Instant Reaction: Heat 95, Cavaliers 84

Nov 27, 2013; Cleveland, OH, USA; Miami Heat small forward LeBron James reacts after dunking in the third quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Usually an Instant Reaction consists of MVPs, Coach Brown critiques, tweets and all types of good stuff. But, I’m new to this. I’m not good with formats, and so this may deviate from that a bit. Because FOR CHRIST SAKE IT STILL SUCKS WATCHING LEBRON IN A HEAT UNIFORM IN THE Q! Oh, and we were watching Dion Waiters play a game while his name is being tossed through the rumor mill more than Paris Hilton in 2006. Do we think he’s still be in a Cavs uniform after the long weekend? Not really.

Final Outcome
The Cavs made it a bit closer than expected, but still fell in the end 95 – 84. LeBron played like he does, and finished with 28, 8, and 8, because he’s not a human being anymore. Dion Waiters looked pretty good, and when he’s hitting his jump shot, he usually does. He finished 7- 14 from the floor, and finished with 24 points. For a guy that probably had a lot on his mind tonight, he certainly played well. Maybe we should give Dion a trigonometry lesson in the pre-game? At half-time, have him breakdown all the subtleties of Shakespeare. Dion will rule you all.

The problem tonight was turnovers. They just simply gave up the ball too many times – 19 on the night – and when you do that you’re likely going to lose, especially against the two time defending champs. Should we start to have some concerns about Kyire yet? He took over 19 shots tonight, and only made 6 of them. It’s never a good sign when you have more shots taken than points scored on the box score, and Kyrie did that tonight.

2ND QUARTER WOES

After one quarter of play the Cavs were up 6, the crowd was rocking and Dion Waiters was playing like he actually wanted to be a Cav. Then deja vu struck in the second quarter, and the Heat headed to half up by 49-42. The last two games, the Cavs have been outscored in the second quarter 65-25. It wasn’t quite as poor a quarter as they played against the Spurs, but this one was pretty rough.

Tweet (Singular) Of The Night

I mean, he wins. Right?

Stat You’ll Hate To Hear

With just under 6 minutes left in the 3rd Quarter,LeBron had scored the last 15 Miami points. That streak started with 2:20 left in the second quarter, and ended with a Mario Chalmers free throw with 5:01 to go. He’s now beaten the Cavs 10 out of the 11 times he’s played them as a member of the Miami Heat.

Stat You’ll Enjoy

The Cavs bench scored 55, highlighted by Earl Clark’s 13 points and, of course, Dion Waiters 24.

Coach Brown Break Down

At some point in the season, you have to ask yourself what your team’s coach is doing. At this point, for the Cavaliers, the answers is “not much.” The Cavs allowed the Heat to get to the line nearly twice as much as they did, they turned the ball over _ times, and they shot a meager 35% from the field. There’s only so much a coach can do with limited talent, I get that, but it doesn’t even seem like Brown is searching to find the right combinations on the floor. The Cavs don’t have that shooter that would make this offense click, and they don’t have a rim protector on defense, but it would be a lot better if he could at least come up with some semblance of an offense that believes in floor spacing and a defense that keeps players in front of them. Right now, the Cavs are suffering from a talent deficiency, and a coaching one too.

Times I Cried/Nearly Shed Tears

Pre-game

WRONG, SAM AMICO. The story line is that LeBron James was playing basketball for another team.

First Quarter

Maybe you guys who don’t want him here don’t miss this.

But I do.

There was also this pass. (Click the Twitpic)

 2nd Quarter

LeBron was relatively quiet in the first half, until the 1:20 mark in the second quarter. First, after a Cavs turnover (that he forced), LeBron gets a wide open one-handed jam – remember when we had guys that could do cool dunks on fast breaks? Bring back Shannon Brown. Then the next play he’s coming down on a modified fast break, heads to his left, draws some contact, and flips up a shot with his right that falls, obviously.

I FEEL YOUR PAIN SAD CAVS KID. STOP HIGH FIVING.

Halftime

Thanks for reminding me that Chris Grant may be making his way toward David Kahn territory, and rapidly.

3rd Quarter

By this time, my tears had run out, but I did scrunch my face up and wimper when he knocked down a three with 2:45 to go.

4th Quarter

I have nothing. Nothing left to give.

Watching LeBron James play basketball is fun, just not against the Cavs.

Up next

The Cavs get Thanksgiving off, and then face the Celtics on Friday in Boston. It may be a good time for the Cavs to get their footing back after losing four straight, and seven of their last eight. The Celtics are 6-11 on the ye