Cavs dominate shorthanded Heat 113-87

BY TIM SHIRER

CAVALIERS BEAT WRITER

(CLEVELAND, OH) - The Cleveland Cavaliers entered Sunday’s game at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse against the Miami Heat (7-9) with a win after ending their five-game losing streak on Friday night in double overtime against the Charlotte Hornets 132-122. The Heat entered the game 1-5 on the road and losers of two straight. The Cavs ultimately dominated the Heat coming away with a 113-87 win.

The Cavaliers were without Kevin Love on Sunday night after he suffered a hairline fracture on during Friday night’s game. Reports are that Love may not miss a lot of time and be back sooner than later. Miami was without Jimmy Butler, Tyler Herro, and Victor Oladipo.

The game got off to a sloppy start as the two teams combined for seven turnovers, five by the Cavs and two by the Heat in the first 5:14 of the contest. The Heat turned Cleveland’s five turnovers into nine early points giving them a 13-8 lead with 6:46 left on the first quarter clock. Miami eventually extended the lead to 17-8 with a jump shot from Bam Adebayo with 5:52 left in the quarter. The Cavs closed the gap two three with an 8-2 run capped off by a three-pointer by Darius Garland at the 3:03 mark of the first period. The Cavs took the lead 26-25 with :48.1 left in the period when Garland drained two free throws. The Cavs led 28-27 at as the first quarter clock ran out. The period was capped off by an Evan Mobley jump shot from the foul line to put the Cavs on top with :01.0 left. The Cavs took care of the ball much better in the second half of the period ending the first with only six turnovers, the Heat had five. Cleveland had the edge on the boards 14-11.

Adebayo led all scorers with 10. Garland had seven for the Cavs and Mobley contributed six.

The game continued to be a defensive type of game in the second quarters. The Cavs did manage to extend their lead to 38-30 as they outscored the Heat 10-3 in the first 3:33 of the period. The Cavs continued to build their lead throughout the quarter taking advantage of the shorthanded Heat building the lead to 49-32 with 4:54 left on a long three by Donovan Mitchell. The Heat cut the lead to 51-40 with 2:48 left on a layup by Dewayne Dedmon. Garland extended the Cavs lead back to 16 at 56-40 at the 1:27 mark with a 3-point shot from long range. Cleveland took a 59-42 lead into the locker room at halftime. The Cavs had three scorers in double figures at the break with Garland leading the way with 14. Isaac Okoro had 13 and Mobley contributed 12 points in the first 24 minutes. Adebayo led the Heat with 12 scoring only two points in the second quarter. Cleveland dominated the boards in the first half with a 29-19 advantage. Mobley led way with seven boards. Caris LeVert left the game in the second quarter and did not return with an ankle injury.

The game was pretty much you score, I score game early in the third quarter. The Cavs looked like they were going to run away and hide from the Heat, then the Heat responded to cut the deficit to 70-55 with 7:55 left in the third. Cleveland scored the next six points to extend the lead to 76-55 with 6:26 left when Mitchell drained a three. The Cavaliers continued to extend the lead with 4:10 left in the third Cedi Osman hit a three and gave Cleveland an 81-57 lead. Late in the third quarter it almost looked like the Cavs were toying with Miami as they built the lead to 95-64 on the play that consisted of three passes from three-point range until Osman finally drained the trey with :26.0 remaining in the third to give the Cavs a 31-point advantage at the end of the third. Garland was leading the way with 22 points and Osman had 16 through three. Adebayo led Miami with 21. The Cavs continued to win the battle on the glass outrebounding the Heat 40-23 and 11-4 in the third. With a timeout at the 7:53 mark of the fourth period Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff played it safe and removed the remaining starters with the exception of Lamar Stevens who remained in the game. Okoro who had a nice night left the game at with 5:31 left on the clock to a nice round of applause from the crowd as he scored in the game basically replacing LeVert after he exited with the injury. Stevens finally was pulled with 4:28 remaining and was replaced by rookie Isaiah Mobley. Steven also left the game to nice applause from the crowd. The final score was not an indication of the game’s entirety as the Cavs thoroughly dismantled Miami. Garland led everyone with 25 points. Osman had 20 followed by 15 from Evan Mobley and 13 each from Okoro and Mitchell. Osman had a double double with the 20 points and 12 boards.

The complete domination on the boards was the story as Cleveland out hustled Miami on the glass 49-30. Cleveland’s bench also came up big outscoring Miami of the bench 41-25. The Cavs also shared the ball very well totaling 31 assist while Miami had just 18.