Cavaliers @ Heat 12/25 5pm ABC

[JLop]

Strangest thing about yesterday, to me, is how good we looked rebounding against this team that was meant to be light years ahead of us. Granted, Varajeao is a big part of that, but Bosh wasn't there for us, either and Love was a non-factor on the boards.

He'll never leave, but he has to be second guessing.

Neither McRoberts, the best fourth player of the Heats and a decent rebounder wasn't there for us. Let's not forget: Anderson Varejao = Josh McRoberts. I understand ESPN for avoiding mentioning his name in an poor effort to disparage this victory. However, any ‘Heat lifer’ knows the true. We all should give some credit to the hard work of this team.

[JLop]

NBA on ABC: Viewership Up 19 Percent for Cavaliers-Heat On Christmas Day

. An average audience of 9,299,000 viewers (P2+) tuned-in to watch the Miami Heat defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers in LeBron James’ return to Miami. The audience was up 19 percent versus last year.
. The broadcast delivered a 4.7 U.S. household rating, up 12 percent versus last year.


Full article:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2014/12/26/nba-on-abc-viewership-up-19-percent-for-cavaliers-heat-on-christmas-day/

Note:
Nearly six million viewers (5,994,000) watched the Oklahoma City Thunder defeat the San Antonio Spurs on Christmas Day.
More than three million viewers (3,046,000) tuned-in to ESPN to watch the Washington Wizards defeat the New York Knicks to tip off the Christmas Day tripleheader.

5,994,000 + 3,046,000 = 9,040,000 viewers (Thunder vs. Spurs & Wizards vs. Knicks combined).
An average audience of 9,299,000 viewers (P2+) tuned-in to watch the Miami Heat defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers in LeBron James’ return to Miami.

[DefenseWins]

9mil to view the Heat-Cavs game? dayum, I know its Christmas but LeBron's home coming in Cleveland against the Knicks this year was like 4mil, and his first game in a Heat jersey vs Boston in 2010 drew 7mil or so

then again it was national TV

glad we aint get get wrecked lmao

[DefenseWins]

Strangest thing about yesterday, to me, is how good we looked rebounding against this team that was meant to be light years ahead of us. Granted, Varajeao is a big part of that, but Bosh wasn't there for us, either and Love was a non-factor on the boards.

He'll never leave, but he has to be second guessing.

TT and Love I feared regarding rebounds

TT did his thing though... we're lucky he didn't play more minutes or start honestly

Varejao does make them smaller, though Varejao doesn't make them better defensively or anything but he was their hustler on the boards AND other bigs couldn't even contain him when he scores, especially in the LeBron PnR, he is lethal there.

They have a lot of assets though to trade, 5 mil exception (might even get another one), memphis 1st round pick, Waiters who looked good defensively at least. They can get a couple of bigs for sure to help them, but I am really surprised at how Love didn't kill us and he usually does. Birdman and UD helped, Granger and Deng too hustling for boards.

[aboogie]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgRS3iJpE0Y#t=134
he thanks the organization fans etc...

[G.cracker]

You can tell that he has some regret, but is as committed to his new challenge as ever. I have heard from some close to players and the team that Savannah and his boys' wives/ girlfriends were a major influence as they were all running around like dogs and Miami had too much temptation for them to think their relationships would last. I guess what stays on the road...

[Grumpy Heat Fan]

You can tell that he has some regret, but is as committed to his new challenge as ever. I have heard from some close to players and the team that Savannah and his boys' wives/ girlfriends were a major influence as they were all running around like dogs and Miami had too much temptation for them to think their relationships would last. I guess what stays on the road...

"Some" regret? It's all over his face and behavior that he has major regret. His heart wasn't ready to move on from the Heat and their championship runs.

Just seems that there were other factors involved, and he is really concerned with his legacy and the amount of "greatness" he can gain by leading Cleveland to a ring. A lot of people were in his ear, convincing him that he needed to win a ring for Cleveland, as they think 1 ring in Cleveland would be worth more than 6 in Miami.

[DefenseWins]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G8xGeNSv2Q[/youtube]

[Dwyane_Wade2006]

You can tell that he has some regret, but is as committed to his new challenge as ever. I have heard from some close to players and the team that Savannah and his boys' wives/ girlfriends were a major influence as they were all running around like dogs and Miami had too much temptation for them to think their relationships would last. I guess what stays on the road...

Got the same feeling. Seems like he didn't want to leave his best friend and the Heat personally, but left due to other factors being a big influence on him (namely, repairing his relationship with Cleveland etc.)

[KingDavid]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G8xGeNSv2Q[/youtube]

I'M DYING!!!

[JLop]

You can tell that he has some regret, but is as committed to his new challenge as ever. I have heard from some close to players and the team that Savannah and his boys' wives/ girlfriends were a major influence as they were all running around like dogs and Miami had too much temptation for them to think their relationships would last. I guess what stays on the road...

"Some" regret? It's all over his face and behavior that he has major regret. His heart wasn't ready to move on from the Heat and their championship runs.

Just seems that there were other factors involved, and he is really concerned with his legacy and the amount of "greatness" he can gain by leading Cleveland to a ring. A lot of people were in his ear, convincing him that he needed to win a ring for Cleveland, as they think 1 ring in Cleveland would be worth more than 6 in Miami.

The only ones who think 1 ring in Cleveland would be worth more than 6 in Miami are the people who work at ESPN. And their reasons are pretty obvious. Without James there's no NBA in Ohio. On the other hand, Miami will always be relevant as a team (with or without James). With Lebron's return to Cleveland he basically turned his back on the greatest basketball trilogy of all time. The Spurs vs. the Heat would have been the greatest rivalry of the entire sport or any other sport. Game 6 of The 2013 NBA Finals was everything that defines basketball. The Heat rode a triple-double performance from James (32 points along with 11 assists and 10 rebounds)—becoming the first player since Magic Johnson in 1991 to have two triple doubles in the same NBA Finals series. The game is considered by players and commentators to be one of the greatest games in NBA history. There's nothing he can achieve in Cleveland more valuable than this trilogy.

[dr3am]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G8xGeNSv2Q[/youtube]

papi just destroyed bron bron's career... *lebron raises hand when fans cheer after the tribute, i raised the finger*