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Last night was a special night in downtown Cleveland. I'm sure those who were there will remember the sights and sounds for a long, long time. Hopefully they will not remember the actual game.
The Cavs will look to shake off their loss to the Knicks and get back on track tonight in Chicago.
Who: Cleveland Cavaliers at Chicago Bulls
When: 8:00 pm Eastern
Where: United Center, Chicago, Illinois
TV: ESPN and Fox Sports Ohio
Music: Let's call this the comeback.
The Bulls also opened their season against the Knicks -- on Wednesday night -- and they trounced them. Derrick Rose scored 13 points in 21 minutes, Pau Gasol had 21 points and 10 rebounds on 7-11 shooting, and Taj Gibson scored 22 points off the bench. In short, they looked like a team that is ready to compete for the East.
The Cavs, obviously, have yet to look like a team that can compete for the East. But it's only been one game. If history is a guide, the result of the opener doesn't really mean all that much.
Cavs have now lost 4 straight season openers with LeBron. Went 3-1 without him. Tells you how much we should read into this.
— Andrew Schnitkey (@RockWFNY) October 31, 2014
It would be nice for the Cavs to get a win on the books tonight, before they have to head to Portland for their next game Tuesday night. It won't be easy, though. This is Chicago's home opener, and they're going to be the fresher team. LeBron James and Kyrie Irving both played 43 minutes last night. Kevin Love and Dion Waiters both played 38. It will be interesting to see how David Blatt changes his rotations tonight.
Just remember that no matter what happens tonight, there will be 80 games left to go. Eighty games. That's a lot of games.
I don't mean to sound pessimistic about the Cavs' chances, I just think it's going to be tough to get this one on the road after all of the energy the team expended last night. But we'll see. Certainly nobody has ever made a lot of money by betting that LeBron James will have two bad games in a row.