Heat top Cavs on Lebron’s 24th birthday

It wasn’t exactly the happiest of birthdays for LeBron James, who turned 24 on Tuesday.  Mario Chalmers and Dwayne Wade scored 21 points apiece for the Miami Heat as they defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 104-95 in the back end of a “home and home” series.  Cleveland won the first game in the set on Sunday to keep their home record perfect for the 2008-2009 season.

LeBron’s personal numbers were good despite the Cavs loss—the birthday boy finished with 38 points and 7 assists.  Delonte West added 20 points for Cleveland and Mo Williams contributed 10.  James certainly wasn’t happy with the loss, but deadpanned after the game when asked about his 0-3 record on his birthday:

"It's sad. I'm going to cry."

On a more serious note, LeBron was pleased about the team’s resilience in coming back from a sixteen point halftime deficit:

"They had us pretty good at halftime, but to our credit we got it down to one. We just couldn't finish it."

Miami’s Dwayne Wade suggested that it was payback for the series opening loss in Cleveland:

"We weren't into a nice birthday present this time around for LeBron. He got one the other night in Cleveland."

Despite the Heat’s struggles in recent years they’ve had Cleveland’s number at home—Tuesday night’s win represented their tenth victory in their last eleven home games against the Cavs.  Cleveland dropped to 16-5 with the loss but didn’t lose any ground to the Boston Celtics as the defending champs were upended by the Trailblazers in Portland.  The loss did snap Cleveland’s six game overall winning streak.

Cleveland will return home for a game on Friday night against the Chicago Bulls before traveling to Washington to meet the Wizards on Sunday.  They’ll then enjoy a few days off before playing the Charlotte Bobcats at home on Wednesday 1/7.  Miami takes a quick road trip to Orlando on Friday for a game against the Magic before returning home for games against New Jersey on Saturday and the San Antonio Spurs on Monday.