The Miami Heat battled in Game 2 against the Cleveland Cavaliers. A 19-point Cavs lead evaporated into a 2-point game late in the fourth quarter, but Miami’s run wasn’t enough to hold off the East’s top seed.
Donovan Mitchell hit a barrage of difficult clutch buckets down the stretch. After a pedestrian 10 points at halftime for the superstar, he closed the second half with 20 points. As true stars usually do, Mitchell stepped up when his team needed him the most.
The game started to get out of reach in the second period, where Cleveland had the 43-27 advantage.
However, the Heat never let their foot off the gas. They would go on to give the Cavaliers a run for their money in the fourth quarter, headlined by Tyler Herro’s game-high 33 points, six rebounds and five assists on 14 of 24 shooting overall.
Miami also got some nice boosts from each of Davion Mitchell, Haywood Highsmith and Nikola Jovic.
Davion Mitchell, who was promoted to the team’s starting point guard in favor of Alec Burks, dropped a crucial 18 points on 78% from the field in his first career postseason start. Niko Jovic also saw his first bit of game action in months since suffering a fractured hand earlier this season— and he made some huge hustle plays off the bench.
It was clear that Jovic had to shake off some shooting rust, as the versatile forward struggled with just 1 of 8 shooting from 3-point range. He missed a pair of open corner triples in the final minutes of the game that could’ve put the Heat in better position to secure the upset.
Haywood Highsmith on the other hand, was scorching from beyond the arc. He put together 17 points on 5 of 6 from 3-pointers, all coming in important fashion throughout the game. Highsmith has struggled to keep up with the Cavalier’s wing players defensively, but he has shot the ball well as of late.
All three of Bam Adebayo, Andrew Wiggins and Kel’el Ware were virtually no-shows offensively to round out Miami’s starting unit.
Adebayo still submitted a well rounded double-double game with 11 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists. But the struggles from Wiggins were concerning, to say the least.
The newly acquired forward put up a dud of just 10 points on 30% shooting.
Despite the Heat loss, they still shot the ball very well as a team overall. They went 52% from the field, and 36% from deep. Cleveland shot just 48%, but the disparity came with their 3-point shooting— where the Cavaliers shot it at a clip of nearly 50%. Miami has had no answers defensively in containing the shooting prowess of the Cavs.
Additionally, the Heat had the edge in the assists and rebounding categories, but suffered five more turnovers than Cleveland. They played well enough to steal this win, but ultimately failing to secure pivotal defensive stops let this one slip away.
With the series shifting to Miami Saturday, coach Erik Spoelstra in his squad will look to avoid falling into the impossible to recover 0-3 hole.
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I m proud on this team. They fought hard till the end.
Great game from Herro, Mitchell and HH.
I disagree with critics playing Jovic. I believe he brought a lot on the table, playmaking, rebounding, he played defense well. Its easy to be seen, that the team played better when he was on the floor. He is rusty, therefore those missed 3p and costly TO.
If anything, we would need Dunc on his place at the end, to hit those 3p. Wiggins wasnt effective, so it was a good decision that he was on bench.
Great comment.
This loss did leave us with some hope for the next game. The comeback did show we aren’t too far behind an excellent opponent. The use of Nico could be the place we get a little bit more help that we need to have a chance.
Great game from Ty.
I agree. I thought Niko impacted the game even with missing the 3’s, which was to be expected. We needed to play him in that game so he can try to get back into a groove at home. I liked Pelle getting in there for 10 minutes. That was also good to see. Hope to see JJJ at home, to be honest.
Bam and Wiggins needed to do more, though. I expect them to at home.
hold on their 30 the over use of nico is why we lost.the non use of slo mo is baffling just a smart solid vet that does everything.if u switch out nico for slo mo thats a w.ty was gr8 whole game gained alot of respect for him after that nightmarish first game.dav was gr8 4th qtr not much before that,hh shot it gr8 always brings lockdown d.wiggy struggled but should be a closer dum spo not to play him in 4th.bam was ok not max player.wares lost hardly playable thomas bryants a better player right now.pelle dunc should not be playing at all.go with the guys that won 6 in a row dumbot.pelle not ready for prime time yet.like his future gotta shoot it better hopefully.dunc d should never step on ct at least max can guard a little bit.the new guys make us better the way quitter was loafing but were going home soon.its a pat failure hes resposible for this mediocrity
The use of Niko is not why we lost, but not shocked you would come to that conclusion. I loved him out there battling after sitting two months. Bam and Wiggins went 6-19. That was the game.
Slo-Mo is fine, but I prefer using Niko as he is absolutely one of their best 5 and he will be with the team. Slo-Mo, along with Duncan and/or Wiggins, could be in a trade package. Could be. That being said, I’m not against a few mins for Slo Mo, but lord have mercy in now way was not playing him the reason we lost. That is just bonkers talk.
slo mos a better player than niko right now he doesnt make dum decisions like niko always does.niko not ready yet for prime time,at the end he was the reason we lost .turnovers everything was short on his shots he was awful.wiggins should always be in there at the end.bam is so disappointing theres more there just dont get it.glad u loved him out there u must be a cavs fan i guess
Niko will be on the team next year and possibly the year after that. If not, that means he was in a trade and we would want his value to be high. Plus, they said this was for the young guys to get experience. That checks that box.
And I remind you, the team went on a 10 game losing streak right after he was hurt. Not all losses because of him, but he was absolutely their 6th man, was playing as good as good as ever on the Heat since being drafted, and that was a blow to the team. His presence was felt last night positively as he was in the lineup that made the comeback.
Any who, please continue to find the smallest thing and blaming everything on that.
PS: I wanted two draft picks.
exactly.
Niko was better then expected. If he could it 2 more 3p, he would have an excellent game. He was better then Bam and Wiggins.
100%
I am excited for how he will play at home with the crowd, but that 1PM start in Miami on a Saturday is not my favorite for a rowdy crowd.
NIKO 4FOR 12 33%
BAM took 9 fn shots f him.