Rick Noland
The Gazette
CLEVELAND — If you can beat ‘em, especially this badly, why rejoin ‘em?
A day after saying he’d consider playing in Cleveland again, LeBron James took the lead role as the Miami Heat trampled the helpless Cavaliers 111-87 Friday at sold-out but eerily quiet Quicken Loans Arena.
“It boggles my mind being scared of another man,” angry Cleveland coach Byron Scott said. “They put their pants on just like we do. We were not aggressive from the start.”
The Heat (24-7), which concluded a six-game road trip with its fifth straight win, never let the James-haters at The Q get into the game.
Miami went up 11-0 on a resounding slam by the 6-foot-8, 250-pound Akron native with 8:33 left in the first period and 21-2 on a pair of Dwyane Wade free throws at the 5:20 mark.
In front of the first sellout crowd at The Q since the season opener, the not-ready-for-the-moment Cavs (11-17) played an equally big role, looking lost and intimidated while failing to score for almost 3½ minutes and putting up just two points over the first 5½.
“We just looked like we were scared to death, plain and simple” Scott said. “I thought they came out with great energy and great effort. We didn’t match it whatsoever.
“It just seemed like the lights were too bright for a lot of our guys. Simple as that.”
In a game remarkably similar to James’ initial return to The Q, a 118-90 Miami win on Dec. 2, 2010, the Cavs were down 21 after the first period, as many as 27 in the second quarter and by 34 in the third.
“It was big,” James said of his team’s fast start. “We came out and took the crowd right out of it.
“It was a good way to start the game and it was good to keep the momentum throughout 48 minutes.”
Neither James, who finished with 28 points, five rebounds and five assists in 30 minutes, nor Wade, who had 22 points and six boards in 24 minutes, played in the fourth quarter.
The third member of the Heat’s Big Three, Chris Bosh, had 16 points and 12 rebounds as Miami improved to 6-1 against Cleveland since adding James.
“I was surprised we didn’t take the fight to them,” Scott said. “We played with no sense of urgency. We looked frightened.”
After throwing down two dunks off long lob passes in Miami’s 21-2 start, James also had an impact on the defensive end, swatting a left-handed layup attempt by Kyrie Irving off the backboard midway through the third period.
A few minutes later, Irving was leading another fast break with James back defending. This time, the rookie leaned in and attempted to draw contact, only to have his layup attempt jam into the bottom of the rim.
It was that kind of night for the 19-year-old, who finished with 17 points but shot just 5-for-15 from the field and had only two assists in 31 minutes.
“It wasn’t too bright for me,” Irving said when told of Scott’s statements. “I don’t think it was too bright for any of my teammates. It was just a tough game for everyone.”
Alonzo Gee, who started in the backcourt with Irving because Daniel Gibson was out with a sprained ankle, had nine points on 4-for-14 shooting, while starting small forward Omri Casspi had four points in 27 minutes.
The Heat, on the other hand, was on fire, connecting on 14-of-21 3-pointers in the game, with Mario Chalmers making 4-of-6 en route to 14 points.
After Wade scored 18 points to help Miami to a 63-38 lead at intermission, James took over in the third period, throwing down a vicious back-door dunk to put Miami up 80-49 at the 5:15 mark, then adding a 3-pointer 25 seconds later to give his team a 34-point lead.
The Akron native finished 11-for-19 from the field, including 3-for-5 from beyond the arc. For the season, he is shooting .545 from the field.
“He’s been playing at an MVP level the entire year,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, whose team lost to Dallas in the NBA Finals largely because James repeatedly disappeared in the fourth quarter. “He came back really serious minded.
“He’s playing arguably the best basketball of his career and the best basketball of anyone in the league.”
Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4061 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com.

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