Cavaliers vs. Heat 96 82 Box Score NBA Recap "I have to go out there and play basketball. I just want to leave it at that, all of the outside stuff. I just want to try and focus on getting wins and getting this record to where it’s supposed to be." - Cavaliers guard Larry Hughes View Postgame Quotes Anderson Varejao scores on the hookshot in the Cavaliers' 96-82 Christmas Day win. Listen Game Photos Photo Archive Outside the Box View Diagram

Drew Gooden netted 18 points and nine boards in Tuesday's win over Miami. David Liam Kyle NBAE/Getty Images

If the Cavaliers had anything on their wish list for Christmas Day, it would have been to rediscover their defensive roots and get themselves an energetic win in front of the home folks. Luckily, the struggling Heat were in town to make their holiday wishes come true.

Two days after dropping an embarrassing decision to the Golden State Warriors, the Wine and Gold looked like their old selves, holding the Heat to 14 third-quarter points and using a 15-0 run to blow past Miami – 96-82 – on Tuesday afternoon at The Q.

“I thought we turned it up defensively,” praised Coach Mike Brown. “We got deflections, we got steals, we got stops because we limited (Miami) to one shot. We were able to get out and attack in transition. When we turn it up like that defensively, we can be a dangerous team.”

The suddenly hapless Heat, who came into the nationally-televised affair at 8-19, opened up a 10-point lead early in the third quarter. But Cleveland turned on the defensive pressure, while Drew Gooden and LeBron James did the heavy lifting on the offensive end. The Cavaliers outscored Miami, 24-14, in the period and didn’t let up in the fourth.

LeBron led all scorers, doubling up with 25 points and 12 assists, wowing the sold-out Christmas Day crowd and injecting an energy into his squad that’s been lacking since he went down with a finger injury three weeks ago. James was 9-for-19 from the floor, adding six boards a block and an assist.

“We were in tune defensively,” said James. “We wanted to get stops, and when we get stops we are very good at running out. It enabled us to get out and do what we had to do on the offensive end.”

Gooden was equally efficient, adding 18 points and nine boards in the win. Along with Zydrunas Ilgauskas’ 13-point effort in the low post, the Cavaliers’ front line combined for 46 points and 23 boards against Miami frontline that still contains Shaquille O’Neal and Udonis Haslem.

Cleveland’s reserves came up big as well. Daniel Gibson was scorching from beyond the arc, hitting on 4-of-6 three-point attempts for 16 points. Anderson Varejao continued his strong play since returning from his contract holdout, chipping in with a season-high 15 points to go with seven boards in 27 action-packed minutes off Mike Brown’s bench.

Larry Hughes got the start at point guard after coming off the bench in every game since his return from injury, and although he didn’t shoot the ball particularly well, did an outstanding job against Dwyane Wade – holding Miami’s superstar to 7-for-18 shooting – while adding six dimes and a game-high four steals.

Neither team caught the nets on fire, but Miami was particularly woeful from long distance and the free throw line. The Heat shot just 12 percent (1-for-8) from three-point range and just 54 percent (19-of-35) from the stripe.

The Cavaliers hit the road for a pair following Tuesday’s win. They travel to Dallas for a marquee matchup on Thursday night and face the Hornets in the Big Easy on Saturday.

NOTES

The Cavaliers are now 4-4 on Christmas Day. Their last holiday home game was in 1984 when they topped the Hawks, 109-104, at the Coliseum in Richfield.

With his fourth rebound, Zydrunas Ilgauskas passed Hot Rod Williams and moved into second place on the Cavaliers all-time rebounds list. He finished with eight on Tuesday, giving him 4,673 for his career. Brad Daugherty is Cleveland’s all-time leader with 5,227.

Daniel Gibson has made two or more three-pointers in each of his last 11 games and is shooting .511 for the season from long distance on the season.

Gibson and LeBron James had a little bit of fun in the postgame locker room. James, who was icing his left cheek after taking an elbow from Shaquille O’Neal (“That’s not a good thing – ever,” quipped James.) chucked an icebag in Gibson’s direction. Boobie laughed that he felt like a little brother getting picked on and one day his time would come. When he turned around, James pegged him in the back with a second bag of ice.

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