Heat Have 8-Point Lead After 12 Minutes

LeBron James heard the boos, he heard the chants. He then went off for 10 first quarter points, leading the Miami Heat on a 16-0 run to take a 31-23 lead over the Cavaliers after the 1st Quarter. For the Cavaliers it was more of the same - Daniel Gibson, Antawn Jamison and J.J. Hickson all scored 6 points for the Cavaliers who were a bit sloppy early with 4 turnovers. Mo Williams had 3 turnovers himself and was 1-5 shooting. Unlike James who seemed calm, cool and collected, Williams seemed to struggle in the moment. The Heat shot 54.5% is the quarter while the Cavaliers shot 34.6%.

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Big Three Combine For 39 Points As Heat Dominate Cavaliers

This isn't want the fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers had in mind when we circled tonight on the schedule.  The Miami Heat, perhaps for the first time this season, played dominating basketball, at least for 24 minutes, to take a 59-40 lead over the Cavaliers.

LeBron James and Dwyane Wade scored 14 points each and Chris Bosh chipped in with 11 as Miami shot 52% in the first half.  

It wasn't nearly as smooth for the Cavaliers, who appeared to wilt in the spotlight.  Mo Williams was 1-7 in the half, leading the Cavaliers with 9 points.  As a team the Cavaliers shot just 28.9%(13-45) from the field, and were out-rebounded by the smaller Heat 28-19.  

Perhaps most disappointing was the Cavaliers laughing and joking around with LeBron James during time outs.  It allowed James to play the way he likes to play - light-hearted, with a smile, joking around.  It almost seemed as though LeBron was a Cavalier again.

Hopefully things get better for the Cavaliers in the 2nd half, or they at least show some pride and remind LeBron his bench is at the OTHER end of the court.

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Heat Players Already Turning On Head Coach Erik Spoelstra

There's trouble brewing in South Beach.  Mired in inconsistency, the Miami Heat are reportedly starting to question the ability Head Coach Erik Spoelstra to lead them to the promised land.  ESPN's Chris Broussard reported the story on SportsCenter this morning:

Perhaps the Heat are finding out what us in Cleveland found out the hard way - LeBron James has NO IDEA how to lead a team of talented players.  Think about it.  Last year in Cleveland, the Cavaliers surrounded LeBron with his best set of teammates since he came into the NBA.  Sure, there were characters in the locker room, but nothing LeBron couldn't handle as team leader.  

WRONG!

LeBron couldn't handle the personalities in the locker room.  Guys like Shaq, Delonte West, even Antawn Jamison.  LeBron failed to be the leader of men in that locker room.  Fans, being fans, believed it was a problem with Mike Brown.  We were wrong.

Now LeBron heads to Miami, but this time with friends.  All will be better, right?

WRONG!

Again, LeBron is having a hard time being the leader.  He tried to be mean and angry LeBron, but that didn't work.  Now he wants to be fun-loving LeBron again, but that isn't going to fly in Miami either.  Spoelstra is a Pat Riley-clone.  He is intense - at practice, on the team plane - during games.  It was a bad fit from the start and now LeBron is screwed.

All this coming as the Heat prepare to head to Cleveland on Thursday night.  Fun times, indeed!

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Will You Watch Or Did You Watch Celtics-Heat?

I am curious as to whether you will watch, or if you read this after the fact, if you did watch the Miami Heat take on the Boston Celtics tonight?

I, for one, will skip the game, and probably just check the score now and then on NBA.com or on Yahoo.

And hey, the good news is, if the Celtics should prevail, Miami — since the game this evening is the only game involving Eastern Conference teams — would, for one day at least, be 15th and dead last in the conference standings!