The Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers are playing on the NBA schedule on Saturday night at American Airlines Arena as LeBron James comes back to South Florida. The game is starting at 8 pm ET on NBATV as former teammates James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade play against each other for the second time this season.
The Cavaliers come into the game having lost two straight and the team will be looking to bounce back against Miami on the road. The team has lost against the Wizards and Pelicans in back to back games and the Cavs are currently in a stretch of four games on the road over the next five. James has been playing at an MVP level this season along with Kevin Love, but Timofey Mozgov has been struggling and the team has dealt with some injuries.
Kyrie Irving and Iman Shumpert have both been out this season for the Cavaliers and the team is hoping that they can both return by the end of December. The Cavs won the last time the two teams played back in October and James had 29 points in that matchup in Cleveland. Last year on Christmas the Cavs lost in Miami to the Heat and now Cleveland will try and win in South Beach for the first time since 2010.
Wade comes into the game after scoring 28 points for Miami in a win against the Thunder and the team comes in as the first place team in the southeast division. The team has gotten off to a strong start this season after missing the playoffs last year and they have both Wade and Bosh healthy over the first month of the year.
The Cavaliers have one of the best records in the league, but they have struggled offensively recently and have lost two straight. James comes in after scoring 37 points in the loss against the Pelicans in overtime and he added eight assists and seven rebounds in the game. The Cavaliers have the Portland Trail Blazers at home before back to back road games against the Orlando Magic and Boston Celtics. After that the Cavs play against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Philadelphia 76ers, New York Knicks and Golden State Warriors on Christmas.
Miami may not have Luol Deng for the game while he deals with a hamstring injury and that could force the team to change things up while defending James. Deng usually serves in that role and Miami now will try and get things going at home against Cleveland.
Check here for the Heat and Cavs live coverage.
Check here for the stats, updates, scores and play by play for the game.
