Miami Vs. Cleveland Game Brings LeBron James Back to Town

The Miami vs. Cleveland game on Tuesday doesn't have as much press as the first time LeBron James returned to play in Cleveland this year. Everyone already knows the story about James deciding to "take his talents to South Beach" for the 2010-11 season, but not everyone has been able to move on from that fact. While James has the Miami Heat primed to make the 2011 Eastern Conference Playoffs, the best-case scenario for the Cleveland Cavaliers is to get a good lottery pick out of the NBA Draft.

The first time around Miami vs. Cleveland was a huge event, with TNT broadcasting coverage of the game. The network also presented quite a bit of pre-game coverage in order to spice up the match and really try to hammer home the drama. This time the broadcast has been relegated to NBATV, but at least it will still get national coverage for those looking to check in on the two teams. The tipoff will be at 7 p.m. EST, and for some fans still taking it personally that James chose to go to another team, this is a good chance to avenge the early season loss.

Increased security, a lot of trash talk, and of course the belief that the Cavaliers were much better surrounded the first game, but hopefully a lot of that has blown over for the second game in Cleveland. The 118-90 loss on Dec. 2 had to be a wake-up call that the Cavs aren't as competitive as some fans had hoped.

It will be very interesting to see if the Cavaliers can actually play some defense this time around. Giving up 118 points, 38 of them to James himself, isn't going to win very many games, and this time around Miami is playing to try to move up in the Eastern Conference playoff seeding.

Anyone who takes a brief glance at the standings might have to do a double take as to how far Cleveland has fallen this year. After becoming a 60-win team with James, the Cavs are just 14-58 through Monday night's NBA action. They now have the worst record in the NBA (by three games) and are heading straight for the Draft Lottery. Miami is now 51-22, despite projections that this could be a 70-win team during the highly publicized preseason. They have pulled into a tie with the Boston Celtics for second in the East, so this is an important game on their schedule.

The fans in Cleveland were actually pretty civil the first time around, and hopefully they maintain that high level of décor as the teams take the court on March 29.