Kyrie's first game - how many?

[Androslav]

1st game of the season, Kyrie in his old arena.
- A mediocre, but a motivated defensive team on the other side and probably DRose for him to match up with. It will be an offensive game.
- Many stuff was said and went on during the summer, most of them seem like motivational boosts for Irving. "Hey, Kyrie that's an overpay for you!"
- Hayward is a slow starter, as noted here - http://forums.celticsblog.com/index.php?topic=93437.0
- Kyrie doesn't need to grasp the new offense right away to score a lot and he will have the ball in his hands as a PG and our 1st option.

With all that calculated in, I am going to predict 45 points from Kyrie in his Celtic debut.

Give your number guys!

[gouki88]

45 would be pretty sweet.

I'm going 29

[Mike Pemulis]

23 points, 9 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 turnovers.

[BitterJim]

35 points.  No way he shoots enough to score 45 (he'll be trying to integrate into the offense and get teammates involved).  I'd bet on 8 Assists/4 TOs as well

[Roy H.]

19 points, 6 turnovers, sub-40% FG%.

That's in no way a prediction of the season he'll have, but I think he'll struggle in his first game against the Cavs.

[Chris22]

23 points, 9 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 turnovers.

This.

[Moranis]

19 points, 6 turnovers, sub-40% FG%.

That's in no way a prediction of the season he'll have, but I think he'll struggle in his first game against the Cavs.

I'm torn on this one.  I can totally see him having a terrible game or I could see him having an unbelievably awesome game. 

That said, I think the most likely outcome is he comes out flat, but turns it on down the stretch.  So a poor first half, but awesome second half, which overall leads to a great game.  Something like 35 and 7 on 45% shooting. 

[jpotter33]

I expect a big game from him on national tv at Cleveland for the first time since the trade, along with it being his Celtics debut in general.

Everyone is so new to the system that there will be lots of breakdowns that devolve into Kyrie and Hayward isolation/penetration plays, which works in Kyrie's favor.

The more interesting question is who wins. While I think Boston is clearly the better team with Cleveland not having IT ready yet, they still are much more comfortable together and used to playing together than Boston right now. I think it's 50/50, but being the homer that I am, I'm going to say a big game from Kyrie wills us to victory. 

[hpantazo]

Getting adjusted in Stevens system, and not wanting to look like a ball hog right off the bat...yeah, I say he goes for 35 then

[GratefulCs]

19 points, 6 turnovers, sub-40% FG%.

That's in no way a prediction of the season he'll have, but I think he'll struggle in his first game against the Cavs.

why the hate, man? 

[Roy H.]

19 points, 6 turnovers, sub-40% FG%.

That's in no way a prediction of the season he'll have, but I think he'll struggle in his first game against the Cavs.

why the hate, man? 

Why is it "hate"?

It's a better line than Lebron put up in his season debut with the Cavs in 2014.

Kyrie put up 19 or fewer points 12 times last year. That equals the number of times he scored 30+.

[lbgreen33]

I really have no idea. I would like to see him have a well balanced game. But, will he try to do too much or try to integrate into Brad's offense? He might start be trying to do too much and try to prove what he can do. I would think Brad cautions him on that before the game, let the game come to you and get your team involved. I would also like to see the beginnings of Brad's influence on his defense. Should be fun to watch!

Oh ya, I'll go with 25 points.

Great post, TP.

[C3LTSF4N]

26 points, 8 assists, 8/19 FGs, 4 TOs.  He'll turn it on later I think but first game of the year in CLE with only a month with his new team, he won't have a perfect game.

[Ory]

I predict a double double.

26 points, 11 assists, 5 rebounds

[pearljammer10]

27, 5 assists, 4 boards, 2 steals, 3 turnovers

Season averages 28, 8, 4, 1.5, 2.8.