LeBron gets spoiled in his return to Miami

Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

For the second time this year, LeBron James returned to a place who used to call home. The first one happened opening night, when he and the rest of the Cleveland Cavaliers fell flat to an abysmal New York Knicks team at home. This time, James was coming back to play his first game in Miami since he joined the Cavaliers this past summer. The result was no different, with the Cavaliers falling to the Heat, 101-90.

Despite trailing by as many as 17 points early in the second quarter, the Cavaliers had a chance to win this game. After Kyrie Irving hit a lay-up to tie the game at 80, the offense went ice cold. For the next six minutes after that lay-up, the Cavaliers would only score one point, while Miami was able to score 10, giving them a 9-point lead with four minutes left in the fourth. Cleveland would eventually cut it back down to three, but Miami would pull away from there.

Unlike the first "homecoming" game, James actually played one of his better games, putting up 30 points, 8 assists and 4 rebounds, while shooting an efficient 9-of-16 from the field. He did get help from Irving, who scored 25 points, including 17 points in the first half, a big reason they only trailed by 13 heading into the break. But outside of those two, the Cavaliers couldn't get anything going on the offensive end.

It wasn't just the offense that hurt the Cavaliers, it was a former Cavalier that put up his best game of the year in his first game against the team he was traded to last year: Luol Deng. Deng, who struggled in his 40 games with Cleveland last year, had 25 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, and a couple of big plays down the stretch for the Heat. After Mike Miller drained a 3-pointer to bring the Cavaliers deficit to three with three minutes remaining, Deng was able to find a wide open Danny Granger for a three of his own, all while Deng was falling out of bounds on the baseline.

The Cavaliers got dominated on all aspects of the game, getting out-rebounded, out-assisted and out-shot by the Heat, while also committing more turnovers than Miami. LeBron said that they weren't that good right now, and that could be the case, but not really. A lot needs to be worked on if they want to be the team everyone predicted them to be, but it is December, meaning they have plenty of time to get things figured out.

Three Things:

1. Give it time, seriously.

It's hard to tell any Cleveland fan to be patient, especially when you have the likes of LeBron, Kyrie and Love, but that is exactly what needs to be said. The playoffs are four months away, and I'd say this team is not even 75 percent of what they will be come April. Trades will be made and rotations will be figured out by that point, so it's no reason to stress over a loss like this, considering it was the first game without Anderson Varajao. The Heat had all the reason to be motivated for this game, and vice versa for the Cavaliers. Seriously, we need to stop making judgements after one games.

2. Kevin Love?

He's had a few subpar games this year, but tonight may have been his worst in a Cavaliers uniform. His stats weren't atrocious (12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists), but his body language and defensive effort were no where to be seen . Love constantly hung his head when he didn't get the ball, leading to a lack of effort on the other end, which in turn led to LeBron yelling at him after a lackluster defensive play in the second quarter. Speaking of LeBron, he made comments on how he needed to have a better attitude on the court, and it has worked for him. Does Love need to make the same type of effort? Well, it can't get much worse for him from here.

3. Defensive Dion.

You could write a book on everything that has been said about Dion Waiters on everything he seemingly does. He takes poor shots, he's overrated, he doesn't know his role, let's trade hime for nothing, etc. But if there's one thing he showed tonight that many people weren't talking about was his defense. After Dwyane Wade torched Mike Miller 24 points in the first half, head coach David Blatt switched Waiters on to Wade and it worked wonders. Wade shot 2-of-12 in the second half with Waiters draped all over him, including an impressive two possession span where Waiters stripped and blocked Wade on back-to-back possessions in the fourth, leading to five Cavalier points. It's only one game, but it was a great sign for Waiters in his progression towards becoming the defender the Cavaliers need.

Statline of the Game:

Luol Deng: 25 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists, 11-of-16 shooting.

Luol Deng had 25 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists vs Cavs, the 1st time in 705 career games he reached those benchmarks.
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) December 26, 2014

Yeah.

What's Next:

Dec. 21, on the road against the Orlando Magic, 7 p.m.