Cavs get burned in LeBron's return to Cleveland

Miami wins big in LeBron James’ return to Cleveland

By MARY SCHMITT BOYER

Plain Dealer

Cleveland

They came to boo LeBron James, but they had to stop themselves from booing the Cavaliers.

In a game that not only didn’t live up to the hype but was so one-sided that even the jilted fans barely worked up enough enthusiasm to continue their verbal onslaught, the Miami Heat finally looked like the team everyone thought they would be in a dominating 118-90 victory over the pathetic Cavs Thursday night in The Q.

After struggling to mesh their games so far this season, James and Dwyane Wade were a perfect match on Thursday. James finished with a season-high 38 points, plus five rebounds and eight assists, while Wade added 22 points, nine rebounds and nine assists as Miami improved to 12-8.

Daniel Gibson had 21 points for the Cavs, who embarrassed themselves in falling to 7-11. It’s tough to get revenge when you’re in full retreat.

Instead, Cavs fans saw The King in all his glory. He kicked out his leg on his jumpers, rattled the rim on his dunks and even made most of his free throws. All that was missing was a chase-down block.

As fans saw repeatedly in his seven years here, James used the boos to fuel his best performance of the season. As the game got farther and farther out of reach, he joked and laughed with the Cavaliers, which seemed to incense coach Byron Scott.

Clearly, all the booing had no effect on him.

“It’s all right,” James told TNT’s Craig Sager at halftime. “I understand how passionate the fans are. I’ve got a lot of love for these fans, but I’m a Miami Heat player now looking to get this win.”

James and took the court about 17 minutes before the game to massive booing and slammed the ball through the hoop just as it reached a crescendo. He repeatedly looked toward the Cavs’ end of the floor for someone to hug — sort of like Jim Valvano after winning the NCAA title all those years ago. Finally, Mo Williams obliged.

The fans booed, that, too, but all those boos turned to cheers moments later as a parade of Cleveland native sons — and adopted favorites — strolled out, including actor Drew Carey, former Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar, current Browns Josh Cribbs and Shaun Rogers and the Indians’ Travis Hafner and took their seats. At the end of that line was Cavs owner Dan Gilbert, whose reception threatened to tear the roof off the arena.

Thus energized, the Cavs jumped off to a 17-12 lead, but James, who got stronger as the game went on, brought the Heat back. With the crowd chanting an obscenity, he laughed as he made two free throws that tied the score at 17. He scored eight of the Heat’s final 14 points in the period and finished the first quarter with 10 points, four rebounds and five assists as Miami led after the first quarter, 31-23.

James and Wade took turns running the Heat offense and Miami’s underrated defense stymied the Cavs in the second quarter as Miami pushed its halftime lead to 59-40. James laughed and joked with Cavs players, who should not have had a lot to laugh about while making just four of 21 shots.

Meanwhile, the Heat outscored the Cavs 16-12 in the paint in the first half and held a 28-19 edge on the boards — an interesting development for a team that has been criticized all season for being soft.

Scott finally had enough of the fraternization and told his team so in no uncertain terms before the start of the second half. Of course, then James scored on two easy layups to push Miami’s lead to 65-42 and Scott was forced to take a timeout with 10:34 to try and stop the bleeding.