The annual Wine and Gold Scrimmage has always been an entertaining season-opening event. But it’s never been like what fans witnessed on Wednesday night, with a near-filled Quicken Loans Arena pulsating almost 45 minutes before player introductions. When the new-look Cavaliers were finally introduced – concluding with Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving, Anderson Varejao and LeBron James – the gym was jumping.

”It was a great reaction,” said James afterward. “The fans are great, they’ve always been great.”

As David Blatt maintained after Tuesday’s practice, he mixed and matched different lineups. And halfway through the third period, he did exactly that, “trading” Shawn Marion to the Gold team so that Tristan Thompson could get a nice run with the starters.

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Some other observations from a fantastic opening night at The Q …

* Led by LeBron, the veterans had some pregame fun with the rookies on Wednesday. James encouraged rookies Joe Harris and Alex Kirk to lead the team onto the floor for pregame warmups. Both first-year guys went tearing out of the tunnel as LeBron held the rest of the team back to have a good laugh.

* James missed his first jumper of the night – a baseline fadeaway. But retrieved his own miss and proceeded to can a three-pointer a few feet from that spot.

* The Cavaliers big three got off to a strong start on Wednesday, going a combined 8-for-9 from the floor. At half, LeBron led both teams in scoring (13), Kyrie led both teams in assists (4) and Love led all rebounders (6).

* One hugely encouraging sign from Wednesday’s scrimmage came in the form of Brendan Haywood, who missed all of last season with a stress fracture in his left foot. Haywood battled Anderson Varejao for much of the night and looked sharp doing so. The 12-year veteran played 13 minutes, grabbing five boards – three off the offensive glass.

* LeBron was vocal directing traffic on Wednesday. Even with a packed gym, his voice was distinct moving guys around on both ends of the floor. “It’s just part of my leadership – make sure guys are in-tuned with what’s going on,” said James. “We just want to continue to get better every single day and not waste the opportunity. Tonight was an opportunity to get better and we didn’t waste it.”

* Tristan Thompson showed off a nice baseline hook shot, spinning and hitting the left-hander midway through the second half. In 18 minutes, the fourth-year forward went 4-of-9 from the floor for eight points to go with five boards.

* Speaking of impressive shooting, Mike Miller showed off his robust range on Wednesday, canning a pair of long three-pointers almost from between the circles. On the night, Miller was 3-of-5 from beyond the arc – 4-of-7 overall – for 11 points.

* The Cavaliers made a great opening statement and showed why they have some of the best fans in the NBA, nearly packing the arena (16,723) for an intersquad scrimmage. Coach David Blatt expects another big turnout when his old team rolls in Sunday evening.

”I’m sure that once again we will have a crowd like we did tonight,” beamed Blatt. “And let’s be honest, isn’t that amazing that we just had 17,000 people at a scrimmage?”

* Fans were asked to temporarily “pardon the dust” as The Q prepares to unveil its new HD scoreboard in time for the Cavs home opener at the end of the month. On Wednesday, fans were still able to check out the action on four high-definition temporary projection boards hanging from the rafters on each side of the arena bowl. When the Cavs take on Maccabi Tel Aviv in the preseason opener, two brand new, permanent screens will be in place in the northwest and southeast corners of the arena bowl.