Knicks shock Cavaliers to spoil LeBron James’ homecoming party

In the second half, James seemed to overadjust and some of his aggression turned into overly passive play. Even looking nothing like his normal self, James still finished with 17 points, but his 5-15 shooting and eight turnovers is something we probably won’t see again the rest of this season.

The other two of the Cleveland “Big 3” performed better, especially Kevin Love, who recorded a strong double-double of 19 points, 14 rebounds and some highlight level outlet passes. Kyrie Irving led the Cavaliers with 22 points but also committed four turnovers.

This guy is seriously too hyped to be out in public. Someone’s gonna get hurt, and it might be him:

We’ve missed you, Lob City.

Russell Westbrook exited the Thunder’s game with the Los Angeles Clippers in the second quarter with a hand injury and did not return. After the game, coach Scott Brooks said Westbrook’s has a small fracture in his right hand.

Early indications are that he’ll miss 4-6 weeks, according to The Oklahoman. That means the Thunder, not an especially deep team as is, will play at least a month without Westbrook or Kevin Durant.

Russell Westbrook checked out of the first half of Thunder-Clippers after suffering what appeared to be a right hand injury. On his way into the tunnel to get checked out, Westbrook heard something from a fan and got into what appeared to be a heated conversation:

What, you mean to tell me you didn’t know Ballmer is incredibly animated, all of the time?

The Cavaliers got off to the fast start we expected, riding a big Love quarter and lots of transition opportunities into a nine-point first-quarter lead. It looked like the rest of the game would be a rout, with the tired Knicks struggling to keep up.

Instead, the Knicks slowed the game down, forced Cleveland to attack in half-court situations and got back into the game. And suddenly, the Cavaliers couldn’t throw the ball to anyone. After a slow shooting start, James tried to settle down and find his teammates, but none of them were cutting to the right spots. The Knicks eventually found their form offensively and slowly moved into the lead in the third quarter, then extended to a nine-point lead midway through the fourth after a brief Cavaliers run.

Today in Russell Westbrook Does Fashion, we have .... well, whatever this is:

This is definitely toned down from the tinfoil jacket he wore on opening night, but the neon shoes are a nice touch to keep it lively. Let Westbrook be Westbrook.

The Lakers are on national television a total of 28 times this season, with six more games to go on TNT. Sorry, Chuck, you’ve got a long season ahead of you.

It took less than six minutes for outlet pass master Kevin Love to hit LeBron James in stride for a breakaway layup. Those who had the under should collect their winnigs.

And LeBron was pretty excited about it.

A pretty cool pregame idea in Cleveland, executed kinda poorly:

They gave out little bags of confetti to every fan and instructed them to toss the stuff in the air at the exact moment LeBron James did his pregame chalk toss for the first time as a Cavalier (again).

LeBron James is officially back in Cleveland. This is how the Cavaliers fans received him as he was introduced.

It feels like TNT didn’t do this justice. It’s loud, but I’m sure it’s much louder in the arena.

I’m a Knicks fan. This season’s shaping up to be a rough one. So I’ll take anything I can get, even if it’s Taylor Swift coming out as a Knicks fan. Call it sad, but that makes me h-- WAIT A SECOND:

Of course, I should have known this would happen:

Classy of Kevin Love to wear something to the arena that was in style the last time Cleveland won a sports championship.

And in other news:

This is a case of what goes down must go up (again). This isn’t the only banner for James that’s gone up around the city, though:

Cleveland had a banner hanging for James before he left the city. It was torn down shortly after he made his decision to join the Miami Heat.

I don’t know, this is still pretty nuts. LeBron James is actually on the Cleveland Cavaliers again. Here he is rolling into the home opener looking like Elwood Blues:

Carmelo Anthony’s got a pretty similar hat!

Wait, why?

Ricky Rubio! Andrew Wiggins! Zach LaVine! Dunks! The Timberwolves are so much fun! And it’s too early in the season to be certain that they’re bad! Granted, the seats aren’t very good, but I hope someone grabbed that ticket. That’s a fun night.

You can tell LeBron James is serious about making his Cavaliers debut special. You may have already seen his new Nike commercial where he huddles up the entire city, which is excellent. Now, he’s asking fans who are attending Thursday’s Cavaliers-Knicks home opener to join him in his patented chalk toss.

Together Cleveland indeed.