LeBron James' Miami Heat Faltered Where Cleveland Cavs Succeeded: Poetic Justice
We all remember the look on LeBron James' face when he walked off the court while shedding the Cleveland Cavaliers jersey for the last time after a 4-2 series loss to the Boston Celtics.
LeBron would then go on to make one of the most anticipated free agent moves in NBA history as he held his one-hour "decision" and told the world of his relocation to Miami.
After months of harsh criticism, the Akron native finally had the chance silence all the critics as the Heat opened their much awaited season with the "Perfect 10"(Wade 3, Bosh 1, James 6) against the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics.
This is the same team that caused the season to end for two of the Heat superstars when they beat D-Wade in the first round, then LeBron and his Cavs next.
This was the stage for the trio to flex their newly acquired muscle and shut up all the doubters in one fell swoop.
LeBron and Heat fans only wish that were the case, as the Heat lost to the Celtics 88-80 and looked bad doing it.
The game could not have started any worse for the Heat as they mustered only nine points in the first quarter and just 30 for the half.
Though the Heat cut the lead to just three with a little over a minute to go, the C's proved to be more than enough to handle the Heat.
LeBron did have 31 points, but he also had eight turnovers and the other two superstars had terrible games as they combined for 21 points on 7-of-27 shooting.
LeBron quickly cited the fact that the Heat still have a long way to go to being a dominant team and D-Wade echoed the same point. So lets hold off the 72-win season talk for right now.
And what about the Cavs?
They were basically left for dead as they had no LeBron or Shaq and were left holding the bag. Cleveland, with new coach Byron Scott and highly motivated owner Dan Gilbert, looked to pick up the pieces.
I'm sure seeing the Heat taken down by the Celtics was better than a cool glass of lemonade on a hot summer day to the Cavs and their fans, but that same Boston team was coming to Cleveland and would, in all likely hood, do the same to the Cavs.
But that's why they play the game.
The Cavaliers thanked the Celtics for sticking it to LeBron, then proceeded to shock the C's by handing them a 95-87 loss.
The Cavs were lifted by the young and talented J.J. Hickson, who poured in 21 points as the Cleveland fans rejoiced.
I think this was the most important regular season win by any sports team since the 2006 Saints with the reopening of the Superdome.
With all of that being said, reality will bring Cleveland and its fans back to earth in the near future. This was a great two days, but the fact of the matter is they will not be a great team this season.
Yeah, they may make the playoffs (which is not that hard to do in the East), but they will not be around come June. As much as the fans in Cleveland want it to be true, no team that loses LeBron James gets better or stays just as good.
They will lose many more games than they are used to and the Heat, despite their loss to the Celtics, will win a ton of games and be first or second in the East.
LeBron James will most likely get the last laugh in this game, as the Heat are much better than what they showed against the Celtics and will be a force in the East and challenge for a title.
The Cavaliers will not be as good as they were against Boston, and will be around the bottom of the East fighting for a playoff spot.
The Celtics were sick of hearing about the Heat and their superstars and LeBron James, so they were extra hyped to shut up the Heat and gave them their playoff best.
On the other hand, the Celtics were not expecting to have trouble with the Cavs and looked to sleepwalk through the game.
Cleveland was looking to make a statement as the crowd was cheering like it was Game 7 in the NBA Finals.
They wanted to prove they did not need LeBron and gave the zombie-like Celtics all they had.
The Heat bounced back with a win vs. the 76ers and look to be fine. Common sense tells you that the Cavs will not be winning 60 games again this season.
So one game, as big as it may have been, will not tell the story for the rest of the season. And reality will hit the Cavs like a heavyweight prize fighter and hurt some feelings. But if I was a Cavaliers fan, I would feel good about what happened.
It's funny, LeBron left Cleveland to join the Heat to beat teams like the Celtics and even with his new superstar teammates loses to the same team that knocked him out last year.
Meanwhile, the team James left gets a win against the same Celtics team without him.
Call it poetic justice, irony, karma or just luck.
Bottom line, the city of Cleveland hasn't had much to smile about these past months, so I say enjoy it, Cleveland.
When you go to bed tonight you should rest easy because your team, for however short a period, is No. 1.
