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Once the summer comes to an end, Kyrie Irving likely comes home with an Olympic gold medal, LeBron James puts away his banana boat and J.R. Smith finally puts a shirt on, basketball will return to Cleveland Ohio.
The Cavaliers will open their title defense at home against the New York Knicks according to Ian Begley of ESPN:
One early version of the NBA schedule, which is subject to change, had NYK opening @ Cavs, per people who've seen this preliminary schedule
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) August 10, 2016
For those unfamiliar, the home opener will also feature the raising of the 2016 World Championship banner as well as the ring ceremony for the Cavaliers. This probably isn't news to anybody, but it's the summer and I am going to write that the Cavs won the championship whenever possible until it finally sinks in.
The Knicks are a familiar opening day foe, as they were the opponent for LeBron's first game back in Cleveland two years ago. They will be featuring a dramatically different roster this season, with notable additions like Derrick Rose, Brandon Jennings, Courtney Lee and Cavs fan favorite, Joakim Noah. The Cavs lost their home opener two years ago to the Knicks. Given the bad blood between the former Bulls and the Cavs, in addition to Rose's claims that the Knicks and Warriors are the two "superteams" in the NBA, I'm sure the Knicks would love to spoil the special occasion for Cleveland.
I for one am already excited not only for this matchup, but for the coming season. The awkwardness of the last two seasons seemed to go away down the stretch and while this Cavs team isn't exactly known for turning it on in the regular season, it'll be interesting to see the growth from young players like Irving, Tristan Thompson and Iman Shumpert, as well as how they attack teams with a full season of Channing Frye.
The game could also be a potential preview of the first round of the playoffs if everything clicks for New York this year, so it should be fun to see how these teams match up early on.