It was a tale of two halves for the Miami Heat.
The shorthanded Cleveland Cavaliers, missing three of their All-Stars, powered past the Heat 130-116, shaking off a 14-point third quarter deficit.
It’s easy to forget that Miami was also without Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo, missing his fourth-straight game. But if there was any point where their presence was missed, it was over the game’s final 16 minutes.
Cleveland outscored the Heat 52-24 in the final 15:59, including 37-19 in the fourth quarter. Miami shot just 31.0 percent and 3-of-10 from deep over that span, turning the rock over eight times — an issue that persisted throughout the evening. The Cavaliers slowed the pace and packed the paint, and Miami couldn’t find an answer.
The Heat were led by Norman Powell, who scored a team-high 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting and 5-of-10 from 3-point range. It was another efficient night from him despite his cold second half (he wasn’t alone). adding two rebounds and five assists.
Andrew Wiggins tallied 17 points with seven rebounds, six assists and two blocks on 7-of-12 shooting; Davion Mitchell had 16 points while Kel’el Ware added 15 points and 13 rebounds.
The final 16 minutes were the Heat’s worst stretch of basketball this season. They will look to rebound against the New York Knicks, who they face in back-to-back games on Friday and Monday, Nov. 17.
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This article in Sports Illustrated (see link below) helps to explain why the Heat lost last night and how much Bam and lack of positional size mean to the defense. When does Jarrett Allen ever score 30 points? It also addresses other issues such as turnovers, steals, free throws and rebounding (both offensive and defensive).
Note: Bam and Herro are both expected to be out again tomorrow in New York.
https://www.si.com/nba/heat/onsi/news/what-led-to-the-miami-heat-blowing-the-game-against-the-depleted-cavaliers-01k9xnh01pq9
allen scorres 30 when mobley mitchell garland are out and hes guarded my a soft 7footer.man wares gotta grow a pair
Needs 2 pair so he can loan pair to Jovic.
jovic thinks hes the serbian magic johnson .ware reminds me of ralph sampson sun
If they can get their s**t together before the playoffs, it will be ok. If not who knows?
Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra publicly challenges Nikola Jovic for his inconsistent start and questioned his “laissez faire” attitude
https://sports.yahoo.com/article/heat-spoelstra-urges-more-laissez-162600571.html
hes been inconsistent since he crossed the ocean.
hhh poster hfl challenges spobot to use a 7 foot hammer against good bigs aka joker allen.wtf u have the guy here for your 7 ft toothpick not physical enough
Nothing like a classic trap game to bring us back down to earth… so just charge it to to game. I still really like the development of the young guys on team so far , so can’t get mad or sad about the loss with bam and Herro out. I hope we get a decent to good backup up big eventually 🙏 and now on to the next 💯
One game, win or loss, should never serve as an indictment on the season. However, it’s still valid to be disappointed that they let a winnable game like this slip away. Letting too many winnable games slip away last year (despite the Jimmy drama) is what knocked us all the way down to the 10th seed last year, when we should have been comfortably in 7th.
That being said, as long as our younger players are still developing over the course of the season, that’s where the importance lies. I’m always more interested in how Jaime, Jovic, and Ware (and Pelle to a lesser extent) have played each game then I am on whether we’ve won or lost. The wins still matter in the long run though. Even with the Boston and especially Indiana being down hard due to their stars’ injuries, the East overall has improved (Detroit, Philly, Atlanta, Toronto, and Chicago all look like much better teams than last year).
This is pretty much exactly how I feel. I was preaching 2 years ago how every game (and win) matter in the long run. As I’ve noted, this is probably the youngest team we have had, possibly ever.11 out of 13 under 30. A move is likely to be made before this season is over. The only one not contributing at this stage is Keshad (I know I’m crazy, but I am not giving up on him, yet). Of course, no team goes 12 deep and most normally go 9, sometimes 10 deep. That means there are at least 2-3 marketable players on the roster. If we can strengthen the team in an area of need through a trade, it could be a win-win. But please make sure any newcomer is A) ambulatory (no Ja, Trae, Zion) and B) not a player who is approaching Social Security age.
Dallas will trade a lot of players.
AD is out of the question.
Gafford as a backup center?
I have seen that and it would definitely help
Excellent observations Trix. The conference and the league are changing. Overall, teams are getting younger and better. That’s why draft picks are more important than ever. It’s hard to keep up with OKC and others which are young and talented with depth plus a ton of draft picks. They keep replenishing their team with young talented inexpensive new players.
The game is evolving too. Teams that don’t keep up with those changes will be left behind.
Nonetheless, it’s a process. Miami is going through changes now and isn’t yet a finished product. So let’s not dwell on where we are but where we’re going. Meanwhile, we should enjoy the ride and stop along the way to smell the roses.
GO HEAT!!!
its one game sht happens lets get 2 from brunsonless knicks
One loss doesn’t mean anything. Cleveland has a good team, even without Mitchell, Mobley and Garland. We will be better with Bam and Herro. It is still too early to make any conclusions
The consensus amongst us is to have patience, don’t get too upset about the losses, and that we are somewhat improved. And we need another center. After twelve that’s pretty much it. Until Ty and Bam return, we really can’t tell anymore than that and have to accept the non clarity. It is great to have nba basketball, so I’m going to enjoy the ride, see where it takes us.
If we go into this season with the intent of enjoying the journey, we don’t need to focus on results every single game. Miami is playing without a 20/10 guy and 24ppg player. The good thing is that the younger guys are gaining experience that will come in handy later.
Bam and Herro should both be good to go soon. We will get a better idea how good this team can be then. Meanwhile, enjoy the journey and don’t worry about the destination.
That’s why im apprehensive, unsure bout that 20 game assessment. Heat missing Tyler all those games and Bam for a big portion. Even if Heat gets to 13-7 for example (which i think we’re happy if that happens), without the two allstars its still tough to gauge this team between pretender or contender. But definitely not (yet) legit contender.
Rollercoaster Mavs…fans mad trade happened. Upon drafting Coop “I guess it was ok”. Now losses piling up everyone’s in total uproar fo eventually firing Harrison. That’s why I love our franchise hihihihihi
We need a center in the mold of Jalen Duren. We also need to get Lauri Markanen ASAP. If Bam gets injured again during the playoffs, players like Markanen can help. We also need to get a player in the mold of DeÁndre Hunter. We were dominated by Hunter and Allen in this game. Our turnovers were horrible to watch. Our defense was so terrible. Jovic can flip from being a good player to a bad player.
We can speculate we defend them “better” knowing DMitch is their main man but since he’s out, other Cavs stepped up. Just like Heat while Bam and Tyler’s out. Or we can just put this in the trap game category. Easy. Simple. Let’s win both games vs NY.
It was about time for a stinker.
Classic trap game.
I am a believer that you can’t get too irrationally excited when we win, or too upset and discouraged when we lose. While they stunk up the place tonight, I remain happy with the improvement of personnel on this team compared to last season.
Brunson wasn’t available to speak to the media after the game, but was seen by multiple reporters leaving Madison Square Garden in a walking boot and using crutches.
It’s the same ankle Brunson sprained last season that forced him to miss 15 games.
We need a center