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In his first action since March, Kevin Garnett had 13 points, 10 rebounds and played solid D.
CLEVELAND -- By the hundreds -- no, make that by the thousands -- grimaces, glum looks and blank stares adorned the faces of the Cavaliers' faithful as they streamed through the exit doors of the Q Arena, all of them having borne witness to an inalienable truth.
Their team was clearly and decidedly the second-best on this floor on this first night of the 2009-10 NBA season, and that dream of a championship parade -- a dream that has gone unfulfilled in this Rust Belt city since 1964 -- will end up being no more than a pipe dream if this is how the Cavs are going to measure up against the Celtics this season.
Quite frankly, they don't measure up. Boston was deeper, Boston was more fluid, Boston was more confident. Practically any way you looked at it, Boston was just plain better.
And those were just the cold, hard facts on a night when the winter chill that lasts on the shores of Lake Erie from November and into May hadn't even made it to town yet, a night when folks were struggling to recall when -- or if -- a challenger had made a team coming off a 66-win season look quite so secondary.
Led by Rasheed Wallace, whose first basket as a Celtic was a 3-pointer over the outstretched, lunging arm of 7-foot-3 Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Boston's reserves outscored Cleveland's 26-10 as both coaches used only four reserves apiece.
Wallace (12 points and three 3-pointers) and Marquis Daniels (seven points and two assists) were the catalysts in the second quarter when Boston erased a 14-point deficit, and the Celtics were able to play from ahead throughout the third and fourth quarters led by Pierce (23 points, 11 rebounds), Garnett (13 points, 10 rebounds), Ray Allen (16 points) and Rajon Rondo (eight points, 10 assists, three steals).
And when it got to crunch time in the fourth, the Cavs' defenders were unable to efficiently contain the high picks Boston kept setting, luring Shaquille O'Neal out of the paint and letting Pierce use him as a screen to give himself enough room to create something on offense.
Yes, many of those possessions ended in misses. But with Boston playing the same stifling defense that was its trademark two seasons ago when banner No. 17 was won, the Cavs could never make a sustained finishing push.
Truth be told, the energy to make that push probably got sucked out of them when Boston, trailing 13-2 just 3:06 into the game, got an earful from Rivers during a timeout.
"I told them in that timeout that we wanted the lead back by halftime," Rivers said.
That was exactly what they did, Boston looked like a different team from that point forward, and the life got sucked out of the building before intermission even arrived.
The Celtics' lead grew as high as 15, and reality was staring Cavs' fans in the face.
Their team was not the equal of the visitors who came into their home and acted like they owned it, and with a few exceptions, all those Ohioans left the building feeling a whole lot worse about the chances of winning a title in the waning months before James can become a free agent and bolt town -- a move that could very well usher in another 45 years of misery.
Chris Sheridan covers the NBA for ESPN Insider. To e-mail Chris, click here.
CLEVELAND -- With one thunderous bump from Shaquille O'Neal, Celtics forward Kevin Garnett spilled to the floor during Tuesday night's season opener in Cleveland.
Not that Garnett enjoys the bumps and bruises that come with crossing paths with O'Neal, but that collision was just another step in his recovery from offseason knee surgery.
Shaq's own little way of saying, "Welcome back, KG."
"That's the Diesel," Garnett said to reporters after the game. "I'm sure if any one of y'all ran up against the Diesel, the same thing would happen."
After missing 25 games last season, Garnett returned to regular-season action with a quiet 13 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocked shots over 33 minutes.
Not eye-popping numbers, for sure, but combined with the emotional lift of having No. 5 back on the court, it was enough to help the Celtics emerge with a 95-89 win over the Cavaliers, another Eastern Conference superpower.
Garnett admitted after the game he's not where he wants to be physically, but -- don't start fretting about the knee -- it's more about getting in game shape.
To read the entire Forsberg column, click here.
Portland had a 51-33 rebounding advantage in its opening-night victory over Houston. No Rockets player had more than five rebounds. It was only the third game in the last eight seasons in which Houston did not have a single player record at least six rebounds.
ESPN.com
Gilbert Arenas, Wizards: After playing in just 15 games over the past two games, it didn't take long for Agent Zero to show the rest of the league that he is back. He poured in 29 points and gave out nine assists as the Wizards shocked the Mavs.
Baron Davis, Clippers: His foot injury didn't prevent him from giving out seven assists, but maybe it had something to do with his 1-for-9 shooting from the field. He finished with just two points.
QUOTES OF THE NIGHT
"He would be dead by Christmas if we're going to let him be the offense."
-- Jason Kidd on teammate Dirk Nowitzki, who carried the offense for Dallas by scoring a game-high 34 points
NBAE/Getty
Kobe Bryant and the Lakers received their championship rings and raised a new gold banner to the top of the arena prior to their season-opener against the Clippers.
ESPNDallas.com
DALLAS -- After grabbing a microphone and giving a brief pep talk to the sellout crowd moments before his Dallas Mavericks debut, Shawn Marion gave the fans a glimpse of the impact he can make.
Then he ran out of gas.
The first seven minutes of Marion's tenure with the Mavericks were spectacular. He hit his first three shots and was active defensively as Dallas jumped out to a six-point lead over the Washington Wizards.
To read the entire column, click here
TrueHoop
At the peak of Iverson's career, the 2000-2001 season when he won the MVP award and led a so-so Sixers team to the NBA Finals, I was writing for HOOP and going to nearly every Sixer home game. Like a lot of people at that time, I was fascinated by Allen Iverson. The summer before I had traveled to his hometown of Hampton, Virginia to see his celebrity softball game and fundraiser. I had talked to his mom, to his confidant Gary Moore, and to the player himself. That something great resided in him was so blatantly obvious. That at other times he was so listless was also clear.
To read the TrueHoop blog, click here
ESPN.com
LOS ANGELES -- Q: Everything we hear is about the economy. We've already seen teams trying to save money with smaller rosters. Will the economy affect the product on the floor?
Stern: No chance. We've got the same pool of players. Most of our teams, even though they want to have 30 players on their roster, some go with a 10-person rotations, some take it to nine. Of course by the playoffs some shrink it to four -- that's a joke. But, no, it will not affect the product on the floor.
To read the entire Stern Q&A, click here
