The preseason matchup between the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers received national news coverage for reasons unrelated to the actual basketball being played. The game marked the first matchup between LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh after free agency split up the big three. There had been some odd statements from the former teammates leading up to the match as everyone attempted to downplay the hype. Now that the Cavaliers got the win, everyone is happy the awkwardness is over for the time being.
The Cavaliers beat the Heat 122-199 in an overtime matchup that looked every bit a preseason game. Both teams struggled to find rhythm on both offense and defense which helped defuse all of the talk leading up to the game. James noted that he never really got into a rhythm despite what the stats say. Playing without Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love had a nice 25-point game. that stats were secondary in this game as everyone said it was just nice to get the awkwardness out of the way.
"I like the fact we could get everything out of the way," said Bosh, via ESPN.com. "Just let everybody see it, so we can move on. As far as seeing LeBron on another team, we're pretty much over that now."
All three players denied any sense of some new rivalry brewing between the Heat and the Cavaliers. Both teams made note that the priority in the preseason matchup was to start finding some chemistry with their new rosters. The Heat added firepower like Luol Deng while the Cavaliers made a trade for Love to add to Irving and James already there.
"But both teams are here to work. I'll acknowledge those guys for sure, I'm still cool with all of those guys. It's really not a story, it's what people make it. I just made a decision like a lot of people made decisions this summer," James said.
The Cavaliers are now 2-0 in the preseason while the Heat fall to 0-3. That really means nothing in the long-term outlook for either team, but considering the the status of both squads in the media, it will get attention. Cleveland stresses that they are focused on getting their new team to mesh well while Irving gets healthy. The Cavaliers and Heat will not see each other against until Christmas.
