LeBron James shoves rookie coach. Sound familiar?

LeBron James' first game back after an eight-game absence was sure to make headlines Tuesday night, regardless of how he played in Phoenix.

And he played well, scoring 33 points and grabbing seven rebounds in 37 minutes of Cleveland's 107-100 loss to the Suns.

But if LeBron was looking to give the world a HEADLINE in the Arizona sun, shoving your coach aside during an argument with a referee following a controversial call will certainly do the trick.

With Cavs trailing 39-31 in the second quarter, James got tangled up with the Suns' Marcus Morris under the basket and was called for an offensive foul by Eric Lewis. You can see the play, and the aftermath of the call, below.

After the game, both James and Cavs head coach David Blatt downplayed the shove, LeBron saying he was protecting his coach from getting T'd up by Lewis, Blatt saying he wanted to protect his best player from taking a beating in his first game since Dec. 28.

Tuesday's loss dropped Cleveland to 19-20 on the season, sixth in the Eastern Conference and 11.5 games behind top-seeded Atlanta. Of course, simply making the playoffs seems to be the far more realistic challenge than getting the top seed at this point in Cleveland.

The Cavs were 1-7 without James, who missed time to rest a sore back and knee.

While both coach and player seem to be on the same page with respect to Tuesday's shove, the play does conjure up memories of an "exchange" James had with Heat coach Erik Spoelstra in November 2010, his first season in Miami.

Like this season, James' team had high expectations but struggled out of the gate, just 9-8 after the game James bumped Spoelstra. And if you're a fan of omens, here's one more nugget.

Like Tuesday, the Heat lost that game against the Mavericks. But immediately following? A 12-game winning streak and 21 wins in the next 22 games before a trip to the NBA Finals.

The team which ended the 12-game winning streak? The Mavericks. The team which beat the Heat in those Finals? You guessed it.