LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers prove that the Miami Heat are still a long ways away from competing in the Eastern Conference
In the end, the Cleveland Cavaliers reminded all of us what we already knew but didn’t want to admit – the Miami Heat aren’t ready to compete in the Eastern Conference.
Along with jogging our memory that when LeBron James is being the best player in the NBA, and Kevin Love is focused and involved in the offense, the Cavs are a very scary team. Not to mention that they managed to hose the Heat – who many project as one of the Cavs’ bigger obstacles in the East this season – 102-92 without a healthy Kyrie Irving or Iman Shumpert.
But it wasn’t nearly the final score, which wasn’t indicative of how much better the Cavs (even shorthanded) looked than the Heat on this given night, that truly revealed the gulf that remains between LeBron’s new and old team. It was how they won that proved that.
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The Miami Heat was supposed to have the better bench – they didn’t. Cleveland’s bench outscored Miami’s 32-19, with Cleveland’s $82-million man, Tristan Thompson, leading the way with 13 points and nine rebounds. Gerald Green, the Heat’s super bench scorer, finished with five points on 1-for-9 shooting. That should’ve been the ultimate sign that it simply wasn’t Miami’s night.
But, it continued.
Miami was supposed to have the better point guard, especially with the absence of Kyrie Irving – they didn’t. Goran Dragic was horrific for the majority of the game. The box score may say that Dragic finished with 11 points and six assists, but he shot 0-for-6 in the first half and often looked hesitant whenever he did have the ball.
Even Heat coach Eric Spoelstra admitted to that point after the game.
Spoelstra on Dragic: "That's something that I'll work on" to help him be aggressive
— Ethan J. Skolnick, 5 Reasons Sports (@EthanJSkolnick) October 31, 2015
The Heat was also supposed to have a rim-protector to save their defense – for most of the night, they didn’t. Hassan Whiteside may have finished with 11 points, nine rebounds and six blocks, but he was often outwitted on the block and slow on rotations, which often led to easy buckets for the Cavaliers.
Miami didn’t have much going for them in round 1 against the Cavs. Even Chris Bosh only finished with 16 points on an inefficient 15 shots, which looked much inferior next to Kevin Love’s 24-point, 14-rebound night.
Dwyane Wade‘s 25 points, a handful of which that came in garbage time, was overshadowed by his seven turnovers. Justise Winslow, the rookie who played beyond his years in the team’s season-opening game, finished with a minus-16 while he was on the court and his first taste at guarding The King, who on cue made him look like just another guy.
LeBron James finished with 29 points (on 19 shots), five rebounds and four assists. Perhaps even more noteworthy though, he finished by reminding the rest of the NBA world that the Cavs are still the team to beat in the Eastern Conference.
And that the Miami Heat, despite their major facelift over the last few months, have a long ways to go.