Cavaliers wilt as Heat, LeBron roll to victory

By TOM REED

Cleveland Plain Dealer

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Atop the message board inside the Cavaliers’ locker room on Friday night, the command was simple: “Hit first.”

Just below it was a reminder: “This game has very little to do with them and everything to do with us.”

It was nice sentiment, but LeBron James and the Miami Heat removed any doubt about the outcome as quickly and easily as Magic Marker wiped from a dry-erase board.

The Heat scored the first 11 points, James delivered a tone-setting, one-handed dunk from a Dwyane Wade lob, and the visitors had the game won before the first quarter ended.

By the time the final horn sounded on the Heat’s 111-87 win, many in the sellout crowd were gone and Cavaliers coach Byron Scott already had challenged his team’s manhood.

James, who spent the past two days expressing a possible willingness to return to Cleveland in two years, made himself at home in The Q. He scored 28 points and registered four dunks, five assists, five rebounds and a third-quarter blocked shot on Cavs rookie guard Kyrie Irving before sitting out the entire fourth quarter.

Although he was booed much of the evening, James tossed his headband to a Cavs supporter and skipped to the locker room slapping hands with fans.

The mood down the hall was far less festive, where words of encouragement and instruction on the board were replaced by “Practice 12:00.” After two decent showings in losses at Miami this season, the game resembled James’ first one back at The Q as a member of the Heat, a 118-90 defeat on Dec. 2, 2010.

The Cavaliers trailed by 34 points late in the third quarter. Scott spared nobody’s feelings in his postgame remarks.

“I said at halftime it boggles my mind that you’re scared of another man,” Scott said.

Scott saw little fight and lots of timidity in his club, which managed a season-low 14 points in the first quarter. The Cavaliers, who are missing two starters, including center Anderson Varejao, were down, 35-12, just 10-plus minutes into the game.

“It was very simple: It looked like we were scared to death,” Scott said. “They came out with great energy and great effort and we didn’t match it whatsoever.

“It just seemed like the lights were too bright for a lot of guys.”

Irving, who led the Cavs with 17 points, agreed with his coach’s assessment that the club showed little resistance. But veteran forward Antawn Jamison took issue with Scott’s remarks.

“I speak I guess for the sake of the players that I don’t think we’re scared of anybody,” Jamison said. “We are all men in here. I think coach is disappointed. Everyone in this locker room ... we expected to play better. We did a decent job in the two games in Miami. He’s disappointed, but I don’t think anybody in this locker room is scared of any other man in this room.”

The building was loud and alive. The fans booed James during player introductions and whenever he touched the ball in the first half. But the venom was nowhere near the levels of a season ago when the venue serenaded him with chants of “Akron hates you.”