Cavaliers vs. Heat: Score, Stats & Highlights

LeBron James

(Getty)

Final Score

Cavaliers 27-22-25-17 — 91
Heat 30-32-15-24 — 101
4th Quarter

In a predominantly one-sided game, the Heat were able to hold off late rallies by the Cavs in the 4th quarter and win .

Dwayne Wade had his best 1st half of the season with 24 points, and finished with a game-high of 31. LeBron James finished with 30 for Cleveland.

Miami temporarily lost the lead in the 4th quarter when Cleveland briefly went up 81-80. This I would subsequently go on a 10-0 run to go up 90-81. After the Cavs made it 90-87, the Heat would go on another 8-0 run to put some distance between the two teams and put the nail in the coffin.

The Cavs are now an unimpressive 17-11, and still have problems in crunch time.


The Cavaliers Rebounded Nicely in 3rd and Pulled Within 3

At the end of the quarter, Wade has 26 to lead the Heat and James has 21 to lead the Cavs. The Cavs tightened up on defense in the 3rd, and held the Heat to just 15 points.


The Heat Started Hot Led By a Motivated Wade

The 1st quarter was largely one-sided until the very end when the Cavs offense finally got going. Wade led all scorers in the 1st with 12 points.

Miami started the 2nd quarter on an 8-1 run.


‘Tis the season. The NBA’s 3rd Christmas game of the day sees LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers travel down to South Beach — taking their talents with them — to take on the Miami Heat. Here is how to stream the game online.

It is LeBron James’ 1st game playing in Miami since departing as a free agent after last season. Although it would be easy to see why players and management in the Heat organization would be upset, surprisingly, they’re not because it’s still a business. Heat guard Dwyane Wade has understood rumors of that nature, being forever linked to his hometown of Chicago throughout his NBA career, and Wade understands the semantics of James’ July decision.

“He made the right decision. He went home. You can’t say nothing about that decision when someone decides to go home.”

The 17-10 Cavaliers are still trying to figure it out. Along with James, Kevin Love was brought to Cleveland in the offseason, and just through 27 games, Love is averaging just 16.9 points-per-game, his lowest PPG total since 2009-10. The Heat replaced James’ punch with Luol Deng, Josh McRoberts and draft pick Shabazz Napier, but so far, have not even seen close to the success as some of the 2nd-tier Eastern Conference teams such as Chicago, Atlanta and Washington.