INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers host the Miami Heat in their home opener Friday with a target squarely on their backs.

In a recent interview with ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, Heat star Dwyane Wade openly admitted his goal to unseat his former teammate from his controlling spot in the East this season. "Some things you don't have to talk about," Wade said. "LeBron knows we coming for them. They at the top of the Eastern Conference, everybody going for them."

James was unperturbed by Wade's words, however. In fact, the two spent time together on Thursday night prior to the game.

"Of course," James said when asked about Wade's comments. "Everyone are. I mean, that's what everybody's objective is. We're the reigning Eastern Conference champions and everyone wants to beat us, I guess, (to) represent the East in the Finals. We feel the same way, we want to beat ourselves. We haven't done anything, personally. It's a new season. We feel like all 15 teams in the East have a chance. Our mind frame is the same as everybody else's."

While James emphasized that the Cavs shouldn't view themselves as locks to dominate the East, he admitted his team is in a much better place than it was for its home opener last season when it lost to a New York Knicks team that went on to only win just 17 games.

"Time definitely changes a lot of things," James said. "For us, last year we was a team that was uncertain about one another. We didn't know. We was excited to play basketball with one another but we didn't know what we were doing together as a unit. Even though we have some injuries now, we're not at full strength; we have a sense of who we are. Last year we were trying to figure out who we wanted to be."

Injuries have been an early theme for the Cavs as Kyrie Irving (left knee) and Iman Shumpert (right wrist) are out of the lineup and James required an anti-inflammatory injection in his back during training camp.

Despite the back discomfort, James played in both of the Cavs' back-to-back games this week and said he expects to continue to be on the court going forward. After missing a career-high 13 games last season, James was asked if he had a number of games he planned to play this season. "Eighty-two," he said. When a reporter followed up asking if that was realistic, James said, "Yeah."

Friday will be the first time that James, Wade and Chris Bosh will all be on the court for a regular-season game together since James left Miami for Cleveland in the summer of 2014. Bosh missed three of the four matchups last season because of injury and the one game he did play in, Wade didn't dress.

"It's always special to go against your old teammates," James said. "But the game itself, it's definitely another game for us to get better, but it's always special seeing the guys I played with and the guys I made a championship run with, so that's a special moment, but as far as the game itself, it's two totally different teams that we both play on."