Despite the Cleveland Cavaliers blowout victory over the Miami Heat in Game 1, coach Erik Spoelstra and his squad still have an opportunity to steal control of this series. With Game 2 slated for this Wednesday evening, the Heat can not only take momentum back to South Florida— but also have home-court advantage as an eight seed.
But it won’t come easy.
This Cavs squad was the top seed in the Eastern Conference all season, and this is a much different tier of opponent than the likes of the play-in Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks teams.
Miami and Spoelstra may have to make some adjustments in order to pull of this Game 2 win. Luckily for Heat Nation, Spoelstra is one of the greatest of all-time in making those postseason adjustments.
A potential Davion Mitchell insertion to the starting lineup, with the newly healthy Nikola Jovic is a primary ball handler off the bench, could be the shift this team needs right now.
In Sunday’s loss, the Heat got almost nothing out of the second unit trio of Duncan Robinson, Haywood Highsmith and Kyle Anderson. Giving some Jovic minutes can be a huge spark, and Miami has nothing to lose in experimenting with different rotations even at this postseason stage.
Although it’s not necessarily a must-win game, it is in hindsight. Going down 0-2 to the second best team in the association this season would create a monumental task to get over.
If the Heat have any chance at making this a series, this Game 2 matchup will be crucial.
For Miami to pull it off, Cleveland’s Sixth Man of the Year candidate Ty Jerome will need to be contained— who scorched the Heat defense with a 30+ point outing off the bench in the previous game.
It’s worth noting that Spoelstra has a 10-3 record all-time in Game 2’s after falling behind 0-1 in the series.
Injury Report (at the time of this publishing):
Miami Heat:
- Kevin Love (personal reasons) — OUT
Cleveland Cavaliers:
- NONE.
Projected Starting 5 (subject to change):
Miami Heat:
- Tyler Herro, G
- Alec Burks, G
- Andrew Wiggins, F
- Bam Adebayo, F/C
- Kel’el Ware, C
Cleveland Cavaliers:
- Darius Garland, G
- Donovan Mitchell , G
- Max Strus, F
- Evan Mobley, F
- Jarrett Allen, C
Broadcast Info:
- Tipoff: 7:30 PM EST
- TV: NBA TV & FanDuel Sports Network Sun (Eric Reid & John Crotty)
- Radio: AM 560 Sports WQAM & The HEAT Radio Network (Jason Jackson)
- Spanish Radio: WAQI 710 AM & The HEAT Spanish Radio Network (José Pañeda)
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in these playin off games dav has been our best player y the f wouldnt u start him.hes the only dawg on the team
Five reasons sports: (copied from above)
Things that must be fixed for the Heat to be somewhat competitive:
1. More from Wiggins
2. Ware picks up intensity
3. Protect Herro on defense
4. Play Jovic; start Davion
I completely agree with this.
how bout playing the best players 38 mins ty bam ware wiggy dav after that a drop off
With starting Davion spacing will be gone, and we are doomed. Burks or Dunc must start.
Burks has been ineffective and Duncan adds a major defensive liability when they are already targeting Herro, and he’s better than Duncan. We would get slaughtered if you start that backcourt. The main problem in game 1 was Cleveland jumping out to a big lead. Mitchell will help that and he’s been shooting the 3 well enough to keep them honest.
Agree.
In the last few games Davion has been good enough to keep them honest out there, but do think we need his D to start the game on Donovan. It will help keep Tyler a little bit more fresh. Burks started last game and went 2-3 and we got killed. Doesn’t hurt to try it before coming home and fully regrouping.
you lose all cred bud
I would add:
I want to see better effort and be in the game late in the 4th quarter. That is all I ask. 🙂
wares effort was pitiful.tys d was pitiful.those two things change we have a shot
Ware was like a deer caught in oncoming headlights. He was intimidated by the moment and the competition. I expect him to come out with a whole different attitude today. He may foul out, but I think he is going to be much more aggressive. Same with Bam.
ware can be such a diff maker weve seen glimpses of that ,he needs to bring it ware was he when ty was getting torched.play dam zone with bam ware under basket.