Tip-off: Thursday, 5:00 p.m. ET
Line: Cleveland -5

LeBron James returns to Miami with his Cavaliers for a Christmas Day meeting with Dwyane Wade and the Heat.

Cleveland enters Thursday with a three-game win streak (2-1), including a 125-104 home blowout victory over the Timberwolves on Tuesday night. Miami is coming off a horrible 91-87 loss to the 7.5-point underdog 76ers, making the club 4-9 SU (5-8 ATS) in December. The Heat have won seven straight home games in this series dating back to Dec. 15, 2010, but the Cavaliers have covered in three straight and four of the past five meetings. Cleveland is just 9-14 ATS (39%) when favored this season, including 2-5 ATS when favored on the road. Miami is 7-8 ATS in the underdog role (2-3 ATS at home), but is 9-6 ATS after an SU loss this season. The one big injury in this game is Heat C Chris Bosh (21.6 PPG, 8.2 RPG), who is questionable for this game with a calf injury, despite recently stating a strong desire to play.

Can the Cavaliers win comfortably in LeBron James' return to South Beach on Thursday? For the answer, connect to The Platinum Sheet for all the Expert picks throughout the entire 2014-15 season. While StatFox Forecaster has a strong 57% ATS record (75-56-1) in featured games this season, the five experts have also done well recently with a collective 58% ATS mark (54-39-2) in NBA Best Bets since Nov. 29. StatFox Gary is 67% ATS (12-6) during this timeframe to give him a 59% ATS (24-17) in NBA Best Bets this season, while StatFox Brian is 65% ATS (13-7) since Nov. 29 to improve to a 55% ATS record (23-19) in NBA Best Bets this season. Also during this surge, StatFox Dave is 63% ATS (12-7-1).

The Cavaliers won their third straight game in a victory over the Timberwolves, which saw PG Kyrie Irving (20.0 PPG, 5.3 APG, 1.5 SPG) break out of his recent scoring slump. Irving was dominant in this game, scoring 29 points with four assists and three steals in 37 minutes of action. His quickness should give the Heat plenty of problems at the point guard position. C Kevin Love (16.9 PPG, 10.5 RPG) had 20 points and 10 rebounds in 36 minutes against his former team. He should be in for a big game against a Heat team that might be without Chris Bosh. Despite the mismatches as guard and forward for the Cavs, the story of this game will still be about SF LeBron James (25.2 PPG, 7.6 APG, 5.2 RPG) returning to Miami. James will have a difficult matchup with Luol Deng in this one. Deng is a long and physical defender who will make James work hard as long as he can stay out of foul trouble. If James isn’t scoring the ball in this one, he’ll look to distribute the way he has been recently with double-digit assists in five of the past 11 games he’s played in.

The Heat are coming off an embarrassing loss to the 76ers and will now look to spoil LeBron James’ return to Miami. SG Dwyane Wade (22.8 PPG, 5.5 APG, 3.8 RPG) will be more than amped up to play against his former wingman. Wade and James are best friends off the court, but there’s no doubt that these two will go at it at some point on Thursday. Wade is averaging 30.3 PPG, 5.3 APG and 4.5 RPG over the past four contests. He has turned back the clock this season and has not been held back by his knees so far. SF Luol Deng (14.3 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 1.3 SPG) is going to be a major X-factor in this contest. Deng had just seven points in 32 minutes against the 76ers after averaging 21.0 PPG in his previous two games. Miami needs him to score in double figures at the very least, and he’ll also need to limit the production of James on Thursday to give his team a chance to win. That is no easy task for anybody in this league. PGs Mario Chalmers (12.4 PPG, 4.3 APG) and Norris Cole (7.0 PPG, 3.3 APG) will both need to be on their games in this one. With a matchup against Kyrie Irving, Miami is going to need production out of its point guard position, and one of these two will need to step up. PF Shawne Williams (8.4 PPG, 3.9 RPG) could see some time guarding Kevin Love in this game. He had 17 points and five rebounds in the loss against the Sixers and will need to knock down some open shots for the Heat to pull off this upset.