LeBron James suffers defeat in front of spurned Cavaliers fans

LeBron James triple double not enough as Cavs prevail

LeBron James was looking forward to a less hostile game when his Miami Heat visited Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena for the second time this season compared to the first game back at Cleveland last December 2.

James chose not to re-sign with his near-hometown Cavaliers in the offseason. He instead signed with the Heat, forming a Big Three with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

But instead of notching a win like last December, LeBron James and the Heat were embarrassed by the Cleveland Cavaliers in front of a raucous crowd. The Cavs withstood a late Heat rally and held on for a 102-90 win despite a triple double from their once-beloved homecourt hero. LeBron James scored 27 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists for the Heat.

"We got exactly what we deserved," Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said after the game. "They played harder than we did."

The Cavaliers, decimated by the departure of James and multiple injuries to its current roster, snapped the Heat's run of five straight wins. J.J. Hickson led the Cavs with 21 points while Anthony Parker added 20.

It was just the 15th win of the season for the Cavaliers, but this was one of a kind coming against James.

"They embarrassed us, and I was still a little ticked off by what happened," said Cavs coach Byron Scott, referring to the December 2 game when the Heat routed the Cavs 118-90 in the first game back home in Ohio by LeBron James.

Posted by Andre Monohan on Wednesday March 30 2011, 8:51 AM EST. Ref: Bloomberg. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0