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Heat dominate Cavaliers 121-84

Heat Cavaliers
The Miami Heat dominated the Cleveland Cavaliers Sunday. (Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports)

Nearly 48 hours after arguably their worst loss of the season, the Miami Heat eviscerated the Cleveland Cavaliers 121-84–their most dominant win of the season–Sunday evening inside Kaseya Center in Miami, Fla.

It was the Heat’s second victory against Cleveland in three games and their third victory against them this season in four meetings.

Their 37-point win was tied for the seventh-biggest in franchise history. It was Miami’s largest margin-of-victory since its season opener against the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2021-22 season where it won by 42 points (137-95).4

Miami’s defense–spearheaded by Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo (who else?)–set the tone early, forcing 17 Cavalier turnovers (13 live ball) that rewarded it 35 additional points (24 fast break). It also finished a plus-14 on the glass with 24 assists on 30 made baskets–both are paramount for success shorthanded.

Butler, Adebayo, Nikola Jovic and Terry Rozier did not play in the final frame for the Heat. Haywood Highsmith led the team with 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting and 4-of-4 from 3-point range. Butler and Adebayo both had 15 points apiece; Butler shot just 3-of-6 from the floor and got to the charity stripe, knocking down eight of his nine attempts. Adebayo added 16 rebounds, four assists and a team-most five steals on 7-of-11 shooting.

Terry Rozier had 6-of-14 shooting–with all six of his makes coming from inside the arc–plus three boards and five dimes. Thomas Bryant had 14 points in 20 minutes (most coming in the fourth quarter) while Patty Mills finished with 10 points on 2-of-5 shooting from deep.

The Cavaliers, despite getting Evan Mobley back from injury after missing nine straight, had one of their most uninspiring efforts of the season from wire-to-wire. He was their only double-figure scorer with 15 points in 21 minutes on 4-of-6 shooting.

Miami’s win puts them one game back of the Indiana Pacers for the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference at the time of this publishing. There are just 11 games left in the season and it owns the second-easiest schedule, per Tankathon.

Miami needs to set the print on the defensive end without Tyler Herro, Duncan Robinson and Kevin Love to generate as much easy offense as possible. They also need Butler and Adebayo to remain aggressive down the stretch.

There currently isn’t a timetable for their returns, though the formula for victory has always been there; if it can avoid any slip-ups the rest of the way, there’s a world where it secures that sixth-and-final non-play-in spot.

***

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ZechMerquise

man, pacers is just too good. i dont think we can catch them up

heat for life

google pixel 8 commercial on and there he is commercial man has struck again.as im typing this jimmy comes on for starry drink commercial .travis kelce move over jim #1 sports commercial guy now on tv.i wouldnt be surprised if he hangs it up after this year

ManilaHeat

Lezzgo Jimmy! 😂

ManilaHeat

They say lightning wont strike twice at the same place. But for now it looks as if we’re repeating the same path of last season. 7th then fumbling in first game of play-in then grinding for that 8th spot. Who’s up for a repeat if ever? 3% all over again? 😳

Bout30man

One thing that has become clear over the last few games is Bryant has acclimated to his role and has been playing solidly as a backup. ORob, may have a higher ceiling, but I think he will have to wait till next year and keep improving and his time may come. When Love returns, minutes will be harder to come by. There may be games where match ups determine the roles that Love and Bryant play.

Reality Czech

While I know it won’t happen, I’d like to see Bam paired with Jovic (as it is now), and Bryant paired with Love.

ManilaHeat

And RC paired with HFL 😁

Reality Czech

Thanks for traumatizing me 😬

heat for life

the only thing we have in common manila is we want the heat to win.he doesnt like my criticisms or changing stances on various players.jjj was great first half of year stinks now.duncs the worse defensive player in league,tys not to far behind.to bad rc those are facts,put it in your heat pipe and smoke it rc.

ManilaHeat

Coz its funny…what you are implying is for the Heat to have a perfect team! Wanting for players to play both ends and play it perfectly. That’s what you sound like every time you do your “criticisms or changing stances”. And no such team is perfect lol. Even Celts just now lost to birdies after leading by 30! Well every fan base has such fans, a couple or half a dozen of ’em. Too bad no team can also have the perfect fans lol

Reality Czech

Lol! No, they’re not facts and not close. I don’t dislike your criticisms, I just disagree with them based on facts. And I don’t disagree with you on everything. And I don’t change my opinion every 5 minutes.
Jovic is great, the Jovic experiment should be over, Jovic is really good.
Jaquez may be our best (or second best) player, Jaquez is a bum.
And on and on.

heat for life

with the youngens jovic and jjj its an ever changing evaluation.jjj has hit the rookie wall i guess.jovic mixed bag of good and bad.not sure in 5 years what each one will be either does anybody including spobot yes manila i want every player great.loldont u.bostons starting 5 are all good to great players

SunManFromDogBone

DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzFaAkCu-4g

heat for life

heat better off w/o ty and dunc,maybe 1 cant have both.basketball suicide,

Reality Czech

From the guy who just a day or so ago was saying how we need to get Herro back.

ManilaHeat

Ei hfl, you need to make up your mind 😂

heat for life

only one can be on court rc.basketball suicide when both on ct.

Reality Czech

That’s a different statement and not unreasonable

SunManFromDogBone

Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
I’m schizophrenic
And so am I
–hfl

Reality Czech

LOL!

heat for life

i didnt write that.its suppose to rhyme anyway.roses are red violets are blue im schizophreniic and so are you.-watching jjj and jovic play will give u that condition.

Reality Czech

It’s not supposed to rhyme

Bout30man

Vincent was the biggest loss, but then the Lakers lost him to injury. Without Vincent, Lowry became the only true point guard for awhile, and perhaps his flaws became more apparent. Still, I am glad we ended up with Rozier over even a healthy Vincent.
And, I told you all so on Yurt, that he was not going to be missed. I think similarly about Jovic, as players like them have a chance for something to click and they improve, a la Duncan, but it doesn’t happen often.

SunManFromDogBone

I see Jovic and Orlando on the same track. They have potential but they aren’t ready this year. Their learning curves could have benefitted by playing more games in G League these past two years than sitting on the bench in Miami. They need all the playing time they can get, Unfortunately, it comes with a cost when those minutes are with the big club in the middle of a playoff race. Maybe the injuries have been a blessing because it has provided an avenue for playing time for some of the bench players that would not otherwise have gotten a chance to play. It is what it is.

Reality Czech

I’ll go on record as saying we should keep Jovic because he’ll continue to improve and that he’ll be a decent rotation player here or elsewhere.
Yurt, like Whiteside is a different story. Some believed Spo wasn’t using them right. That turned out to not be true.

ManilaHeat

Yep. I’m with keeping Jovic. Still very very young and might just be scratching the surface of that kids talent. Im giving him two more years to develop.

heat for life

yurtseven no.hes on a spalding diet.perfect center for butterfingers adebayo.yurt swallows basketballs

Reality Czech

Yeah, he’s really been tearing up the league since he left. He’s a decent backup.

heat for life

give him 25-30 mins a game 10pts 14rebounds

Reality Czech

So far, 2 teams haven’t done that, so I guess they’re seeing something we’re not. He’s still young. I agree he could probably do that.

heat for life

who knows what brady would have been if bledsoe doesnt get hurt.spo played him so sporadically(nice play on words)how the f can u get anything going.hes bigger younger and def better than journeyman bryant.

Reality Czech

But my point is, if that is true, why isn’t Utah giving him more minutes? They’re starting Collins, with Kessler as backup. He’s getting slightly less minutes than Micah Potter who played a couple of seasons for the Skyforce. Why? The Jazz staff currently view him as third or fourth option at center. They see him every day.

SunManFromDogBone

Miami is targeting the return of Herro, Love, Robinson and Jaquez before the playoffs. The only one who is definitely out for the rest of the season is Richardson.

It sure would be nice to see the team with a full/healthy rotation. If they are healthy and playing in sync, they could do some serious damage. If not healthy, things could get very ugly…very fast.

https://allucanheat.com/posts/miami-heat-tyler-herro-duncan-robinson-kevin-love-injury-update?utm_campaign=FanSided+Daily&utm_source=FanSided+Daily&utm_medium=email&sc=e0273490fd355e2c28bdb25751d41af65a4dd80936ff00a80be9866c97887955

heat for life

love might be back tomorrow btw

Alien

After this victory, see how fast it took for a post-game post to appear on HHH. Compared to the uninspiring loss to the Pelicans two nights ago. As at now, no post-game post on that loss has appeared on HHH as at I type my comments, except for fans commentaries. So true is the saying,” Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan”. …John F. Kennedy 52.

Hope this win trends up and get the Heat out of the quicksand. Challenging and sad that the Heat have allowed other factors to determine their play in tournament fate, I mean how well the Pacers and Sixers perform in the next series of games. It is not an overstatement to say that the Heat control what they can control, focus and win the next remaining games and not bother about the outcome of Sixers and Pacers future games.

Go Heat, Go!

Alien

Retraction;
I had written that there was no post game post on HHH regarding the Heat’s loss two nights ago.
Actually there is an official post game post on HHH by March 23, 2024 Dan Riccio titled “Heat fumble against the New Orleans Pelicans at home, lose 111-88” 
My apologies.

vagibugi

That was not defeat, that was a catastrophe. You can discuss defeat, but catastrophe leaves you speechless. So that’s it.

Alien

mmmm.

ManilaHeat

I missed Terry’s slam! Just watched the replay and boy did he went up 😳

heat for life

go up

vagibugi

From the worse game of the year to best game of the year.
The potential is obviously there.
For finish the season in play or getting into finals or everything in between.

I really dont know what to expect from this team.

Alien

Victory is sweetest when you’ve known defeat.” – Malcolm Forbes. 

vagibugi

True, but I would prefer more wins. Sweetness is overrated.

oregoner

I feel the same way watching this team beat the Cavs that I did watching them lose to the Pellies as I did watching them squeak past the Pistons. The result doesn’t matter, the product is the same.

This team is a MASH unit. If Herro, Love, JJJ, and Duncan were out there with Bam, Jimmy, Caleb, Roizer, and HH, this is a legit playoff team. Without those injured guys out there, plus no J-Rich or Dru Smith, this is half a team.

Great win tonight, Still in the playoff race. But there is one big elephant in the room. The Heat need to get healthy if they are going to win in the playoffs. We’re about three weeks away. I still believe in a healthy Heat team. But if these guys are trotting out Patty Mills and Thomas Bryant, we’re in trouble.

Last edited 8 months ago by oregoner
Alien

I think Patty Mills and Thomas Bryant are filling up minutes so Herro, Duncan and Love, heal and recuperate for the play in or play off which ever dice the Heat has to deal with it.,

Bout30man

It seems like the JRich injury hurt us a little more than we perhaps expected. As Mills and Wright get acclimated the team may start to overcome that. Last night was very encouraging because of the effective play of several players. And the defense was at times stellar.

SunManFromDogBone

I give the team a lot of credit for picking themselves up off the floor after that terrible game against New Orleans. When all else fails, Miami must return to it’s strength… hard work and a smothering defense. It opens up their whole offensive game and tires and demoralizes the opponents. If you can’t outgun a team, outhustle them. Playing world class Heat defense is the only way Miami can compete at the highest level. PERIOD!!!

Special shoutouts to Bam with 16 rebounds and 5 steals, Highsmith with 18 points and Bryant with 14 points and 5 rebounds. Also to Spo for using the full court press more. It worked.

Key Miami defensive statistics: Rebounds +14, Steals +10 and Turnovers -8. Only one Cav player scored in double figures: Mobley (15).

Key Miami offensive statistics: FT% +12, FG% +10.1 and 3PT% +8.5.

Next up: Golden State on Tuesday.

GO HEAT!!!

P.S. After Miami and Philly wins and Indiana loss, 1/2 game now separates them. Gonna be a dogfight for sixth place between those three teams. Also gonna be a dogfight for third place between Cavs, Knicks and Magic (one game apart). If Miami can finish in sixth place they would face one of those teams in the first round. If the team is healthy, all three teams are very beatable.

Bout30man

Great comment about the defense. It’s always so underrated, but it can be one of the Heat’s strengths that help it rise above expectations.

SunManFromDogBone

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When life gives you a very good defense, use it or lose it.

ZechMerquise

to be honest, i already got trauma from previous losses, that this win makes me think : did the cavs really lost, or they let us win? maybe they are already thinking ahead. Maybe they let us win, cos they want us to get the 6th seed instead of the sixers. I dont know, maybe i got trust issues already lol

ManilaHeat

I dnt think Cavs would prefer Heat more than sixers in first rd. Maybe they’re looking for that 4th seed vs pacers or magic but really too early to tell.

oregoner

As a Heat fan, I would prefer the Cavs to the Knicks or Bucks

ManilaHeat

I’m not worried bout Bucks. Celts and NY imo are the real deal. In terms of good competition and exciting viewing those two has the potential of going the distance but might not be good with our vet’s legs in case Heat over perform again. However which way…Go Heat!!!

Alien

As the Heat is presently composed this season, I prefer none.

SunManFromDogBone

Cavs “let” the Heat win last night the same way that Heat “let” the Pelicans win last Friday. In life, sometimes you are the target and sometimes you are the arrow. Cleveland is focused on the hunt for homecourt advantage by finishing in the 3rd or 4th spot.

It is too early for Cleveland to worry about which team they might face in the first round. But since you brought it up, since Embiid is expected back by the playoffs, I would think Cleveland would prefer to face Miami rather than a healthy 76ers team.

heat for life

lal72ind 68 go lal

heat for life

boring game lol.gimme a 121 120 heat win tuesday please

ManilaHeat

Nah it’s gonna be 110 104 Heat 😁😆

Reality Czech

Then stop posting during blowouts if you’re so bored and change the channel. I’d be very happy if they did it 11 more times in the next 11 games.

oregoner

lol. you’d complaining if it was raining gold bars from the sky

ManilaHeat

haha! 😂😂

Alien

Seeing it from your point of view, it can easily be seen as boring if you considered it a lopsided win in isolation. But considering what happened 3 nights ago. many will disagree with you just after an equally lopsided but boring distasrous loss by the Heat. Context matters.

Last edited 8 months ago by Alien
ManilaHeat

Fun game. Coz we won. And we won big. Comparing this W vs last loss it’s like heckle and jeckle and last time I made that description was the first rd when they shot the lights out in that Milw series after struggling in play-in. Eleven games left. 11. Unless Chicago makes a run it’s between Heat Sixers Pacers to fight for that 6th spot. Or a miracle comes along and we even end up 5th. Hope still alive. Go Heat!

heat for life

dr jeckly mr hyde manila.

ManilaHeat

Haha! Yep ur right. Who’s heckle and jeckle? 😜

heat for life

nobody i think the words just rhyme

heat for life

heckle and jeckle were cartoons manila googled it

Reality Czech

A couple of crows

heat for life

no thoughts on a boring blowout rc

SunManFromDogBone

Not crows…yellow-billed magpies.

SunManFromDogBone

Who is this Jeckly you speak of? It’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

heat for life

great game put a couple moreup and i might think we have a chance to do something.please jimmy be aggessive from the tap

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