Final: That does it for this game, folks! Enjoy the rest of your Christmas.
Final: The Cavaliers are now 17-11. The Heat improves to 14-16.
Final: James finishes with 30 points and eight assists. Irving finishes with 25 points and four rebounds.
Final: Wade goes over to James who was waiting to say goodbye to wait. The two hug it out and are having a nice, cheerful talk.
Final: Wade finishes with 31 points, five rebounds, and five assists. Deng finishes with 25 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists.
Final: It looks like the Cavs are going to have a lot of problems without a true center.
Final: Heat came out with a lot of energy in this game as expected. Huge win for them.
Final: Cavaliers - 91 Heat - 101.
4th Quarter (:16): Irving fell to the ground hard and is hurt again.
4th Quarter (:23): Wade banks in a two, and it looks like this one is over.
4th Quarter (:53): Deng floats one in on the other end. He is playing excellent defense on LeBron and scoring on the offensive side of ball. Terrific game for him.
4th Quarter (1:15): James hits a long, long three pointer in just four seconds.
4th Quarter (1:19): Granger flips in a shot in the paint. Heat up 10. Timeout Cavs.
4th Quarter (1:36): Cavaliers - 87 Heat - 95.
4th Quarter (2:09): Andersen puts in an alley-oop layup off another good find by Deng.
4th Quarter (2:39): Granger answers back!
4th Quarter (3:02): Miller hits a three. Cavs within three just like that.
4th Quarter (3:25): Waiters with another nice defensive play, as he blocks Wade.
4th Quarter (3:40): James throws it down in transition and a foul after a Waiters steal. Silly foul by Granger.
4th Quarter (4:06): Cavaliers have missed nine straight shots.
4th Quarter (4:06): Andersen flips home a reverse layup. Timeout Cleveland.
4th Quarter (4:20): Cavaliers - 81 Heat - 88.
4th Quarter (4:40): Now Wade is grimising after fall to the ground, but he seems to be okay.
4th Quarter (5:19): Kyrie will check back in after being looked at on the bench.
4th Quarter (5:55): Kyrie Irving is now hurting, as he has checked out of the game.
4th Quarter (6:33): Deng with four fouls now. Timeout Cleveland.
4th Quarter (7:15): Deng with another. He's got 23. What an outstanding game by him.
4th Quarter (8:02): What a sequence! Andersen blocked Thompson then in transition Waiters blocked Chalmers but Miami recovered the ball and Deng got a dunk out of it.
4th Quarter (8:51): Granger gets in for a two to give Heat the lead right back.
4th Quarter (8:57): Cavaliers - 80 Heat - 80. Timeout.
4th Quarter (9:03): Wade has missed eight consecutive shots.
4th Quarter (9:44): Wade has cooled down drastically. This is looking like Miami's last game against the Sixers.
4th Quarter (10:05): Irving gets all the way to the rim for a beautiful finish.
4th Quarter (10:54): What a tip in by Haslem at the shot clock buzzer. The refs will review that play, though, to see if it was on time.
4th Quarter (11:20): James gets a technical for lifting himself up on the rim after the dunk.
4th Quarter (11:20): Irving with a jumper then James with a dunk, and it's a one point Cavs lead.
4th Quarter (12:00): James will be inserted into the game. The Cavs said that he had "left leg tightness."
3rd Quarter (:00): Wade only had two points in that quarter.
3rd Quarter (:00): Cavaliers - 74 Heat - 77. Miami only scored 15 points in that quarter as they had an offensive drought.
3rd Quarter (:28): Haslem with a good finish around the rim after an offensive rebound.
3rd Quarter (1:32): James is coming back onto the floor.
3rd Quarter (1:43): Cavaliers - 71 Heat - 75.
3rd Quarter (2:56): Thompson steals a pass in the backcourt and finishes at the rim. Cavs within two despite no LeBron.
3rd Quarter (3:19): Irving receives a beautiful pass from Love and finishes with a layup and a foul.
3rd Quarter (3:47): Waiters with a step back jumper.
3rd Quarter (4:08): James is headed to the locker room. He is limping.
3rd Quarter (4:08): James hurt himself it seems on that leap over the crowd.
3rd Quarter (4:13): Deng rolls in another jumper. He's played extremely well.
3rd Quarter (4:25): James leaps over the first row while hustling for the ball.
3rd Quarter (4:52): Waiters drains a three in the corner off good ball movement by Cleveland.
3rd Quarter (5:53): Miami pushes lead back up to 10.
3rd Quarter (5:53): Irving picks up his third foul.
3rd Quarter (6:29): Great effort by the Heat, who is taking advantage of the undersized Cavaliers.
3rd Quarter (7:18): Cavaliers - 61 Heat - 66.
3rd Quarter (7:41): Deng picks up his third foul.
3rd Quarter (8:40): Wade looks hurt, as he is walking gingerly down the floor.
3rd Quarter (9:04): Heat starting to get a little complacent.
3rd Quarter (9:29): James finds Marion who leaked out ahead for a dunk. Miami's lead is down to seven.
3rd Quarter (10:00): Love with a mid-range face up jumper.
3rd Quarter (10:20): Wade squares up and hits a jumper.
3rd Quarter (10:50): Cavaliers showing more urgency on defense.
3rd Quarter (11:20): James hits a baseline jumper to start the quarter for the Cavs.
3rd Quarter (12:00): Refs going to play on despite the lighting being off.
3rd Quarter (12:00): Most of the lights are out in the building, which is delaying the game.
Halftime: Cavaliers have 10 first half turnovers compared to Miami's five.
Halftime: Heat is shooting 55.6 percent from the field. Cavaliers are shooting 50.0 percent.
Halftime: Kyrie Irving leads the Cavaliers with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting. James has 15, eight coming from the costless throw line.
Halftime: Wade leads all scorers with 24 points on 10-of-16 shooting. Deng has 13.
2nd Quarter (:00): Cavaliers - 49 Heat - 62.
2nd Quarter (:06): Lack of size in the paint is really hurting Cleveland.
2nd Quarter (:17): James with a three on the other end.
2nd Quarter (:38): Deng takes it to the rim for a tough layup. He's had a nice game.
2nd Quarter (1:23): Irving with a tough step back jumper. He has 17.
2nd Quarter (1:48): Deng finds Wade for a three. He's now got 24!
2nd Quarter (2:44): Cavaliers - 41 Heat - 56. Chris Andersen hurting after being fouled by Irving.
2nd Quarter (3:18): Deng with a baseline jumper. Heat up 17.
2nd Quarter (3:55): MVP chants for Wade who has 21 points now.
2nd Quarter (4:08): James answers back with a fall away jumper over Deng.
2nd Quarter (4:29): Chalmers drills a three. Heat's lead up to 15.
2nd Quarter (4:29): James is 6-of-11 from the costless throw line.
2nd Quarter (5:06): James with four turnovers.
2nd Quarter (5:47): Wade hits a three! He's feeling it.
2nd Quarter (6:09): LeBron's incredible pass below.
2nd Quarter (6:09): What an impressive pass by James to Irving who hits a three right at the shot clock buzzer.
2nd Quarter (6:20): Wade continues his dominance. He's got 16.
2nd Quarter (8:02): Whiteside rejects Irving then Wade scores a corner jump shot on the other end.
2nd Quarter (8:10): Wade and LeBron back on the floor.
2nd Quarter (8:37): Irving stops the bleeding. The Heat were on a 10-1 run. This small Cavaliers lineup is hurting them a bit.
2nd Quarter (9:01): Shawne Williams hits another. This time a long two.
2nd Quarter (9:39): Shawne Williams hits a three and extends Miami's lead to 10. Timeout Cavaliers.
2nd Quarter (10:58): Danny Granger hits a corner jumper.
2nd Quarter (11:39): Cole starts the quarter off with a three.
1st Quarter (:00): Entertaining first quarter. Wade finishes with 12 points. James scores six. Cavaliers - 27 Heat - 30.
1st Quarter (:01): James back to the line. Haslem picks up his third foul.
1st Quarter (:47): LeBron is trying to be more aggressive, attacking the basket at will.
1st Quarter (1:34): Cavaliers - 23 Heat - 28.
1st Quarter (2:26): Oh my!! Wade goes over the top of Love to stuff that one on the put back dunk. What an intense game.
1st Quarter (2:52): Really loving the scrappiness by both teams. Bodies on the floor, diving for the loose balls.
1st Quarter (3:19): Alley-oop! James to Thompson.
1st Quarter (3:37): Deng is off to a nice start as well. He's got 9.
1st Quarter (3:53): James makes a strong move for his first field goal. Hits a layup and gets the foul.
1st Quarter (4:04): Deng makes the most of a broken play on the other end.
1st Quarter (4:27): James finds Miller for a wide open corner three. Cavs within 3.
1st Quarter (5:44): Going back to an earlier comment, Thompson did not start for the Cavaliers actually. Instead, they went with a small lineup by putitng Marion at power forward, Love at center.
1st Quarter (5:44): Terrific start by the Heat as they are up by seven.
1st Quarter (6:08): Cavs with five turnovers already.
1st Quarter (6:26): Wade puts in his eighth point of the game. Great start for him.
1st Quarter (6:39): Cavaliers - 12 Heat - 17.
1st Quarter (7:03): Great hustle by the Heat on both ends of the floor.
1st Quarter (7:44): Irving making it happen on both ends of the floor.
1st Quarter (7:57): Love gets on the board with a corner jumper.
1st Quarter (8:06): Deng cashes home a three. Excellent find by Wade.
1st Quarter (8:26): Irving AGAIN!
1st Quarter (8:50): Irving once more. He's off to a hot start.
1st Quarter (9:11): Irving hits another jumper. He's the only one whose scored for Cleveland.
1st Quarter (9:27): Energetic start for Miami as expected.
1st Quarter (10:04): Crowd cheers as LeBron turns the ball over. There are some boos when James touches the ball.
1st Quarter (10:21): Wade with another. Heat off to a fast start.
1st Quarter (11:03): Wade with a steal and layup finish.
1st Quarter (11:17): And Deng answers on the other end.
1st Quarter (11:44): Kyrie starts things off for Cleveland.
1st Quarter (12:00): We are underway!
Nice greeting between Wade and James.
Well...there we go. LeBron hears more cheers than boos.
Here we go. The introductions for both teams.
Some boos for LeBron as well. He is getting mixed reactions.
LeBron is receiving cheers as he enters the layup line.
So Tristan Thompson will be the starting center for the Cavaliers as expected.
"I had some butterflies coming in," LeBron James said.
We are a little over an hour away from LeBron James' return!
LeBron James has entered the building.
Injury Report:
Cavaliers: Anderson Varejao (Achilles) out.
Heat: Chris Bosh (calf), Josh McRoberts (knee), and Justin Hamilton (quad) out.
The Cavaliers haven't played a Christmas day game since 2010 when they beat the Los Angeles Lakers at the STAPLES Center. The Heat, meanwhile, have played on Christmas day for five straight years and have won all five of those games. Their most recent win was over the Lakers as well. Though, four of those five wins were with LeBron James on the team.
What should get the Heat more fired up is that they have lost three of the last four games and have fallen three games under .500. Two of those three losses were against teams they should have won. Meanwhile, the Cavaliers have won four out of their last five games, with the only loss coming to the red-hot Atlanta Hawks.
Therefore, after a terrible loss, the Heat will probably be more focused in this game. Wade cannot do everything by himself, though. He is going to need help from Deng, Chalmers, and the rest of the experienced, veteran players. Chalmers has been the one most annoyed by LeBron's departure so expect him to be the most fired up in this one.
As for the Heat, they are coming off one of their most embarrassing losses of the season, as they were defeated at home by the Philadelphia 76ers. What's more, the Heat was actually leading by as many as 23 in this game before losing by four. "It ain't going to get no worse than this," Wade said after the game.
In their last game, the Cavaliers' big three each scored over 20 points with Irving leading the way with 29, James with 24, and Love with 20. However, it was against the inferior Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Cavaliers have found some recent success thanks to the play of their bench. Cleveland's bench started the season off slowly, but they have picked it up lately, especially Dion Waiters who has scored 19 points or more in three out of the last four games for the Cavaliers. He is going to be key for his team in this game.
With Bosh out, Chris Andersen will continue to get the start at center. Meanwhile, for the Cavs, without Varejao, Tristan Thompson is most likely to get the start.
There are some intriguing matchups in this one. Dywane Wade and Kyrie Irving will surely go at it in the backcourt. These are two phenomenal scorers and major athletes. Also, Luol Deng and LeBron James would be fun to look, mostly on the defensive end for Deng who has battled James many times before in the past as a member of the Chicago Bulls.
On the other side, Cleveland will be without starting center Anderson Varejao who has suffered a devastating Achilles injury. He will miss the remainder of the season and could possibly miss time next season as well. Without Varejao, the Cavaliers, who are already thin at the center position, will be even more undersized. We may see Kevin Love play a lot at the center position in this game.
Either way, with James coming back into town, the Heat is expected to come out with a lot of energy. Unfortunately, Chris Bosh has already been ruled out of this game due to a calf injury. If he was able to play, he would only make things more interesting. Now, the Heat has to play without one of their best players against a tough Cleveland team.
Aside from LeBron, a couple others are making their return to Miami. Mike Miller has won two rings in Miami as well, and he helped a lot during the 2012 NBA Finals. James Jones spent time in Miami with James as well, and he helped them win two rings as well. So it's just not LeBron but these two players as well who may either get cheered or booed.
Many believe LeBron will receive boos despite bringing championships to the city. Some believe he will get cheered and will be honored with a video tribute. That's the most exciting part of this game. Remember, the Cavaliers fans booed this man when he left them in 2010. However, he did not win championships for them. Miami is a completely different story.
On this Christmas day, LeBron James makes his return to Miami where he won two championship rings. That is the biggest story coming into this exciting, holy day. The question is how will Miami's crowd greet James? Is he a friend or a foe?
Good afternoon folks and Merry Christmas! Welcome to VAVEL_USA's Live of the Cleveland Cavaliers vs Miami Heat from Miami, Florida.