NBA Basketball is officially back!!! After a crazy off-season filled with tons of player movement, the NBA tipped off Tuesday night.

We had two exciting NBA basketball games to get us started. The first game of the night saw the heavyweights of the Eastern Conference take the floor. The new look Cleveland Cavaliers hosted the new look Boston Celtics. This game was filled with storylines on top of storylines. Boston, who had the best regular season record a year ago went out and made what was possibly the two most significant moves of the offseason: 1. Made the biggest splash by signing Gordon Hayward, and 2. Traded with their Eastern Conference rivals the Cavaliers for Kyrie Irving. On the other side, the Cleveland Cavaliers made several moves to inch closer to the Golden State Warriors. They signed a variety of veterans, including Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade, and Jeff Green. But the big news was the trade they made with the Boston Celtics sending Kyrie Irving to the Boston Celtics for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, and Ante Zizic.

So many questions…how was Kyrie going to be received in his return to Cleveland? How would the new-look Boston Celtics play? How would Boston’s young talent play? What impact would Gordon Hayward have coming to Boston to play for his college coach Brad Stevens? How would JR Smith respond to coming off the bench?

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Of all the subplots, the most prominent story of the night was not one of them. Just six minutes into the game and his Boston career, Gordon Hayward went up for a lob and came down wrong- dislocating his ankle and broke his tibia. Hayward’s injury completely changed the tone of the game and most likely Boston’s season. Both sides competed and gave us a very competitive game that went down to the wire in which Kyrie had a shot come up just short to send the game to overtime.

The second game of the nba basketball opening night between the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets started with the reigning champions receiving their championship rings.

The biggest question in the off-season, particularly in the Western Conference was what were teams going to do to compete with the Warriors? The Houston Rockets answered that question by adding all-star point guard Chris Paul to their high-powered offense.

Game #2 did not disappoint either. As the final horn went off, and confetti fell, both teams thought they had won the game. Did Durant’s baseline jumper get off just in time for the win? Or had the Rockets spoiled the Warriors special night? After the officials reviewed the final play, the basket was ruled no good, giving the Rockets a one-point victory. The biggest surprise of the night was the exciting debut Nick Young, one of the new additions to the Warriors. His 23-point performance, coming off the bench provided a huge boost to an already potent offense.

Let’s hope that these two games set the course for an exciting NBA Basketball regular season. Whether or not it does remains to be seen, but it sure is good to have basketball back.