CLEVELAND _ LeBron James did LeBron James things Tuesday night at Quicken Loans Arena to overshadow Kyrie Irving's return to Cleveland.
James, who missed all but one preseason game with an ankle injury, dazzled fans with his usual assortment of skills and led the Cavaliers to a 102-99 victory over the Boston Celtics in the season opener for both teams.
James logged 42 minutes and finished with 29 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists. The three-time NBA champion made jumpers, fancy passes and threw down a couple of powerful, two-handed dunks that brought the sellout crowd of 20,562 to its feet.
James also made a layup with a little over a minute remaining in the fourth quarter and Kevin Love swished a 3-pointer with 46.3 seconds to give the Cavs a 102-98 lead. Love finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds in 29 minutes.
Irving, who made the game-winning 3-pointer to lift the Cavs over the Golden State Warriors in Game 7 the 2016 NBA Finals, totaled 22 points, 10 assists and four rebounds in 40 minutes in his Celtics debut after asking the Cavs to trade him this past summer.
The Cavs obliged his request and acquired Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic and two draft picks, including the Brooklyn Nets' unprotected first round draft pick.
Irving _ who missed an off-balance desperation 3 at the buzzer with James in his face _ was regularly booed on an evening that also included the Cavs debuts of Crowder, Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade and Jeff Green. It also included a gruesome injury to the Celtics' other big off-season acquisition, free agent Gordon Hayward.
Hayward left in the first quarter with a gruesome injury, in what was later described as a fractured left ankle after he was evaluated by Cavs and Celtics medical personnel.
Hayward collided with James on an alley-oop pass and landed awkwardly on the court just 5 minutes and 15 seconds into his Celtics career after coming to Boston from the Utah Jazz. As Hayward fell to the ground, Brown grabbed the ball and scored to give the Celtics a 12-9 lead.
Hayward, who had two points, sat for an instant on the court with a concerned look on his face before medical personnel and security guards tended to him. Hayward was placed on a stretcher a few minutes later and received well wishes from James, Love and other players from each team before being taken away for evaluation. Later in the evening, the Utah Jazz twitter account wished Hayward "a speedy recovery" and said "our thoughts are with you and your family."
The Cavs closed the first quarter on a 20-7 run to hold a 29-19 advantage. They scored 11 points in a row during the stretch with reserve J.R. Smith scoring six points and reserve Tristan Thompson scoring five.
The Cavs maintained their lead in the second quarter with solid ball movement and shot-making. James made a couple of layups to give the Cavs a 34-21 lead at 9:29. The lead reached 16 points on four occasions in the quarter and 18 points (48-30) when Crowder hit a layup off an bounce pass from James.
The Cavs led 54-38 at halftime, and 60-42 on a James dunk with 10:25 to go in the third quarter. The Celtics battled all the way back in the third quarter to lead 71-69 when Marcus Smart made a layup with 4.7 seconds left on the clock. Rose quickly answered with a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Cavs a 72-71 lead.
The Celtics kept charging in the fourth quarter and led multiple times with Irving drilling three 3-pointers. Jaylen Brown (25 points), Jayson Tatum (14 points) and Marcus Smart (12 points) each played key roles in the Celtics' comeback bid.
The Cavs also received solid efforts from Rose (14 points), Crowder (11 points), Smith (10 points), Wade (eight points) and Green (six points).
