HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – The numbers alone say it all.
Since that wild and emotional Dec. 2 Heat-Cavaliers game at Quicken Loans Arena, the Cavs have gone 7-48 while the Heat have gone 41-14.
It was unclear at the time which team would use that night as a springboard and which team would not recover from the moment. We know now, of course. And that’s what takes some of the pop out of tonight’s game, which marks the second time LeBron James will head home to Northeast Ohio (yes, we know he’s from Akron and not Cleveland, but spare us the geography lesson).
“Can’t get no worse than it was December 2nd,” James told reporters before he and the Heat arrived in Cleveland Monday evening. “I know that for a fact.”
On that we can all agree.
One other thing that is certain, the in-game banter between James and his old teammates will not take place again, at least not in the same manner.
“If he comes down to the bench and wants to chat, that ain’t going to happen,” said Cavaliers guard Boobie Gibson. “We can rule that out.”
Fine, there won’t be any chest bumping or warm embraces to worry about. With only three players on the Cavs’ active roster — Gibson, Anthony Parker and J.J. Hickson — that actually played with James when he was in Cleveland, that hypothetical love-fest wouldn’t have lasted long anyway.
