Heat Vs. Cavaliers: Cleveland Wins By Double Digits Despite LeBron’s Triple-Double

In front of an absolutely raucous croud in Cleveland, the Cavaliers fell to the Miami Heat by a score of 102-90. LeBron James notched an impressive triple-double, but the Cavs defense was fantastic all game, while Chris Bosh seriously struggled for the Heat. While Bosh is not as poor as he was at the start of the season and he’s certainly had plenty of ups, it’s become a bit of a meme that when the Heat play poorly and lose, Chris Bosh is usually the scapegoat. Seeing as LeBron had a triple-double, Dwayne Wade played very well after a poor first quarter, and Mike Bibby dropped a shocking 23 points, he probably deserves it tonight.

This is not to take anything away from Cleveland, though, who played with an outstanding amount of energy all night. At one point, their lead was as large as 20 points. The Heat got back within one score on a couple of occasions, but the Cavs never slowed down, kept up the intensity, and eventually built their lead back up to double digits to put a smile on Dan Gilbert’s face as the final horn sounded.

The third quarter has ended in in controversial fashion in Cleveland, as the Cavaliers have a lead of just 75-70 over the Miami Heat. If you’re wondering why I used the qualifier “just” for any lead that the Cavs have over the heat, Miami has three points that they probably should have. LeBron James hit a buzzer beating three point shot at the end of the quarter, but replays showed that the basket should not have counted, as James did not get the shot off in time. Amazingly, after a long review, the Heat were given the basket anyway.

Mike Bibby and Dwyane Wade were surprisingly good at the tail end of the third quarter, helping to bring Miami back within five at the end of the quarter. At one point, the Cavs had a staggering lead of 20 points. That lead was slowly chipped away at by the Heat, setting up what will likely be a very eventful fourth quarter.

The second unit of the Miami Heat struggled mightily in the second quarter, as the Cleveland Cavaliers outscored them by 11 points to take a lead by the same margin. Going into the locker room, the Cavs lead the Heat by a score of 53-42. LeBron James put up great numbers in the first quarter, but didn’t produce a single point in the second despite playing for seven minutes. Dwyane Wade heated up in the second and scored 10 points, but both Chris Bosh and Mike Bibby have been poor at both ends of the floor, while their bench produced very little.

Surprisingly, Luke Harangody was the story of the second half with a great performance off the bench. Cleveland were also aided by some more good minutes from Baron Davis, who hit a three point shot at the buzzer to extend the lead to 11 points. It seems like it’s only a matter of time before Miami puts together a run and takes control of the game, but Cleveland are playing an intense game. It wouldn’t be too shocking, based on tonight’s events, if they were able to hold on to their lead.

After the first quarter, the Cleveland Cavaliers have a surprise 24-21 lead over the Miami Heat in Lebron James’ second return to Cleveland since taking his talents to South Beach. Unsurprisingly, James has been booed every time he touched the ball, and the crowd has gone so far as to cheer whenever a Cavs player makes serious physical contact with him. He’s trying to silence the doubters with 13 points in the first quarter, but it seems unlikely that anything could silence the fans in Cleveland.

Dwyane Wade has a donut from the floor so far, though he does have two points off of free throws. Mike Bibby is proving to be a bit of a defensive liability, to the surprise to no one, and Baron Davis has been effective in beating him, causing other members of the Heat to help on defense, then setting up the open man. As a result, Davis has three first half assists. J.J. Hickson is the Cavs’ leading scorer, with nine points in the first quarter.

If anything, LeBron might be motivated to go even harder this time, as Cavs’ parking staff gave the two-time MVP grief over bringing a small entourage to the Heat’s shootaround and attempting to enter the players-only underground garage. If there’s one thing we’ve learned about LeBron over the past year, it’s that no slight is too small to make a big deal of.

For more on the Heat, visit Peninsula Is Mightier and SB Nation Miami. For Cavs’ talk, check out Fear The Sword and SB Nation Cleveland.