Since King James returned to Cleveland, the Cavaliers have yet to beat the Heat in the regular season—a fact that is not lost on LeBron, who deemed it “a little concerning” that the Cavs can’t beat Miami. Those two teams could potentially meet in the playoffs, which would set up an intriguing matchup from a storyline standpoint, and more importantly a tough matchup on the court for Cleveland. Here’s more from LeBron after Saturday’s L, from ESPN’s Brian Windhorst:
Miami beat Cleveland 122-101 on Saturday to make it 11 consecutive home victories against the Cavs, dating to 2010. More importantly, since James returned to Cleveland last season, the Heat are 4-0 in the series, with the wins coming by a combined 60 points.
Currently, the two teams are positioned on the same side of the playoff bracket and are a potential second-round matchup.
“The way they’ve beat us here is a little concerning if we face them [in the playoffs],” James said after Saturday’s loss. “I think we’ll be ready for it more. We didn’t play [up to our] potential. We didn’t play our game. We let them play their game, and they took it to us.”
James scored 26 points for the Cavs, who were a step slow in their fifth game in seven nights. James didn’t play in the Cavs’ previous game in Miami, a contest the Heat won by 15 points in December. The Cavs beat the Heat by 10 points in October in their only trip to Cleveland this season.
“With LeBron James coming back here, they get up for the game,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said. “We need to start getting up for these games.”
