After an embarrassing effort during Saturday’s Game 3 loss at home, the Miami Heat will attempt to avoid a series sweep tonight against the East’s top seed Cleveland Cavaliers. Miami showed some fight in the first half of this series back in Cleveland, especially in Game 2, just to come out and put up a goose egg in front of their home crowd.
The Heat have not won a home playoff game since Game 3 of the 2023 Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Celtics. Since then, they have lost seven in a row.
Additionally, they could be in jeopardy of surrendering just their third postseason series sweep in franchise history.
During the Game 3 loss, the Cavs got strong efforts from several pieces of their rotation. Jarrett Allen and Max Strus seemingly provided the biggest impact in what was an efficient team-wide offensive masterclass. Cleveland shot 53% from the field compared to Miami’s 42%.
Bam Adebayo did all he could to help the Heat’s chances, as the All-Star big man added 20 points and 9 rebounds on nearly 50% shooting. However, offensive struggles from each of Tyler Herro and Andrew Wiggins made it far too difficult to make up for their lack of scoring production.
Rookie center Kel’el Ware has gotten his “welcome to the league” moments all series long, as well. Allen punished Ware in the interior, as the Heat big man has also been virtually nonexistent offensively throughout the series.
It will take an inspiring performance from Miami to hold off the Cavs and avoid the sweep. Can they get it done, or is this forgettable 2024-25 season coming to an end tonight?
Injury Report (at the time of this publishing):
Miami Heat:
- Kevin Love (personal reasons) — OUT
- Terry Rozier (ankle) — OUT
- Kyle Anderson (illness) — QUESTIONABLE
Cleveland Cavaliers:
- Darius Garland (toe) — QUESTIONABLE
Projected Starting 5 (subject to change):
Miami Heat:
- Tyler Herro, G
- Davion Mitchell, 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: TNT, Max, TruTV & 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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Heat in 7 😁😝
i feel like im going to a heat funeral tonight
“The road to success is paved with determination, not with the footsteps of quitters.”
like rc says get the season over lets look to improve this mediocre team
pat has to step down.to many bad moves your fired gtfoh spo goes to gm or back to philipines.hire malone asap
Spoelstra was born in Evanston, Ill. He’s an American citizen. Does that mean you want to send African-American citizens you don’t like who were born in the U.S.A. back to Africa or Mexican-Americans born in America back to Mexico?
This is a family blog site open to all regardless of race, sex, religion, ethnicity, national origin or sexual preference. If you want to spew that stuff there are plenty of web sites that will be more than happy to listen to your thoughts on ethnic sensitivity and cultural diversity. This ain’t one of them.
i have so many spo scratches on my body the latest one no slo mo burks.who were very good when we played our best ball and some certain guy was out hmmm.erics use of personnel gets an f.i like reddick playing his best 5 the whole second half it took michael jordan jr to take them down .sort of like mike taking down mailman and stockton.theres a new face of the nba
Kevin Love announces death of his father, ex-NBA player Stan Love
Kevin Love, who has been away from the Heat for personal reasons, announced Sunday on Instagram that his father, former NBA player Stan Love, has died, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
The elder Love, who was 76, was selected by the Baltimore Bullets with the ninth pick in the 1971 draft. He was traded to the Lakers in 1973 and played one year with San Antonio in the ABA before his career ended in 1975. He finished with career averages of 6.6 points and 3.9 rebounds in 239 games. Stan Love is also famous for being the younger brother of Beach Boys singer Mike Love.
Kevin Love’s an outstanding human being, and what he wrote about his dad was very wise.
I noticed he wasn’t with the team due to personal reasons. It was obvious it must have been something very serious. Now we know. Beautiful words from K Love about his father. This is the painful part, but it is a part of life nonetheless. My condolences to K Love and his family.
Yes. Real life is much more important than a game. Love is a very special person. He has had to overcome his own demons in life. From everything I’ve seen, he is a very positive influence around the locker room, especially the younger guys. I hope he stays on as a coach after his contract expires (or he is bought out). He and Dragic would both be good influences on the team as coaches.
Absolutely! It would be great to have both of them around. K Love is a great competitor and a role model and so is Dragic.
I read his whole message. It was sincere and heartfelt. I may share with my own son because it speaks to many father son (and daughters) relationships.
Had and have no business in the playoffs in the first place, but for morale reasons or bad taste reason they didn’t lose one game because it’s a bad look to lose for better players I guess lmao. This is Mia future a perennial playin team (at least until they get rid of it) picking in the teens when you had a golden opportunity this year to get a higher pick in a talented draft class. In a few years when teams like the wizards (whom y’all can bash now but has best Mia this year and last year w/ quitter) will be better than Mia while they continue to push some bs about culture the bottom of the east and top has passed them by Indy/orlando last year Detroit this y
unfort u might be right.in a year or two could be the worse team
…or better than a play-in team, if they play their cards right.
That’s why I always ask for an honest assessment of all our players. Holding onto marginal players and hoping they emerge just stops creating an upgrade to the roster.
Time for an enema.
Why don’t you leave the team’s eulogy until after tonight’s game (or later). They’re not quite dead or in the ground just yet.
Rather than being so negative, maybe you should be positive about the fact Riley will now have to deal with the fallout of his decisions. He is soley responsible for the current state of the team. He must be part of the solution, including the need to consider retirement. All Spo has been doing all year long is rearranging the deck chairs on the rickety Titanic that Riley has assembled.
With or without Butler, this team wasn’t going anywhere this year and we all know it. It’s very clear to everyone (including Riley) that “running it back” was not the answer these past two seasons. That won’t cut it in today’s ever evolving and ever more youthful NBA.
Now is the time for patience and optimism not doom and gloom. Accept the fact that there is no “quick fix” to Miami’s problems. However, with a couple of draft picks, (one this year and at least one next), a couple of breakthrough player developments (e.g., Ware and Johnson), a couple of trades for youth with potential plus draft picks (for Wiggins and ?) and substantial cost savings from several expiring contracts (Rozier, Robinson, Anderson, Highsmith and Love), this team will be in much better shape next summer to assemble a younger, more athletic, winning team than the current one. Let’s see where the Heat is at in 2026-2027 before giving up entirely on the future.
Hang loose and keep your powder dry. Remember, it’s just a game and there are many more important things in life to consider (like America’s current state of affairs).
GO HEAT!!!
i thought i was negative wow hot hoops dam i have nothing on u.i have no patience im an old fart never know when its time to go.need to meet rc and 30 in july on bisc blvd before im 6ft under
Hang in there, next year on Biscayne Blvd. Or maybe 27!
If you haven’t learned patience by now, I hate to break it to you…you never will. “I want patience and I want it now” doesn’t work.
Beautiful writing Sun.
Thanks 30. I try. It’s easy to find problems, but nothing will improve if you all we do is sit around bitching instead of focusing our energies on coming up with solutions. Problems don’t fix themselves.
I can understand your frustration, but I do not agree with you. I don’t think it matters that much whether we have a draft pick this year or next year. We haven’t lost it. We will have a pick next year (which we wouldn’t have if we had it this year). It’s not like it’s the end of the world. Nobody can say we would have drafted a better player this year than the next. Was there a big chance we would make a deep playoff run this season? No. But I am glad and proud that our players gave it their all and fought in the play-in and won. This is the competitive spirit. This is why it is fun to root for this team.
I don’t care if we get swept tonight, Cavs are a really good team and if that has to be the case I sure hope it will be after a good fight.
It would be nice to have another first round draft pick this year, but I wouldn’t want our team to intentionally miss the playoffs just to get that draft pick this year.
Is there time to leave this valley of tears, and move to next one, or wait three more days?
Do it tonight,start rookies, hit rock bottom with loosing for 50, and move up from there.
If you ask me, I say go out there and win tonight. It’s still a playoff series until it’s over.
The Heat are obviously not going to beat Cleveland 4 straight. Will winning 1 game make me feel better about this series? Absolutely not. As far as I’m concerned, let’s get on with the necessary business – starting to plan what moves are available in the offseason. We’ve actually seen seasons with worse records, but, to me, this has been the most tumultuous season in Heat history, even worse than LeBron dumping us at the last minute, leaving us with Napier.
Thank you Jimmy
(I don’t need the money. I have all I need, but if I don’t get it I’m going to quit on my teammates and pout like a bitch until you trade me to a team of my choosing)
Butler.
Exactly
Well said. He was a great player, Jimmy, but lost my respect there.
Keep hope until the clock hits zero. But, gonna take a miracle, and I don’t believe in them.
al michaels did
That was an exception to the rule.
yankees comeback vs sox started with the dave roberts steal
It’s not about expecting miracles. It’s about not quitting on the team. Otherwise, we are no better than the “Not So Quiet” Quitter.