Cavs holding James out of game vs. Heat

NBA-TV gets the pick of the litter, with LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers testing their mettle against the Miami Heat at the AmericanAirlines Arena.

As for the Heat, what the team has termed “a slight left hamstring strain” has turned into a two-week injury for Luol Deng, with the forward also held out of Saturday night’s game.

The win moved Miami ahead of Cleveland by percentage points in the Eastern Conference. The Pelicans scored their 114 points on 85 shots compared to 108 points on 89 shots for the Cavaliers.

Cavaliers: Visit Miami on tonight. Cleveland trailed the entire game while suffering a 97-85 loss to the Washington Wizards on Tuesday to lose for just the second time in seven games.

Blatt said he had to “force the issue” when it came to resting James, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. We were looking at certain situations and telling him to be aggressive. Dwyane Wade is averaging 18.6 points and 4.3 assists while Chris Bosh is averaging 17.6 points and nine rebounds.

“I mean he had a great day (Friday)”, coach Erik Spoelstra said. LeBron, for his missteps and subpar play in the first three quarters of the game, was brilliant in the fourth, slashing and hitting everything with a mix of power and finesse, dropping 23 in the quarter.

If James noticed, he didn’t flinch from his seat on the sideline.

The 30-year old basketball player says he always had respect for Bryant, adding that there will be no other player who can fill his shoes. As he reminded the Heat fans, he’s exhausted in part because he was the best player on a title-winning team.

Jrue Holiday’s 3 pulled New Orleans back into a tie at 105 with 8 seconds left before James, who finished with 37 points, missed a 19-footer that could have won it. James didn’t score in overtime, missing two shots.

“I know it is a hell of a thing to go into overtime 1/8Friday3/8 night, get in late, but we picked up the energy better in the second half”, Love said.

Richard Jefferson will likely start in LeBron’s place.

Smith agreed that the Cavaliers were a exhausted team. Shooting guard J.R. Smith (18 points) and power forward Kevin Love (15) also scored in double figures.

– McRoberts did have himself a moment in the first quarter, though, when he went behind the back to Tyler Johnson, who then fed Green for a 3-pointer to give the Heat a 31-14 lead. The hometown team got off to a slow start, falling behind 27-21 after the first quarter.

“From the first minute until the end, we played hard on defense and the offense is clicking a little better”, Dragic said. One of the few bright spots for the Cavaliers in this game, I felt RJ really played a solid game, scoring 16 points to lead the Cavaliers. The Heat’s lead after three quarters was 83-64, and the Cavs never seriously threatened.NOTES: Cavs F LeBron James, whom the Cavs opted to rest, has missed 14 games in the one-plus seasons since his return to Cleveland. “We had some defensive lows in the third quarter”.