Miami Heat: Cleveland Game Will Be the Wake Up Call LeBron James and Co. Need

If "hate" was an acronym, the "H" would stand for hope.

Hope is a form of belief born out of necessity to substantiate a false or far-fetched reality that it's beholder isn't prepared to escape from. 

At it's loss, betrayal is the immediate source of explanation.

And, at it's momentum, hatred ensues. 

While the list of reasons why the Heat have not produced this season has been argued ad-nauseum, the effect, or result, has been deceivingly unanimous to critics.  

The Miami Heat looks indifferent on the court. Lifeless. Undetermined. Empty. Without fire.

Yes, the seeds of doubt and frustration have slowly begun to manifest itself to a degree that a players-only meeting has been called, and players are starting to whisper their frustration.

But, for the most part, every response by players has been noticeably measured and politically correct.

In the meanwhile, un-named sources are coming out by the volumes with each passing day to grab headlines about the real causes of the team's turmoil, if not the reality of it. 

It doesn't take the shrewdest person to put the pieces together. The truth is that what the Heat expected to be the ties of it's success has thus far been the cause of it's demise: the friendship of Miami's big three. 

Likewise, they have walked on eggshells with the media as they have with each other due to the smug and overblown announcement of their unity, and the subsequent vitriolic reception from everyone else. A perfect recipe for alienation.

This Heat team is in dire need of a wake up call. Luckily, the upcoming Cavs game on Thursday night looks to be exactly that. 

Cavs fans hate LeBron for ripping them of the hope that was tentatively rebuilt after the Art Modell era.

From their end, they did everything they could to keep him in Cleveland. A hometown legend that was embraced before he ever step foot in Cleveland.

The Cavs and their fans sacrificed a season so that they could get LeBron in the draft, even though they were cognizant that their best chance was only 25 percent to win the draft lottery. 

The organization made allowances to LeBron to an unprecedented degree that his posse was treated with more royalty than the majority of the coaching staff.

Cavs games were always sold out, as fans showed their devout loyalty and appreciation as if it were an after-thought. 

Trades were made and player or coaches were waived at LeBron's beck and call.

At the end of the day, LeBron was called King James not because he had paid his due to the city of Cleveland by bringing them their first taste of championship success.

Rather, it was because the city of Cleveland and the better part of the state of Ohio never failed to treat him like royalty simply for allowing them to continue hoping. 

When it was finally his turn to show the team how much he truly appreciated their kindness for all of their years together, he placed himself on the grandest stage with his face at a prominent vantage point only to turn his back on the team.

Such is the reality of sports, in which a thin line separates entertainment from business, selflessness from selfishness, heroes to villains, and hope to hate.

On Thursday night, Cavs fans will finally get their chance to exact revenge.

It will be passionate. It will be nasty. It will be like something no one has ever seen.

And hopefully, after Thursday night, it will be the  Miami Heat. Hopefully.