics will be on the road to take on the (0-0) Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Crowd:  

“The Crowd” is projecting a final score of Cavaliers 101.3 – Celtics 95.0 with an over/under of 196.3.

Rex Chapman’s prediction:

Rex is predicting a final score of Celtics 104 – Cavaliers 99.  Can you beat Rex??

Summary:

The storylines are aplenty with Kyrie Irving making his long-awaited return to Cleveland on opening night.  Irving, desperate to escape the shadow of Lebron James, and was traded to the Celtics for Jae Crowder, Isaiah Thomas, Ante Zizic, and the Brooklyn Nets first round pick.  Kyrie is a phenomenal individual talent but there are questions if he truly elevates the play of his teammates.  Irving is now paired with all-stars Gordon Hayward and Al Horford in Boston.  Young players Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown will make up the rest of the starting lineup and make an immediate impact.  The Celtics starting five looks fantastic on paper but their bench looks much weaker than the deep team that won the conference a year ago.  Not only did the Celtics lose Thomas and Crowder, but they dealt away their best two way player in Avery Bradley.

Isaiah Thomas will sit out the game with a hip injury while Lebron James is questionable with an ankle issue that bothered him all preseason.  The Cavaliers are much deeper on paper than the team that was run of the floor by the Warriors in the NBA Finals.  Derrick Rose and Jeff Green joined the team for the league minimum while Dwyane Wade was added on a buyout from the Bulls.  Rose should push the pace and be a dynamic ball playmaker.  Wade has plenty of game left though his minutes will have to be monitored at age 35.  Kevin Love will now be the starting center and provide the Cavaliers with a ton of spacing on offense.  Cleveland has no rim protection so their perimeter defense will have to be much improved from last year.

Bottom Line:

Cleveland is (8-2) in their last ten head to head games against Boston.  Lebron’s health status is the big key to this one because it’s well documented how much the Cavaliers have struggled in his absence.  Lebron looked rusty in his only preseason appearance coughing up seven turnovers.  Both teams have tons of new faces so it remains to be seen how they will gel.  Boston is the healthier team and I like them to pull off the road upset.

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