we may have lost game 1 but seeing the players we have in Jaylen and Jayson and Smart? Add Irving to the mix? I was VERY impressed.
Jaylen Brown looks like he's ready to make a huge leap this year and a day will come when he will win the matchup against Lebron in the playoffs. Maybe not this year but maybe in 2 years? His improvement from last year was tremendous, IMO. Just the increase in confidence and the awareness.
Tatum was really good too, 1st half jitters aside. He's got ways to go on defense and rebounding but in a year or two, he's going to be an X Factor. He'll tip the scales and make it feel "just not fair" anymore.
Smart was overly aggressive in the 1st half (probably overcompensating, trying to get the team going post-incident). But in the 2nd half, he was a problem as well.
Kyrie is only 26, right? So when he hits his prime in a couple of years, our young guys would've ideally turned the corner. Sure Horford and Hayward may have begun the downswing of their careers (esp. Horford), but we've got one helluva core. The rest of the league better watch out