CHICAGO _ Has any remaining semblance of a rivalry between the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers been extinguished? LeBron James said it felt that way Friday night at Quicken Loans Arena.
With Udonis Haslem away from the Heat, not a single player from James' Heat tenure was in an opposing uniform in Cleveland's blowout victory, with the ties from James' four runs to the NBA Finals in Miami down to coaches such as Erik Spoelstra and assistant Juwan Howard, who was a Heat teammate.
"It does feel like a former team," James said, "but there's not many ties left besides the coaches: 'Seventeen', Juwan Howard, and Coach Spo and some of the other guys other there, and some of their scouts and assistant coaches they had at that point in time.
"But without U.D. here, some of the players that I played with, that doesn't have that feeling. But it hasn't been like that for a little while."
