Cavaliers vs Heat Final Score: LeBron James Comes Up Short In Miami Return

LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers were unable to defeat the Miami Heat in his return to South Beach.

The Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers squared off in the most anticipated NBA game on Christmas Day. Much of the build up was due to LeBron James’ return to South Beach with his new team.

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It was a great game all the way through, but the Heat were able to make the winning plays down the stretch. Danny Granger and Luol Deng were two of the key closers for the Heat, and it was a huge victory for Miami.

Cleveland’s defense simply couldn’t come up with stops late in the game, while Miami found a way to dig deeper and pull out a 101-91 victory.

James finished with 30 points on 9-16 shooting, but finished just 10-18 from the free-throw line which simply isn’t acceptable. He also dished out eight assists, but shot just 2-8 from behind the three-point arc.

Kyrie Irving also came up with a big game for Cleveland with 25 points, but Kevin Love had a poor game with just 14 points and five rebounds.

Miami was led by a monster performance from star shooting guard Dwyane Wade, who put up 31 points on 12-28 shooting. He has looked extremely good this season when he has been on the court, but his health is still a major concern.

It was obvious that he was out to pick up a big win against his former teammate from the start of the game.

Luol Deng played a huge game as well, scoring 28 points, grabbing eight rebounds, and dishing out eight assists. That is the type of performance that Miami needs from him as he looks to replace James. Chris “Birdman” Andersen was the only other double-digit scorer on the night for the Heat with 12 points, and also grabbing eight rebounds.

One more player of note on the night for the Heat was veteran forward Danny Granger, who came off the bench to score nine points and grab seven rebounds. He hit a clutch three late in the game to extend Miami’s lead to six, and also had a nice post move to extend the lead a couple of possessions later.

All of that being said, this game wasn’t a disappointment. Both teams are still more than capable of making a run in the Eastern Conference, and a seven-game series in the playoffs would be extremely entertaining.

This was a tough loss for the Cavaliers and James, but it isn’t a loss to be too upset about. Miami came through with a huge win after falling to the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night, and proved that they can still play with the better teams in the East.

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