The much anticipated 2017-18 NBA season kicked off Tuesday night and did not disappoint.  The NBA is coming off arguably one of the greatest free agency in league history. With a number of blockbuster trades and signings that sent numerous superstars to new franchises, it has installed even more hype into the already much anticipated 2017-18 NBA season.

Some of these impactful trades included Paul George heading to Oklahoma City Thunder to team up with reigning MVP Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul being traded to the Rockets to play alongside all-star James Harden, and possibly the biggest and most impactful trade of all was Kryie Irving going to Boston trading Isaiah Thomas to the Cleveland Cavilers.

The NBA season kicked off with new look, Cleveland Cavaliers facing off against the Boston Celtics who acquired former Cleveland point guard Kyrie Irving. High intensity and emotion filled the stadium, straight from opening tip off, with these two Eastern conference juggernauts going back and forth against each other. However, five minutes into the game things quickly turned for the worse. All-star, Gordon Hayward of the Boston Celtics, who was just acquired last offseason from the Utah Jazz went down with a gruesome ankle injury. Hayward’s injury not only stunned the arena, but also the players, which had some players on their knees praying for Hayward.

The Celtics did not let down after Hayward’s, but used his injury as motivation to come back from an 18 point deficit to tie it up with one minute to go in the game. However, the Celtics came up short when Irving missed a three pointer over his former teammate Lebron James that would have sent the game into overtime. This game gave fans an intense atmosphere during the regular season, that has been lacking in recent years.

The second game of the NBA opening night doubleheader was the Houston Rockets taking on defending champions, Golden State Warriors. Before the game started, Golden State had their banner ceremony for their latest championship, which gave excitement throughout the arena that would continue throughout the whole game. The Rockets were able to hang with Golden State with strong performances from Harden and Eric Gordon, which allowed them to take a one point lead with less than 10 seconds left in the game. Durant came up with the ball after a Curry miss and put up a 15 foot jump shot for the win with time expiring and nailed it. Durant’s shot made Oracle arena explode, however the officials went to the monitors to check to see if Durant got the shot off in time, and after further review, his shot was deemed to be taken after the clock expired giving the win to the Houston Rockets. This win is huge for the Rockets who looked to be championship contender.

With the NBA fan base growing at such a fast pace, these two opening night games had McLean students buzzing about the upcoming NBA season. Seniors David Gartner and Billy Erdahl have been lifelong NBA fans and are very excited for the NBA season to start. Gartner who watched both games on opening night was one of these students who were excited.

“Those two NBA games were possibly the best games I have ever watched. I can’t wait for what this NBA season has in store,” Gartner said.

“I paid pretty close attention to the NBA offseason, and it’s fun now to watch and see what these new teams can accomplish,” Erdahl said.

If these opening night games are any indication of how the NBA season is going to play out, then NBA fans are in for a treat.