Cavaliers at Heat
It won't be quite as exciting as when LeBron James returned with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but the Miami Heat should still be able to find the motivation while trying to get back to .500. The Heat will try to shake off a rare loss when they host the Cavaliers on Friday.
James, who left Cleveland and won a pair of championships in four years with Miami before returning to the Cavaliers, is off to Los Angeles on his basketball journey, leaving his former teams to fight without him in the Eastern Conference. The Heat are already used to playing without James and were riding a five-game winning streak before falling just short in a 106-104 loss to the visiting Toronto Raptors on Wednesday, dropping them one game below .500. The Cavaliers are in the first year of their second stint without James and are losers of four in a row while sitting in last place in the East. Cleveland managed nine points in the first quarter at Memphis on Wednesday and fell 95-87 to drop to 3-14 on the road.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FS Ohio (Cleveland), FS Sun (Miami)
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (8-27): Cleveland shot 35.5 percent from the floor on Wednesday thanks to the cold start but came on in the second half, scoring 34 points in the fourth to make it a game. "(It was) just one of those quarters," Cavaliers guard Jordan Clarkson told reporters. "Maybe it’s Christmas, who knows? Everyone ate good on Christmas and came in a little slow. But everybody got (it) out of them. We were right there in the game." Clarkson led the way with 24 points on 10-of-20 shooting off the bench and reached the 20-point plateau in five of his last seven games.
ABOUT THE HEAT (16-17): Miami had three shots on the final possession to tie or take the lead on Wednesday before falling short and believes it can compete with the best teams in the East. "We should have won this game tonight," Heat veteran guard Dwyane Wade told reporters. "... That is a good team over there. I think we are at the point now where we feel like we are a good team. We have that confidence and that swagger, but we have to play good all the way through and we didn't do that tonight." Justise Winslow provided a bright spot with 21 points in the loss - his second straight 20-plus outing after failing to score in double figures in his previous four games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Cavaliers SG Rodney Hood (Achilles) sat out the last two games and is day-to-day.
2. Heat PF James Johnson is 14-of-22 from the floor over the last three contests.
3. Cleveland took two of the three meetings last season but fell in its lone trip to Miami.