The Cleveland Cavaliers are in the holiday spirit of giving, to the Miami Heat 95 to 84, Cavs lose to the Heat in pre-Thanksgiving home game in Cleveland, the all star matchup between LeBron James and Cavaliers Kyrie Irving never materializes

 By Karl Kimbrough (pictured), Cleveland Urban News.Com Sportswriter (kimbrough@clevelandurbannews.com).  Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog.Com, Ohio's No 1 and No 2 online Black news venues (www.clevelandurbannews.com) Reach Cleveland Urban News.Com by email at editor@clevelandurbannews.com and by phone at 216-659-0473

Kyrie Irving (left) and Lebron James

CLEVELAND, Ohio-There are 82 games in every National Basketball Association regular season. Each season though, there are a few games that Cleveland Cavaliers fans circle as special. Two of those special games are when LeBron James visits his old team at Quicken Loans Arena.

Wednesday night, one day before the holiday season began, is the day that the NBA scheduled LeBron's first return home this season. And the Cavaliers fell to the Miami Heat last night, 95 to 84. (Editor's note: Lebron James is a native of Akron , Ohio and played for the Cavaliers for seven years before choosing the Miami Heat as a free agent in 2010). The stands were packed and the fans were ready for an exciting game. Unlike previous seasons, this visit, and his next visit,  bring an added interest for fans and the Cavaliers team itself. James will have a chance to use his player option, to sign with a different team after this season is over.

The Cavaliers and some of their fans want to show him why he should come home permanently. So the Cavaliers' motivation to play well was twofold. When James was introduced, Quicken Loans Arena was flooded with boos, but there were some cheers at the same time. A source close to the James camp said that he would not be interested in signing with a team that is not battle tested like the Cavaliers. Also, he would not want to be part of the “mess” that's been going on in the Cavaliers locker room, speaking of the heated verbal confrontation between Dion Waiters and some of his teammates.

Those were the particulars that set the stage for this game. As the game wore on, the Cavaliers made James and the Miami Heat teammates feel right at home, giving them everything they needed to take home a 95 to 84 win. Although the Cavaliers began the game aggressively with a lot of positive energy, taking a 28 to 22 first quarter lead it was short lived.

Cleveland showed that they were already in the holiday spirit of giving as they turned the ball over 19 times. The warm 55 percent shooting they enjoyed in the first quarter was short lived as well. They turned colder than the winter breeze outside the arena by shooting a cool 20 percent in the second quarter and only 35 percent for the game. Although Cleveland played with a lot of energy, out rebounding Miami in the first quarter 13 to four the cold shooting allowed Miami to take a 29 to 28 lead early in the second quarter.

There was a lot of energy in the stands by the fans as well, showing they were either for or against LeBron and the World Champion Heat. Unlike the Cavaliers,  James and his Miami Heat teammates began the first quarter slowly to carry the scoring load early on. James had just three points in the first 17 minutes of the game. Then he began to take over as the first half ended by scoring Miami's last seven points of the second quarter, finishing with 12 for the half.

Cavaliers all star Kyrie Irving also allowed his teammates to do the lion share of scoring for the first 18 minutes, scoring only two points before tallying six of Cleveland's last nine in the second quarter. Although they were down by seven at the half, 49 to 42, the Cavaliers were moving the ball well and passing to the open man, unlike earlier in the season when the ball stalled with Irving dribbling to much.

Defensively, the Cavaliers struggled to keep Dwayne Wade out of the interior as he over matched Matthew Dellavedova, scoring 12 points and equaling LeBron for team high in points in the half. Although he started, Dellavedova only played four minutes and 28 seconds in the first half, and 7:36 for the entire game, partly because of his miss match with Wade.                                                                        
The Cavaliers went to a three guard offense with Jarrett Jack, Waiters, and Irving with six minutes left in the first quarter to try to equal Miami's speed and quickness. Waiters, Jack and Irving each played over 32 minutes for the game. It made little difference though as Miami's lead grew to 14 points with 3:27 left in the third quarter and Cleveland never got closer than 10 points the rest of the game. 

The all star match up between James and Irving never materialized. LeBron had a quiet 28 point eight rebound and eight assist game and Irving who was trapped or double teamed often only contributed 16 points and three assists for the Cavaliers. Waiters shot the ball well and led the Cavaliers in scoring 24 points and added six rebounds to help the Cavaliers win that battle 47 to 41.

Miami never seemed to be challenged, which was probably because they were able to take advantage of the 19 Cleveland turnovers. The Heat outscored the Cavaliers 17 to four in fast break points, which proved to be the big difference in the score and the game.

It is very difficult to win in the NBA when fast break points are at a minimum. The fast break points were also a key to the Heat winning the points in the paint battle 50 to 28. Cavaliers Coach Mike Brown also thought the turnovers were the biggest problem for his team.

Cleveland Cavaliers Coach Mike Brown

"I thought it was a tough night for us in the turnover department," said Coach Brown. "I thought we had a lot of  unforced turnovers."

Brown said that through the course of the game, specifically in that third quarter, his team just kept losing the handle on the basketball, which hurt their opportunity to have a chance to score the ball, and that the turnovers were a big factor in the game.

Jack who is a veteran guard, led the Cavaliers in giving with five turnovers, Irving was right behind him with four.
But on the other hand, LeBron had a somewhat of a quiet game, although it was efficient with an eight to one assist to turnover night. This was in harmony with how the game turned out as well. With all of the hype, anticipation and expectation. it turned out to be a pretty ordinary and uneventful game.(www.clevelandurbannews.com)