MIAMI — Lost in the hubris of LeBron James’ return to South Florida and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ attempts at moving beyond Anderson Varejao was this self-reflection from James following another lackluster 101-91 loss to the Miami Heat.
“We’re not that good right now,” he said.
James had 30 points in his return and Kyrie Irving scored 25, but the Cavs have been a .500 team for the last two weeks and again looked disjointed defensively against a Heat team that has been fumbling around for weeks.
Cavaliers coach David Blatt said emotions were scattered for this Christmas Day game that doubled as James’ return to Miami, sounding similar to he did in the moments after the Cavs ended an emotional season opener with a bad loss to the New York Knicks.
The Heat shot 56 percent in the first half and built a 17-point lead while James pointed and yelled at teammates on defense — first Tristan Thompson, then Kevin Love. Part of it could be figuring out how to play without Varejao, who was lost for the season Tuesday with a torn Achilles. But the Cavs have been battling some of the same defensive issues the last couple weeks.
“We should have it figured out,” said Love, who had 14 points and five rebounds, but lacked energy in shooting 5-for-13 and getting beaten consistently defensively. “We have games like this where the lapses are longer than when we’re playing good basketball.”
Dwyane Wade scored 31 points and looked 10 years younger slashing to the basket, hitting turnaround jumpers and even dunking over Love in the first half. His 3-pointer in the final minutes of the second quarter gave the Heat a 60-43 lead as the sellout crowd roared in delight.
James acknowledged he felt butterflies on his way into AmericanAirlines Arena on Thursday — “a lot of emotions come back,” he said — and the Heat fans were caught between booing him and cheering him.
He was predominantly cheered during pregame introductions, then booed every time he touched the ball early. But when a video tribute marking James’ four years here played, fans gave James a standing ovation as he sat on the scorer’s table and watched before saluting them. Then they went right back to booing him when the game restarted.
James was asked before the game why he never publicly thanked Miami fans for his four years here.
“I gave everything and more to this city while I was here,” he responded. “Never disrespected this city or the franchise or any of my teammates. As a professional, I gave it all. That’s all I can do.”
James spent a good part of Thursday hugging and chatting with Wade, with whom he remains close to despite his move back home. The two sat on the scorer’s table and chatted during one timeout, then embraced and spoke again after the game.
As James was pressed on his relationship with Wade after the game, he interjected his own message he clearly had wanted to get out.
“The question I have that’s kind of been bothering me sometimes is when a player decides to decide his own fate, there’s always questions about it and why this guy did that,” James said. “When an organization decides to go elsewhere for a player, it’s they did what’s best for the team.”
James ended his postgame media session after that and walked back into the locker room, back to a team full of youth and promise, yet still searching for an identity nearly 30 games into the season.
“Every game for us is an adjustment, it’s a learning experience on how we need to continue to get better going forward,” James said. “We’ve won some really good games, we’ve lost some games, but we’re not that good right now. Once we get there, we’ll see what we’re about.”
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