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Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Miami Heat Final Score: Injured Cavs fall short against LeBron's Heat, 100-96

The Cavaliers put forth a hell of an effort, but it wasn't enough to topple the defending champs as Miami won 100-96.

By Conrad Kaczmarek
David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

The Cleveland Cavaliers are making a bad habit of falling behind big at the beginning of games lately. They put themselves in huge holes against the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers on the recent road trip -- and they did the same thing on Tuesday night against the Miami Heat. LeBron James got off to a ridiculous start, the Cavs fell behind early and the Heat escaped with a narrow 100-96 victory in Cleveland.

LeBron James was on fireeeeeee.

He set a Quicken Loans Arena record with 25 first quarter points. The shots that he was hitting were absurd. He hit everything. He hit fadeaway jumpers, breakaway dunks, and heat-check threes. He was 5 of 6 from three in the first 12 minutes. It was nuts. After one quarter, he was on pace for 100 points. That would be a record. Fortunately, nobody else on the Heat really showed up and the Cavs were able to keep it close throughout the first half.

Dion Waiters and Jarrett Jack helped facilitate the offense. It also helped that the Heat haven't been playing a ton of defense lately. But this was a Cavs team that didn't have Kyrie Irving, Luol Deng, Anthony Bennett, or C.J. Miles (who turned 27 on Tuesday...Happy birthday, Masfresco!). LeBron was held to 6 points in the 2nd quarter and the Cavs trailed by just 5 points at the break. Despite scoring 25 in the first quarter, LeBron finished with just 43 points. Which is good, I guess. If you're into that sort of thing.

Turnovers and threes and such.

The Cavs were doomed by...you guessed it: turnovers and threes and such. The Cavs committed 19 turnovers to the Heat's 14 turnovers. The Heat also hit 12 threes (six from LeBron!) to the Cavs' 7 threes. Spencer Hawes has been a fantastic three point shooter since he got to Cleveland, but he was 0 for 3 tonight. That's not helpful.

Other stuff that happened.

Apparently a fan was plotting to run onto the court because Cavs fans really like running on the court when the Heat are in town. His plot was foiled because he's a moron. 

Jackass Cavs fan has his jackass plot ruined

 Here's that article about that jackass fan.

There was play late in the game that had some...creative officiating. Dion Waiters drove to the basket and got absolutely hammered by two Miami Heat players. Waiters fell down to the ground in pain. No foul was called.

Here's a picture of that play. This picture probably makes it look a bit worse than it actually was, but it still should have been called a foul.

Apparently Dan Gilbert did not agree with that no-call. He will probably get fined for this tweet.

Our own, beautiful Justin Rowan was at this game. I require that he write about his experience at what was a pretty exciting Cavs game. He will do my bidding soon, I believe.

Chris Bosh was big for the Heat down the stretch. He hit lots of shots and stuff. He's a really really really good player. People are aware of this, right? Right. Cool.

The Cavs play the Oklahoma City Thunder next. That will be fun, maybe.

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