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For more on the Cavs, check out Fear the Sword.
The Cleveland Cavaliers, coming off a nice win Wednesday night against the Indiana Pacers in Kyrie Irving's return from a concussion, are witnessing what they lost to Miami summer 2010 -- LeBron James domination.
James, who may or may not be trying to warm Cleveland to the possibility of his return in 2014, was a team-high plus-29 in the first half and had 12 points. Dwyane Wade had a cool 18 to supplement James on 6-for-8 shooting, and the Heat shot 56-percent as a team through the first 24 minutes. Miami is 8-for-12 from long distance.
Cleveland managed to get over 30-percent shooting late in the half to prevent a one-time 27-point deficit from becoming any worse. Irving is just 3-for-9 shooting and does not have a single assist. Ramon Sessions leads the Cavs in scoring with nine points off the bench.
For more on the Cavaliers, check out Fear The Sword. For the take on the other side, head to the Peninsula Is Mightier. All your NBA news and analysis can be found at SB Nation's NBA hub SBNation.com/NBA.
Kyrie Irving is back for the Cleveland Cavaliers and the fans are very, very grateful for that fact as a top tier team come to town tonight, the Miami Heat. LeBron James might have been the talk of the town in Cleveland for all those years, but Irving has shown to be all that he may just be the man to replace him. After coming back from a concussion he dished 22 points against the Pacers, and has played like a serious rookie of the year candidate. Unfortunately for Cleveland, they have almost nothing behind Irving and will probably get plenty of trouble from Miami.
Cleveland have lost both games so far this season to the Heat, both of which were in Miami. Cleveland are only 6-7 this season at home, so a definite advantage isn't really going to the Cavs in this one, especially with Miami healthy and on a roll -- they are 4-1 so far in their current road trip.
Even more interestingly, this game comes right after a strange bout of rumors that LeBron is willing to come back to Cleveland, but that's a story for another day.
The game will be at Quicken Loans Arena at 7:30 PM ET.
For more on the Cavaliers, check out Fear The Sword. For more on the Heat, head to Peninsula Is Mightier.
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Cavaliers Vs. Heat Final Score: Miami Hands Cleveland 24-Point Loss
The Cleveland Cavaliers had no answer for LeBron James and the Miami Heat on Friday night, falling behind 11-0 to start the game and never recovering. Miami ran away early and left the Q with a 111-87 rout.
LeBron James was the game's leading scorer with 28 points on 11-for-19 shooting. Dwyane Wade added 22 points on just 10 shots.
Rookie sensation Kyrie Irving, who returned on Wednesday night after suffering a concussion, finished as the Cavs' leading scorer with 17 points, but was just 5-for-15 shooting and only assisted two other baskets.
Cleveland shot 40-percent and allowed Miami to hit 14 of their 21 attempts from three-point range.
The Cavs, now 11-17, continue their five-game homestand on Sunday against Sacramento.
For more on the Cavaliers, check out Fear The Sword. For the take on the other side, head to the Peninsula Is Mightier. All your NBA news and analysis can be found at SB Nation's NBA hub SBNation.com/NBA.
Feb 17 9:29p by Brian Packey