If there’s still bad blood between Kyrie Irving and LeBron James, it didn’t trickle onto the court Tuesday night.
The former Cleveland Cavaliers teammates squared off as opponents at Quicken Loans Arena in the NBA’s highly-anticipated regular-season opener. Irving wasn’t kindly received by the Cleveland crowd, which loudly booed the Boston Celtics point guard when he was introduced, as well as every time he touched the ball early in the game.
But James was much kinder to his ex-sidekick. After Irving’s 3-pointer — contested by James — fell short at the buzzer to give Cleveland a 102-99 win, the two shared a heartfelt embrace on the court, appearing to put aside weeks of subtle shade and testy remarks about their relationship.
Irving also dapped up several of his former Cavs teammates, busting out special handshakes with Tristan Thompson, Kevin Love, J.R. Smith and Channing Frye.
Irving’s Cleveland return obviously was overshadowed by Gordon Hayward’s horrific first-quarter leg injury, which cast a pall over the rest of the evening. Indeed, Hayward’s injury seemed to take the edge off any animosity that may have surfaced otherwise.
James wasn’t too friendly toward his ex-point guard, though: When asked after the game about Irving getting booed, the Cavs star said Cleveland fans actually let him off the hook a bit.
“It was nothing,” James said, via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “That was nothing. What do you want me to say? I’ve experienced big boos before. That was like a pat on the back.”
Thumbnail photo via Ken Blaze/USA TODAY Sports Images
