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The Cleveland Cavaliers suffered a 21-point loss to the Miami Heat on Sunday, as a game-high 26 points from LeBron James was not enough to get them a win.
Final score
Miami Heat 122
Cleveland Cavaliers 101
The Miami Heat look to get a little momentum and jump ahead in their battle for a home Eastern Conference quarter-final when they take on the playoffs bound Cleveland Cavaliers at the American Airlines Arena.
Join The Roar for live scores of the match from 10:30am (AEDT).
After winning plenty of games and getting themselves into fourth spot in the east, the Heat have just struggled a little in the last fortnight losing three of their last six games. The pressure is starting to build on them, as the log jam in the middle of the standings begins to catch up with them.
A record of 39 wins and 29 losses leaves them just half a game back from the Atlanta Hawks and equal with the fifth-placed Charlotte Hornets, along with being only half a game ahead of the Boston Celtics.
Undoubtedly, there is a huge amount of pressure on them to succeed. A last-start loss to Charlotte really didn’t improve anything.
The Cavaliers meanwhile suffered a shock upset loss to the Utah Jazz just a few games ago and it continues to show that Cleveland can be beaten. The issues they have had right throughout the season seem to be lurking and can cause them to play poorly at any moment.
They are in first place out east though, and mathematically confirmed their qualification for the playoffs in their last game, a six-point win on the road against the Orlando Magic.
It has given them two straight and for the Cavaliers it is all about finding good options on offence, rather than settling for poor jump shots.
The teams have already faced off twice this season, splitting the series one game all.
In the first, played at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, the Cavaliers would record a 10-point victory on the back of 29 points from LeBron James, before the Heat would bounce back in December with a 15-point win, this time Dwayne Wade leading the team to victory, putting up 19 points and a handful of assists.
What both of these games show us, is that the home court advantage plays a major role in this series. They are relatively evenly matched, although both of those matches were played before the injury of Chris Bosh which throws a major spanner in the works.
Prediction
The Heat should be able to get the job done at home here against a Cavaliers outfit that may start to take things pretty easy heading towards the post-season.
Heat by 9.
Be sure to join The Roar for live scores of this NBA match from 10:30am (AEDT) and don’t forget to add your own comments in the section below as the action unfolds.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde