NBA upsets on opening nights

Cleveland Cavaliers spoil Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett’s debut for the Brooklyn Nets

Lot of positives from the game for the Cleveland Cavaliers- Andrew Bynum makes his return and they win on opening night against the Brooklyn Nets

Andrew Bynum returned, a balanced offence and All-Star Kyrie Irving had a near triple double. The Cleveland Cavaliers had everything going their way on a night when Paul Pierce was to make his debut for the Brooklyn Nets along with Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry.

With their big acquisitions in the off-season, the Nets were considered and predicted to be a top 5 team in the east this season. However their opening night was ruined by the Cavaliers who had seven players scoring in double figures and Earl Clark registering 9 points.

Brook Lopez and Paul Pierce kept the Nets in the game scoring 21 and 17 respectively with Pierce shooting 3-4 from beyond the arc. Kevin Garnett fell two points short of another double double performance scoring 8 points along with 10 rebounds to surpass Reggie Miller for 14th place on the NBA all-time scoring list.

Although Kyrie Irving’s near triple double performance can be considered the driving force behind their win, it was Jarrett Jack whose 12 points that kept the Cavs in the front seat when Irving sat out a major part of the first half due to foul trouble.

The game was a hard-fought battle and the teams were tied at 91 when an Anderson Varejao jumper from the free-throw line with 28.1 seconds remaining followed by four free throws from Irving sealed the win for the Cavs.