National Basketball Association

LeBron: Cavs-Heat playoff match-up would be 'good for me and D-Wade'

Published Apr. 2, 2015 4:52 p.m. ET

foxsports

By Jason Rowan

LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers host the Miami Heat team on Thursday night in a nationally televised game. A look at the standings in the Eastern Conference indicates that there’s a very compelling reason to pay attention to the game:

It could be a first-round playoff preview.

And according to James, a Cavs-Heat showdown in the postseason would be a great thing for the fans, for the league, but most importantly, for himself and Dwyane Wade.

“You look at the standings, you see who’s two-seven. If we continue to do well, we’ll probably face the seven seed and we’ll see what happens then,” James said heading into the game, via the Sun-Sentinel. “But it’d be good for the fans, for sure. And it will be good for me and D-Wade, just being two guys that love to compete.”

The Heat managed to competently reload and retool quickly following James’ departure, but the somewhat surprising squad experienced a devastating blow when Chris Bosh was shut down after blood clots in his lungs were discovered shortly after playing in the All-Star Game.

Still, the Heat have been somehow able to persevere and, as noted by James, currently hold the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference, although the team is tied with the eighth-seeded Nets in terms of regular season record (34-40).

The Cavaliers, meanwhile, are firmly entrenched as the 2-seed, leading the Raptors by three games.

When asked what it would be like to play against Wade and the Heat in the first round, James admits the thought of going head-to-head against Wade is a tantalizing proposition, but insists he remains focused on closing out the regular season strong.

While the tear the Cavaliers have been on since James’ two-week hiatus in late December/early January has been one of the biggest stories in the league, the fact that the Heat have managed to remain a playoff team shouldn’t be discounted as one of the best — and arguably surprising — stories of the NBA regular season.

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