Cleveland and the Cavs Have The Best Laugh On Dwayne Wade's Sidekick With a 102 - 90 Win Over The Miami Heat

CLEVELAND, OH. It was sweet, sweet redemption for a city that has not only suffered the humilitation of the public announcement of Lebron's "Decision", but then had to endure the humilition of their team laying down to Lebron at home in an embarassing 118 - 90 loss to the Miami Heat on December 2nd, 2010.

Cleveland fans are still upset, but on this night, they got the better of Lebron's South Beach superfriends.

After dealing away the players that didn't have the heart to play for the city of Cleveland, the Cleveland Cavaliers came to fight tonight against the Miami Heat, who ran into a very different Cleveland reception and a very different Cleveland Cavaliers team.

It began in the parking garage as, allegedly, Lebron arrived at the game with his large entourage of homies that had had free run of the Q when Lebron was the Cavaliers star, however garage attendants turned away Lebron's "guests", setting the tone for the reception Lebron would now get in Cleveland on and off the court.

Cleveland came ready to battle, hustling for every rebound and loose ball and showing an edge that was lacking from the players on the floor in the previous home meeting with the Heat.

Baron Davis, who started his career with the Cavs and was back in Cleveland by virtue of the February 24th trade that sent Mo Williams to the Clippers, was one of the new faces on the Cavs that was not present for the embarassing home loss and now brings their swagger to the Cavs/ Heat rivalry.

It was a great pickup; Davis hit on a big three pointer before the buzzer at the half, and the Cavs went into the locker room at halftime with an 11 point lead.

Baron Davis set up Gee for a big dunk in the 4th Quarter to preserve the win for the Cavaliers.

The Cavs were able to build on the lead and push it to 23 before Miami began to make a run. But the Cavs, after relinquishing some big leads this season, were able to lean on Davis' veteran leadership and big plays by J.J. Hickson (21 pts, 12 reb), Anthony Parker (20 pts, 7 reb, 2 ast), and a great defensive effort by Ryan Hollins (13 pts, 3 reb, 2 stl, 3 blks).

Here are the highlights:


Those who diminish the value of the game and the win do not really understand the larger scope. With the losses of both Chicago and Boston yesterday, a Miami win would have allowed them to gain a full game in the race for first place and home court in the Eastern Conference.

For Miami, the loss ot Cleveland could mean falling short of getting the top seed in the East. And although Miami may not necessarily need home court the way a Chicago might, it still makes Miami's potential road through the Eastern Conference playoff much more difficult, making them have to beat Boston AND Chicago, two teams they have yet to beat this season.

It is too soon to truly tell, but the gutsy win by the Cavaliers may have potentially stopped Miami from making the NBA Finals this season.

Karma? You bet.

Durant Leads Tougher Oklahoma City Thunder To Victory Over Dwayne Wade, DWade's Sidekick, and the Heat In Miami

MIAMI, FL. Oklahoma City took their 4-game winning streak into Miami's American Airlines Arena to face the Heat, who after a long drought of wins, were collecting bandwagon riders again with a 3-game winning streak.

Kevin Durant scored 29 points, dunking several times for the fans, including Dwayne Wade's Sidekick.

This was Miami's first time facing the new, tougher Oklahoma City Thunder, who had acquired Kendrick Perkins, along with Nate Robinson, from the Boston Celtics for Jeff Green and Nenad Kristic at the trade deadline. The trade gave the Thunder the tough low post defender and rebounder that they have coveted to complement Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook; it was a move looking forward to playing deep into the playoffs and facing teams like Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs.

The Miami Heat have proven very vulnerable to the particular combination that OKC was bringing into Miami on this night, and Miami once again failed to buck the trend.

The Heat have been dominated on the glass by superior teams, and the Thunder brought toughness and rebounding up front. They were able to rotate starters Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka for Nick Collison and Nazr Mohammad, and their frontline helped to contribute to the Thunder's 51 - 40 edge in rebounds (17 - 9 on the offensive boards).

Russell Westbrook was too big, too strong, and too fast for the Miami defenders trying to guard him.

Deron Williams, Baron Davis, NBA MVP leader Derrick Rose, among others have proven that a big strong scoring point guard can give the Heat fits. Oklahoma City also brought a big strong point guard in Russell Westbrook, who finished with 18 points and 5 assists. The Thunder dominated the guard position; Wade scored 21 points on an inefficient 21 shots while also allowing the usually defense-focused Thabo Sefolosha to put up 8 points and 6 rebounds.

Finally, the Thunder were able to focus on the defensive end, holding the big three to 23 points on 40 shots in the second half, and the Heat did not break the 90 mark for the game. The Heat managed a mere 85 points, 16 points below their season average. The Thunder's transition defense kept the Heat fast break in check, winning the fast break stat 18 - 15 for the game.

Dwayne Wade's Sidekick is featured on another poster, this time it's Kevin Durant's poster.

Oh, yes, and a guy named Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 29 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, scoring in a multitude of ways on his defender, Lebron James. I suppose tonight was a bad night for Lebron to have "chill time".