As far as Miami coach Erik Spoelstra was concerned, it wasn’t the arena-record 25 points that LeBron James scored in the first quarter that made the difference in the Miami Heat’s 100-96 victory over the Cavaliers on Tuesday night at The Q.
It was James’ block of a Dion Waiters layup with 28.9 seconds left. Actually, Spoelstra thought James and Udonis Haslem both blocked the shot. Chris Bosh grabbed the rebound as Waiters crashed to the floor.
“Probably my favorite play was the double block,” Spoelstra said as the Heat beat the Cavs for the 10th straight time to improve to 46-19. “UD and LJ going for that. It should be a layup. It should be a dunk. To make that play, those are the things I like to see.”
Beauty, of course, is in the eye of the beholder.
Waiters thought he got fouled. Anderson Varejao had to commit his sixth foul to stop the clock, and while coach Mike Brown walked out to check on Waiters, he didn’t bother arguing the lack of a call.
“As a coach, you get tired of complaining about calls,” said Brown, who was ejected from the Cavs last game at Miami for arguing over a no-call. “Officials are human. They’re going to make mistakes. They can tell you whatever they want to tell you. I didn’t even ask for an explanation. It’s up to them to make the call. If they feel like he didn’t get hit, whether they felt that or not after the fact, Miami still won.”
Waiters, who started in place of the injured Kyrie Irving, finished with his first career double double — 17 points and 11 assists. Jarrett Jack had 22 points, including a pair of 3-pointers that cut the Heat’s lead to 98-96 with 11.4 seconds left. But James, who finished with 43 points, made two free throws with 10.5 seconds left as the Heat improved to 13-1 against the Cavs since James signed on.
Cleveland, also missing Luol Deng with a sprained ankle, fell to 26-42, six games behind the Atlanta Hawks for the eighth and final spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
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