Anthony vs. James in 2010
Denver Nuggets' Carmelo Anthony (15) loses control of the ball as he runs into LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers during the overtime period of their NBA basketball game in Cleveland February 18, 2010. Reuters

LeBron James’ return to the Cleveland Cavaliers becomes official on Thursday (Friday morning in Australia) when his old/new team host Carmelo Anthony and the New York Knicks at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Cavaliers and James are making their season debut while the Knicks and Anthony are looking to bounce back from a 104-80 blowout loss to the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday.

Cleveland has the league’s power trio— rising point guard Kyrie Irving, star big man Kevin Love and James and already they are considered the favourites by many to win the NBA title in June despite the Cavaliers not playing a single game together in the regular season.

Their opponents on Thursday, on the other hand, are just happy to compete at least for a playoff spot. Joining Melo in New York are Derek Fisher as head coach and Phil Jackson as team president and with new faces and a new system— the triangle offence and its variations— the season is seen as a transition year for the Big Apple franchise.

Unlike James, Anthony has no legit help in New York. In the loss to the Bulls on Wednesday night, Melo finished with 14 points— and was the top-scorer for his team. Amare Stoudemire ended up with 12 points and 8 rebounds and no one else finished in double-figure scoring.

Same as New York, there’s a new man at the helm in Cleveland. International/European veteran David Blatt, who’s handling an NBA team for the first time in his illustrious career. Aside from LeBron’s first game back in Cleveland, basketball pundits are also excited to see how Blatt’s style will work in the pro league.

The match-up will be highlighted by the face-off of stars James and Anthony, two of the highest scoring players in the league for years now. Last season, Anthony averaged 27.4 points per game, second overall in the league and James averaged 27.1 points per game, third overall.

Clearly, the Cavaliers are the better and deeper squad than the Knicks. Aside from the Cleveland’s “Big Three” they also have the likes of Dion Waiters, Anderson Varejao and Tristan Thompson. New York will look to Stoudemire, Iman Shumpert, J.R. Smith and others to step-up if they hope to be competitive in this game.

The Cavaliers enter the game as over 6-to-1 favourites and are favoured to win at +12.5 point spread in the betting odds. Total points scored— over/under is set at 202.5 points.

Watch the New York Knicks vs. Cleveland Cavaliers live streaming via NBA League Pass.