As the 2017-2018 NBA season kicked off, two primetime matchups are the Boston Celtics vs Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors vs Houston Rockets took place.

This has notably been the greatest offseason of all time, with 8 plus all-stars changing their teams. The world was shocked this summer, as superstar point guard Kyrie Irving requested a trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers. Thirteen months after Irving hit one of the most clutch shots in NBA Finals history, he asked the team for a trade from the team that has one of the top player’s of all-time in LeBron James. Kyrie won a ring with the only NBA team he’s ever known with the Cavaliers.

As the Cleveland Cavaliers prepared for Tuesday night, they missed their 5’9 star Isaiah Thomas, who averaged close to 29 points per game last season. Derrick Rose took over the point guard duties during this matchup, which sure will help fill in the void for Isaiah Thomas. Kyrie Irving returned to Cleveland and was showered with boos from the hostile crowd.

Gordon Hayward, an all-star player who recently signed a huge contract with the Celtics, had one of the worst injuries in NBA history. Five minutes into Tuesday night’s opener, Irving threw up an alley-oop and Hayward came down very awkwardly, and his ankle practically snapped. This was a huge blow for the Boston Celtics and the rest of the season. He was diagnosed with a broken fibula and a fractured left ankle. 

¨It was scary to see Hayward go down and I got kind of choked up when I saw the damage that was done to such a great player,¨ said avid NBA fan David Guariglia. 

Kyrie Irving finished with a double-double with 22 points and 11 assists. The young Jaylen Brown recorded 25 points in which he filled in for Hayward.

On the other end of the match, LeBron James led the Cavaliers to a victory over Boston with a stat line that was a very near triple-double. He had 29 points, 16 rebounds, and 9 assists.

Now going to the west coast, the Houston Rockets stunned the Warriors, as Kevin Durant was about a millisecond to late on his shot that would have won the game.

The Warriors were up by a lot for most of the game, but the Rockets outscored the Warriors in the 4th quarter 34-20.

James Harden had 27 points and 10 assists. The newly acquired Chris Paul had 11 assists for himself in his regular season debut for Houston.

The Warriors shot very inconsistently and inefficient during the stretch of the whole game. Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and Klay Thompson shot in inefficient 21/47 from the field combined, which is below the league average. Draymond Green was 1 point shy of a triple-double but got injured in the final minutes of the game.

As opening night came with many shockers, both games came down to an intense finish. The NBA universe feels for Gordon Hayward. Players never want to see each other go down the way that Hayward did.