24 Points in One Quarter, LeBron Wins in 'The Return'

In one of the most anticipated games that Cleveland has seen in the past seven years, outside of his LeBron James debut, the Miami Heat walked out of the Quicken Loans Center (probably one of the worst names for an arena) with an easy 118-90 victory. More importantly though, LeBron left the arena with a sense of vindication.

I am not going to waste your time with how much this game met to the city of Cleveland because if you have paid any attention to the sports world over the past 6 months, you should have a pretty good gist of it. As for the on-court performance, James certainly shined and put all the negative energy that was aimed at him from Cleveland, right back in their face. James was so efficient that he did not even play the fourth quarter but was still able to score 38 points on the night, accompanied with 8 assists and 5 rebounds. What may have motivated him to this performance was the boos he received in pre-game introductions. Ironically, following the boos of James was the cheers for Zydrunas Ilgauskas who was also making his return to Cleveland as well.

The reasons why LeBron left Cleveland are shown in the box score of the Cavilers. The only player to register more than 20 points was by backup point guard Daniel Gibson. The man that was LeBron's running mate in Cleveland, Moe Williams, only accounted for 11 points. LeBron's running mate in Miami however, Dwayne Wade, provided a second level of offense for the Heat as he registered 22 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists. James outscored Clevelands starting lineup by 10.

As for reactions from the game they were as expected, business like. James said that "so many things went through my mind, I have nothing bad to say about these fans at all. We grew from the year before I got here, a 17-win season to the last two years I was here, we had the best team in the league in the regular season. I understand their frustration. I was frustrated also because we didn't accomplish what we wanted to. I wish this organization and these fans, who are great, the best."

Now that this game has come and gone, the Heat can get back to business as they host the Atlanta Hawks tomorrow night before they hit the road on a four game road trip. With the win, the Heat improve to 12-8 and win their third straight which as certainly quieted the critics calling for Head Coach's Erik Spolestra's job. "It felt like a playoff game for us," Spoelstra said. Ahh, the wonders that winning will do for an organization.