LOS ANGELES — LeBron James led the Cleveland Cavaliers in a season-opening rout of the New York Knicks Tuesday as the vaunted Golden State Warriors super-team suffered a resounding first night thrashing.
James notched a triple-double as Cleveland trounced the new-look Knicks 117-88 on a night when the Cavs were formally presented with their diamond-encrusted 2015-2016 championship rings.
A festive atmosphere inside the Quicken Loans Arena was heightened by the fact that Cleveland’s baseball team, the Indians, were hosting — and beating — the Chicago Cubs in the World Series Opener also Tuesday.
News of the Indians’ opening runs against the Cubs was greeted with deafening cheers and chants of “Let’s Go Tribe!” throughout the game.
James, who returned to the Cavaliers in 2014 on a mission to lead his hometown team to NBA glory, addressed the home crowd in the pre-match ceremonies.
“If you’re not from here, live here, play here, or get yourself to Cleveland, then it makes no sense for you to live at this point,” James said.
“Cleveland against the world!”
James finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds and 14 assists.
While the Cavs reflected on a solid night’s work, the Knicks were sent back to the drawing board. Having invested heavily in bringing 2011 NBA MVP Derrick Rose and Chicago teammate Joakim Noah to the club in the close season, the Knicks are hoping to mount a serious challenge in the Eastern Conference this season.
Rose however lamented the New Yorkers’ lack of a mean streak after the blowout.
“Tonight left a bad taste in everybody’s mouth,” Rose said, saying the team needed to learn to foul tactically.
In Oakland, Golden State’s hopes of embarking on another record-breaking start to the season — following their 24-0 run last year — came to an abrupt end when it was dismantled 129-100 by Western Conference rival San Antonio.
A night expected to be dominated by Golden State’s new signing Kevin Durant ended with the Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard stealing the show in a crushing rout of last year’s NBA Finals runners-up.
Durant enjoyed a solid enough scoring debut — weighing in with 27 points — but the Warriors were run ragged by Leonard, who posted a career-high 35 points and LaMarcus Aldridge (26 points).
Leonard, 25, indicated he is ready to step into the leadership vacuum created by the retirement of Spurs legend Tim Duncan earlier this year.
“Tim was a great basketball player, led this team to five championships and I just want to do the same, to get close to that,” Leonard said.
Warriors star and reigning NBA MVP Stephen Curry described the loss as a “nice little slap in the face.”
Durant meanwhile said the Warriors should not panic after only one game of the season.
Damian Lillard scored 16 of his 39 points in the fourth quarter as Portland Trail Blazers rallied for a victory over Utah Jazz 113-104 in the regular-season opener for both teams. Lillard also had nine rebounds and six assists, and backcourt mate CJ McCollum added 25 points for the Blazers, who outscored Utah 14-2 over the final four minutes. Allen Crabbe had 18 points off the bench for Portland.
Joe Johnson scored 29 points and Rodney Hood contributed 26 for the Jazz, who also got 12 points and 14 rebounds from Rudy Gobert. — Agencies
