76ers fan know what it's like to experience an offensive outburst from Terry Rozier. The former Celtics guard, who has averaged 9.8 points per game throughout his career in the playoffs, went off for 19.0 points, 7.2 rebounds and 4.4 assists per contest against Philadelphia in the Celtics' 4-1 rout of their rivals back in 2018.
But unassuming Cavaliers fans weren't ready like Sixers fans might have been. I'm not sure any Hornets fans were ready, either, considering the guards of the future that received pretty damn close to 100 percent of the hype this preseason were LaMelo Ball and Devonte' Graham. But while Graham couldn't find his stroke and scored 10 points on 2-9 shooting from deep, and Ball laid a complete goose egg in 15 bench minutes, it was Rozier who exploded at a record-pace to kick off the season.
As Basketball Reference creator Justin Kubatko pointed out, Rozier set the NBA record for three-pointers made (10) in a season opener, balling out for a career-high 42 points. Here's the list of other notable three-point barrages on opening night, none of which were particularly close to what Rozier accomplished:
Rozier wasn't the only former Celtic to start off the 2020-21 season on a strong note. Gordon Hayward, who received a massive sum of money in his new contract with Charlotte — and provided Boston with quite the large trade exception in the process — tallied 28 points in his Hornets debut, knocking down half of his eight three-point attempts and adding seven assists in an all-around impressive effort.
Despite all these strong performances, though, it was mostly a negative night for Charlotte. They lost, to the lowly Cavaliers, no less. They also lost Cody Zeller to a fractured left hand. And some fans may have lost a little bit of hope in their No. 3 draft pick LaMelo Ball, though this shouldn't be the case. That's an opening night overreaction if I've ever heard one.
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