The Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat are playing live on the NBA Christmas Day schedule and the game marks the return of LeBron James to South Beach with the Cavs and the TV coverage is on ABC and online streaming from the WatchESPN website at 5 pm ET as LeBron, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, Dwyane Wade and Luol Deng take the court.
James should get a decent welcome coming back to Miami after winning multiple championships and now he returns as the leader of the Cavs. Cleveland has been playing well after a slow start and they now are 17-10 on the season heading into the matchup with Miami. The Cavaliers will play against the Orlando Magic next on Friday after playing Miami and they come in after a big win over the Timberwolves on Tuesday night.
Kyrie Irving led the team with 29 points, while Kevin Love had 10 rebounds and four assists in the game. Miami is 13-16 on the season and they are looking to get things going in the right direction, while the Cavaliers are starting to get into a groove. The Cavs come in ranked in the top 10 in points scored per game and they are averaging 103 points this season and allowing 99 per game. The defense will need some more support after Anderson Varejao went down and that will put more pressure on James until they pull off a trade.
The Miami Heat come in after a loss to the Sixers, which obviously is pretty bad and now they have the Cavaliers before a matchup with the Grizzlies. Memphis has been one of the best teams in the league this season and that matchup will be on Saturday. Miami has been up and down to start the season and they are adjusting to life without James, with Wade taking over more of a starring role again. Wade led the team with 23 points against the Sixers and he comes in leading the team in scoring this season. Miami is ranked in the top 10 in points allowed per game, but they are only scoring 94 points per contest to rank 26th in the league. The team is last in rebounding and Chris Bosh is leading Miami with eight boards per game.
This return should be much calmer than when James went back to Cleveland for the first time after signing with Miami, although some fans are expected to boo. The team plans on paying tribute to James with a video at the game and that should at least set the mood for start of the matchup.
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