+4
A huge first quarter for Miami put the Heat in cruise control against the Cavs.
Injuries:
Dexter Pittman is listed as day-to-day after bruising his left shoulder. Mario Chalmers bruised his left hand in Miami's last game, but expects to play tonight.
Starters: (PPG, RPG, APG, SPG, BPG)
Point guard - Mario Chalmers (11.0, 2.5, 3.6, 1.3, 0.2)
Shooting guard - Dwyane Wade (21.9, 4.2, 4.8. 1.7, 1.3)
Small forward - LeBron James (28.0, 8.2, 6.8, 1.7, 0.7)
Power forward - Chris Bosh (18.6, 8.1, 2.1, 0.9, 0.8)
Center - Joel Anthony (3.4, 4.3, 0.1, 0.5, 1.1)
Key off the bench: Mike Miller is hitting 52 percent of his 3-point attempts, going 46-of-89 on the season.
Injuries:
Anderson Varejao is out at least a month with a broken wrist. Anthony Parker is day-to-day with a strained lower back.
Starting Lineup: (PPG, RPG, APG, SPG, BPG)
Point guard - Kyrie Irving (18.2, 3.5, 5.1, 0.8, 0.4)
Shooting guard - Daniel Gibson (8.0, 3.0, 2.1, 0.8, 0.4)
Small forward - Omri Casspi (7.9, 3.1, 1.3, 0.7, 0.4)
Power forward - Antawn Jamison (16.7, 6.2, 1.8, 1.1, 0.9)
Center - Semih Erden (3.2, 2.4, 0.1, 0.5, 0.1)
Key off the bench: Alonzo Gee plays 27 minutes per night, averaging 10 points and four rebounds off the bench.
Common Thread:
Heat forward LeBron James played his first seven seasons in Cleveland. He is the Cavaliers all time leader in points, with 15,251 and in steals, with 955. He is second all-time in assists, with 3,810. James is also fourth all time with 3,861 rebounds and with 482 blocks. In 548 games, he averaged 28 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, 1.8 steals and just under one block in just over 40 minutes per night.
Team Milestones:
Three more three-pointers for James Jones will move him past James Posey into 13th all-time with 215.
Chris Bosh will pass Sherman Douglas into 18th all-time with his next free throw, number 514.
Five more rebounds for Joel Anthony will move him past Michael Beasley into 20th all-time, with 938.
With 16 rebounds, Udonis Haslem will move into second on the Heat all-time list, passing Rony Seikaly with 4,545. Eight more points will move him past Grant Long, into seventh with 5,474.
Team Leaders:
PPG:
LeBron James - 28.0
Dwyane Wade - 21.9
Chris Bosh - 18.6
RPG:
Udonis Haslem, LeBron James - 8.2
Chris Bosh - 8.1
APG:
LeBron James - 6.8
Dwyane Wade - 4.8
Mario Chalmers - 3.6
SPG:
LeBron James, Dwyane Wade - 1.7
Mario Chalmers - 1.3
BPG:
Dwyane Wade - 1.3
Joel Anthony - 1.1
Chris Bosh - 0.8
Tonight, the Miami Heat visit the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. This is the third and final game this season between the Cavs and the Heat, and the only one in Ohio.
Miami is finishing up a six game road tilt. They lost the first game to the Orlando Magic, 102-89 before beating the Washington Wizards, 106-89, the Atlanta Hawks, 107-87, the Milwaukee Bucks, 114-96, and the Indiana Pacers, 105-90 on Tuesday. On the current four game winning streak, the Heat have scored at least 105 points in each game and allowed no more than 96 to any opponent, winning by an average of 17.5 points per game.
After tonight's game, they return to the American Airlines Arena for a three game homestand, featuring the Orlando Magic on Sunday, the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday, and the New York Knicks on Thursday.
Cleveland is in the fifth game of a nine game homestand. They beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 99-92 last Wednesday, lost to the Milwaukee Bucks, 113-112 in overtime on Friday, lost to the Philadelphia 76ers, 99-94 on Saturday and beat the Indiana Pacers, 98-87 on Wednesday.
They continue on to host the Sacramento Kings, the Detroit Pistons, the New Orleans Hornets, and the Boston Celtics. Miami is 11-5 on the road, while Cleveland is 6-7 at home.
The teams last faced each other on February 7th in Miami. Dwayne Wade scored 26 points with six assists to lead Miami to a 107-91 victory. LeBron James added 24 points with five rebounds and six assists.
Antawn Jamison led Indiana with 25 points with nine boards and Anderson Varejao added 11 points and 11 rebounds in the loss. Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra talked about the Cavaliers after the game,
"The final score was not indicative about how competitive and close that game was. That team is improved. They play hard, they compete. They're a tough team to put away. We did some things well on both ends of the court, but we did some things to allow them extra possessions to get back into the game."
NBA Cleveland Cavaliers Vs Miami Heat Highlights Feb 7, 2012 Game Recap (via TheNBAIndia)
The Heat beat the Indiana Pacers, 105-90 on Tuesday night. LeBron James scored 23 points with nine rebounds and seven assists to lead the Heat. Norris Cole tied his career high with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting. Coach Spoelstra remarked in the historic occasion of winning three consecutive road games on three nights, which hasn't happened since the Phoenix Suns pulled off the feat in 1979.
"Our guys wanted this challenge and we were well aware it had not been done in 40 years, to go back-to-back to-back on the road, be able to stay focused. We threw out anything we could have used as a crutch."
Miami Heat Vs Indiana Pacers 2-14-12 Highlights HD (via MsGeneration88)
The Cavs beat the Pacers, 98-87 on Wednesday night. Cleveland was led by Kyrie Irving, who returned from a concussion to score 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting with five assists. Semih Erden added 18 in the victory.
For the Pacers, Darren Collison led five players in double figures with 18 and Delonte West finished with a double double, with 10 points and 10 boards in the loss. Irving talked about his concussion after the game,
"Just because I had a concussion, my game wasn't going to change. I was still going to be aggressive and attack the basket. But I did kind of limit myself from going in the paint for rebounds, quite honestly, because I didn't want to go in there with all the tall trees."
Indiana Pacers Vs Cleveland Cavaliers 2-15-12 NBA Highlights HD (via nbahighlights9999)
Standings
Miami: 23-7, first in the Southeast Division, second in the Eastern Conference, second in the NBA, on pace for 51-15. Last five: L-W-W-W-W
Cleveland: 11-16, fourth in the Central Division, 10th in the Eastern Conference, 22nd in the NBA, on pace for 27-39. Last five: L-W-L-L-W
Season series: Miami, 2-0
All-time series: Miami, 47-39
GameTime: 7:30 ET
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LeBron James, Miami Heat Warm Up Cleveland: 111-87
Following a string of impressive victories, the Miami Heat continue their surge and beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 111-87 in Friday night's game. LeBron James, visiting his former team for the first time this season and playing in conditions not nearly as hostile as his first go around in Cleveland, led the Heat with 28 points including a dominating third quarter.
A day after talking to media about being open to a return to Cleveland, James played like it was just another game. After a relatively quiet first half, James went on a scoring tear in the third quarter. Mixing a variety of jump shots, post moves, and 3-point bombs, James scored 16 in the period. He routinely looked into the crowd as he completed alley-oops throughout the game, perhaps trying to rekindle some of the feelings LeBron addressed during Thursday's practice.
It was obvious from the start that the Heat planned on setting an aggressive tone. Dwyane Wade ferociously attacked the basket and set up in the deep post where he connected on easy baskets against the soft interior Cleveland defense. Wade finished with 22 points on only 10 shots and even connected on his first 3-point shot of the season. Chris Bosh took a more assertive role on the glass and with the ball; he notched a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
The Cavaliers were led by rookie Kyrie Irving, who had 17 points but only 2 assists. Ramon Sessions and Tristan Thompson played admirably from the bench, scoring 15 and 12 points, respectively.
The Miami also received substantial contributions from the bench: Norris Cole, Shane Battier, and Mike Miller combined for 21 points and James Jones got some garbage time minutes to practice on his shot in advance of the 3-point shootout on All-Star weekend, he finished with 9 points.
Impressed By: Mario Chalmers. What about Super Mario? He is quietly having a fantastic season shooting the ball, gets named to the 3-point contest, and then nails 4 3-point shots? Chalmers is providing the outside presence the Heat dreamed of when they locked him up with that long-term deal.
Depressed By: Joel Anthony. Don't get me wrong, Joel, or The Warden as he is commonly known as, is one of my favorite Heat players. Nonetheless, going 25 minutes without a shot and only 3 rebounds? The Heat need more enforcement down under from their primary center.
Next Up: The Heat take on the Orlando Magic on Sunday at 3:30 PM. The Heat's last loss was in Orlando and look for the Heat to come out strong in this nationally televised game.
Feb 17 10:24p by William Mueller