The Kyrie Irving Era Has Begun and LeBron James Can't Stand It

Of course LeBron James had to make it about himself during the Kyrie story.

"Oh my knee!" James weasels as the camera shutters are furiously fighting for his attention.  "Oh I don't think I can play until I decide that the attention is squarely focused on me, then I can play."  James can't fool me with his inside voice.  This is not Irving's homecoming as much as it is James'

Who cares if its Kyrie Irving's first game in Cleveland since the big trade?  LeBron still wants to show Irving the car keys that he's missing out on.  And just to make a loss a little more plausible, James' faking of an injury is such a LeBron move.  I'm just surprised it wasn't "cramps."  Nevertheless, James wants Irving to know that he is still the little brother on the Cavs' Court.   

But let's get back to Kyrie.  Is Boston demonstrably better after the trade?  The answer is no, unless you count the fact that Isaiah Thomas is out until January with his hip pain so we wouldn't have had a point guard for the first 4 months of the season.  Imagine Derrick Rose in a Celtics uniform?  I know I'm glad I don't have to.  In a star-driven league, though, the Celtics have risen to the top of the Eastern Conference - hurdling over the Cavs because of the trade.  While the Celtics bench was blown up in order to sign Gordon Hayward and make room for Kyrie Irving, and Tyrion had many highlights in the past two years, the starting 5 has markedly improved and, at the end of the day, that is what matters when its not about the team, it's about how well your best three players can share the rock.  Let's face it, an imp and a deep bench was not going to get the Celtics anywhere except a blowout in Game 4, 5, 6 or 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals.  Something had to be done and Danny fished out a gold mine in what would have been a lost year.

But now with the resurgent Big 3 (Trademark pending), the Celtics are poised to jump over the LeBrons and fight the Western Conference Champions.  And tonight is the start of the new Era in Celtics' basketball.  Let's go the live blog.

Kyrie with First 2 points of the season?

And of course Kyrie scores the first two points of the season (although you wouldn't know it by the TNT scorekeeper who had the following scores in the first 2 minutes of the game.

Cavs 2-0
Celtics 6-0
Tied 4-4
Celtics 4-3

What? I don't know what's going on.  The announcers have it right.  This seems like the start of an All Star Game.

And just like that, the Celtics' season is all but over.  I hope Gordon Hayward is OK.  That sucks.