The NBA season started on Tuesday night and in the opening game, the Chicago Bulls defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers and the game had President Obama in attendance. The Golden State Warriors hosted the Pelicans and won to start their title defense in the late game.
The Bulls and Cavaliers played a tight game and Chicago pulled out the 97-95 win after Pau Gasol was able to block an attempt by LeBron James to tie the game in the final seconds. The Cavs had one more chance after that, but a deflection from Jimmy Butler helped seal the win for the Bulls. The Bulls won in their first game under head coach Fred Hoiberg and now both teams will be playing back to back games with Wednesday's night kicking off the rest of the NBA schedule.
Nikola Mirotic was in the starting lineup and had 19 points, while Derrick Rose has 18 points and was able to play despite suffering a facial fracture injury earlier in the month. James had a double-double with 25 points and 10 rebounds and now the Cavs are 0-1 to start the season. Cleveland won over the Bulls in the playoffs last year and now Chicago has the first head-to-head win this season. Butler had 17 points in the game, while Mo Williams had 19 points and seven assists while starting in place of the injured Kyrie Irving.
The Warriors played the second game of the opening night doubleheader on TNT and the team won over the Pelicans 111-95 to get their first victory of the season. Reigning MVP Stephen Curry had 40 points in the game and he had 24 points in the first quarter. This was a rematch of the first round of the playoffs from last season and Curry had seven assists and six rebounds to go along with his game high scoring total.
Anthony Davis struggled in his first game of the season and Golden State was up by 10 at halftime and the game was not close the rest of the way. The Warriors have now won 19 straight home games, according to ESPN.