LeBron James

LeBron James is already thinking about showdown with Miami Heat

Published May. 4, 2016 12:13 p.m. ET

foxsports

LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers are up one game on the Atlanta Hawks in their second-round series. On the other side of the bracket, the Miami Heat stole home-court advantage on Tuesday with a thrilling overtime victory against the Toronto Raptors.

It's not here yet, but the matchup everybody (outside of Atlanta and Toronto) wants to see feels more or less probable right now, and even though James needs to beat the Hawks three more times before anything can actually happen, on Wednesday he admitted that he's already thought about facing his former team:

LeBron on potential series vs. Heat/Wade: "I’ve always wanted to go against Wade in a playoff series." pic.twitter.com/1rv9ReQSQh
— Jeff Zillgitt (@JeffZillgitt) May 4, 2016

It's too early to dive deep into the minutiae of a Conference Finals showdown that may never materialize. The Raptors and Hawks are two very good teams, and, as we've already seen with Steph Curry's knee, Chris Paul's hand, Avery Bradley's hamstring and Blake Griffin's quad, injuries are unpredictable booby traps.

Cleveland went 1-2 against Miami in the regular season, but almost every data point from those three games will be meaningless if they face off in Round 3. Both teams look so much different today.

LeBron didn't play in Cleveland's 15-point loss to Miami back in December. The Cavaliers were demolished in March, when they rolled out a starting lineup that featured James at power forward and Iman Shumpert at the three. Richard Jefferson played 30 minutes that night, and Hassan Whiteside came off the bench. Cleveland's only win came all the way back in October when Chris Bosh was healthy and Kyrie Irving was not.

LeBron FLEXES after the big AND 1! #NBARapidReplay #CAVSvHAWKS https://t.co/oeDIDNHtoU
— NBA (@NBA) May 3, 2016

But, just to make a quick observation on how they'd look to beat each other, both teams can create mismatches the other will have a hard time dealing with. Whiteside will need to have the series of his life, whether the Cavs go big and pound the offensive glass or downsize and play Kevin Love or Channing Frye at center. (The latter scenario could force Erik Spoelstra to bench his starting center and go with a five-wing lineup.)

Cleveland would be the favorite because they have more talent and home-court advantage, but if Dwyane Wade continues to look like he's 26 years old and Goran Dragic is able to wreak havoc in transition, Miami could make it an interesting series.

Until then, the Heat and the Cavaliers can't afford to overlook their current opponents, or the scenario we've all been dreaming about since James left South Beach won't ever happen.