The Cavaliers christen The Q for the season on Friday night when they welcome the Miami Heat to town.
The Wine and Gold are coming off an impressive road win in Memphis – drilling the Grizzlies by 30 despite just 12 points on 4-for-13 shooting by LeBron James and the absence of Kyrie Irving and Iman Shumpert. Cleveland split its four matchups with Miami last year – with the Cavs crushing Miami by an average of 23 points per in two home wins – and they’ll play the first of three meetings on Friday night (with two visits to Miami, on December 3 and March 19, remaining).
The Heat are coming off a 104-94 victory over Charlotte in their home opener. Chris Bosh – in his first game back since a contest against Cleveland last February – doubled-up with 21 points and 10 boards and Dwyane Wade added 20 points in the win.
Miami figures to be one of the Wine and Gold’s stiffest Eastern Conference challenges all season long. Let’s see how the two stack up on Friday night in front of frenzied crowd at The Q.
With Bosh back for Miami, we can expect a highly-entertaining battle at the 4 on Friday night.
Even considering his strong first season in Cleveland, Kevin Love looks like a re-energized ballplayer through two games this year – averaging 17.5 points and 10.5 boards per. Love doubled-up before halftime and proceeded to lead the Cavs with 17 points and 13 boards against one of the toughest big men in the league in Zach Randolph. In just two contests against Miami last season, Love posted some pretty pedestrian numbers. But LeBron James has stated repeatedly through the preseason that he’ll be much more of an offensive focal point moving forward. On Friday night, he’ll get another great test against another great lefty.
Love’s backup hasn’t been too shabby, either, as Tristan Thompson comes into the home opener averaging 10 boards off the bench through Cleveland’s first two contests.
With LeBron now entrenched back with his hometown team, some of the sizzle from last season has been taken off the Heat-Cavaliers matchup. But it’s still a story any time James takes on the franchise he won two titles with.
LeBron was excellent in the Cavs opening night battle with the Bulls, netting the 290th double-double of his future Hall of Fame career with 25 points and 10 boards. James struggled from the floor on Wednesday night, but still utilized a strong overall floor game – seven boards, five helpers and a game-high three steals – to get the Wine and Gold where they needed to go.
LeBron, who sits 50 points away from 25,000 for his career, averaged 24.3 ppg in Cleveland’s four meetings against Miami last year. He likely won’t match that milestone tonight – but by the same token, it’s not like he hasn’t done it before.
Although you might get an argument from Cavalier fans, some are calling Miami’s current starting five the most talented in the Eastern Conference. And there’s no doubt that – especially with Chris Bosh back in the mix – the Heat have a daunting opening lineup. But the Wine and Gold bolstered their bench in the offseason and — again, even taking into account the absence of Irving and Shump – have been impressive through two games this season.
Richard Jefferson is averaging 12.0 points per and shooting 69 percent from the floor, including a modest .714 from beyond the arc. Tristan Thompson led both teams with 12 boards in Chicago and both Matthew Dellavedova and Jared Cunningham finished with a dozen points in under 18 minutes of action against Memphis. Anderson Varejao hasn’t posted huge numbers off the bench, but the Wine and Gold are +26 with the Wild Thing roaming the paint in place of Timo.
The Heat will counter with Gerald Green – coming off a 17-point effort in their opener, along with impressive rookie Justise Winslow and perennial stalwarts, Udonis Haslem and Mario Chalmers.
One of the Eastern Conference’s biggest revelations last year was the emergence of Heat big man, Hassan Whiteside, who rose from relative obscurity to become one of the most effective young centers around. Whiteside didn’t do much in Miami’s opening night win over Charlotte, but he put up some nice numbers against the Cavaliers last season – doubling-up in two of the four contests and averaging 16.6 points and 11.0 boards over his last three games vs. Cleveland.
He’ll have his work cut out for him on Friday night, taking on Timofey Mozgov – who has yet to get untracked this season, averaging just 7.0 points and 4.5 boards through two games. Timo had offseason knee surgery, but looked to be bouncing back into shape through the preseason.
It’s just a matter of time before both of these big men find their offensive rhythm. If that happens on Friday night, it’ll make tonight’s home opener that much more exciting.
