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The Washington Wizards trailed for much of Tuesday night's season opener before an early fourth-quarter run turned a 12-point deficit into a 76-74 lead with just over eight minutes left. A three-pointer by Dion Walters put the Cleveland Cavaliers back in front, however, and allowed them to pull away for a 94-84 win to begin the NBA regular season.
Jordan Crawford with 11 points and Emeka Okafor with 10 points were the only Wizards in double figures scoring-wise as Washington saw all 11 players that played score at least four points. The balanced attack was not enough to overcome Kyrie Irving's 29 points and 23 rebounds from Anderson Varejao.
Varejao also had nine points and nine assists, finishing just short of a triple-double in his season debut. Varejao nearly out-rebounded the Wizards by himself as Cleveland dominated the glass 54-39. Tristan Thompson also had 10 rebounds to go with 12 points for Cleveland.