Tremendous anticipation surrounded Miami's first game against Cleveland in early December, as LeBron James returned to the city he scorned after announcing on national TV over the summer, "I'm going to take my talents to South Beach."
The second meeting two weeks later in Miami had considerably less buzz, missing the hostile crowd fueled with anger toward James.
Their third matchup - also in Miami - seemingly has even less buildup, with the Cavaliers firmly ensconced at the bottom of the league.
James looks to lead the Heat to a third straight win over his former team Monday night, while Cleveland hopes to avoid extending a franchise-record losing streak to 21 games.
James led the Cavaliers (8-39) to a league-best 61 victories last season, but the team is on pace to finish with the NBA's fewest wins this year. It got off to a decent start without James, opening 7-9, but has lost 30 of 31 since.
Cleveland set a single-season franchise record Sunday with its 20th consecutive loss, falling 103-87 to Orlando. It was the Cavs' 23rd straight road loss - also a club record.
"We can ill-afford to have any kind of mental lapses like we've been having of late," forward Antawn Jamison said. "We're playing with a lot of effort, but we're also learning a lot on the go as well. Still, you have to go out there and play."
Things have been going much better for James' new team.
Winners of 11 of their last 13 home games and tied with Chicago for second in the Eastern Conference, the Heat (33-14) are also regaining their health. In Sunday's 108-103 victory at Oklahoma City, Miami had James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh on the court together for the first time in nearly three weeks.
Bosh had been sidelined four games with a sprained left ankle and Wade had missed two of those contests due to migraine headaches and a wrist injury. Just prior to the other stars' ailments, James sat out two games with a sprained left ankle. The Heat went 2-4 during the stretch when they were undermanned.
Wade returned to the lineup Sunday and scored 32 points. James added 23 with 13 rebounds and Bosh, playing for the first time since Jan. 15, had 20 points. Miami is 9-2 when its three stars all reach the 20-point mark in the same game.
"It felt good to have guys back," said Wade, who is averaging 31.5 points in his last four games - 6.0 better than his season average. "It threw us off a little bit early. We hadn't played with each other for a while. But with Chris coming back early, to try to gut it out and go tonight, we needed just to get wins. Hopefully, we can build on it."
It shouldn't be too tough against the Cavs.
James silenced the aggressive Cleveland crowd Dec. 2, scoring 38 points to help the Heat cruise to a 118-90 rout in which they led by as many as 38.
The rematch in Miami on Dec. 15 was considerably closer. The Heat won 101-95, although James insisted afterward that the game was never in doubt. Wade led the way with 28 points, while James added 21 and 13 rebounds.
Daniel Gibson had a team-high 26 points in that game for Cleveland, but has been mostly ineffective lately, averaging 7.7 points on 30.8-percent shooting in his last three games.
Cavs coach Byron Scott benched Gibson on Sunday for Manny Harris. The rookie led the team with 20 points, but no other starter reached double figures.
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment