Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler (22) drives on Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley (4) during the first half of an NBA game at Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida, on Sunday, March 24, 2024. D.A. VARELA dvarela@miamiherald.com Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s 121-84 blowout win over the Cleveland Cavaliers (43-28) on Sunday night at Kaseya Center to improve to 1-1 on its four-game homestand. The Heat (39-32) continues the homestand on Tuesday against the Golden State Warriors: The Heat dominated the Cavaliers on both ends end of the court to earn a much-needed win. The Heat was in complete control from start to finish, ending the first quarter with a 10-point lead and then taking a 21-point lead into halftime before extending its lead to as many as 45 points in the second half. The Cavaliers’ only lead of the game came in the opening minutes of the first quarter, as the Heat pulled ahead 4-3 and never trailed again. Even while again missing three of its top three-point shooters — Tyler Herro, Kevin Love and Duncan Robinson — because of injuries, the Heat’s offense still managed to produce an efficient performance behind a healthy mix of paint points, three-point makes and points at the foul line. The Heat outscored the Cavaliers 50-34 in the paint, 45-27 from three-point range and 20-15 from the free-throw line. The Heat also outscored the Cavaliers 24-2 in transition.
It didn’t come because of huge scoring nights from Bam Adebayo and/or Jimmy Butler either, as they combined for 30 of the Heat’s 121 points. BETTING CONTENT 8 Best Mobile Sports Betting Apps in the US (March 2024) MARCH 20, 2024 AT 2:41 PM Sportsbook Promo Codes: Best Sportsbook Promos 2024 MARCH 20, 2024 AT 8:09 PM Best Sports Betting Sites in the US Ranked for March 2024 MARCH 20, 2024 AT 2:36 PM BetMGM Bonus Code MCBET Get $1500 in Bonuses (March 2024) MARCH 19, 2024 AT 4:32 PM Adebayo finished with 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field, 16 rebounds, four assists and five steals in 28 minutes. He sat out the entire fourth quarter because of the lopsided score. Butler closed with 15 points on 3-of-6 shooting from the field and 8-of-9 shooting from the free-throw line, three rebounds, six assists and one steal. He also sat out the entire fourth quarter of the blowout. “For us, it was a good rest for the fourth quarter,” Adebayo said. “I feel like a lot of us needed it.” This was also a much-needed bounce-back offensive performance for the Heat, which totaled just 88 points on 36 percent shooting from the field and 13-of-47 (27.7 percent) shooting on threes in Friday’s 23-point loss to the New Orleans Pelicans to kick off the homestand. On Sunday, the Heat scored 121 points on 51.8 percent shooting from the field, 15-of-38 (39.5 percent) shooting from three-point range and 20-of-23 (87 percent) shooting from the foul line. Miami matched its point total from Friday’s loss with 1:03 left in Sunday’s third quarter.
“That’s what makes this league humbling,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of the 48-hour turnaround. “We were on the other end of it the other night and our intentions and everything we felt like were right going into it. We definitely were flat in that game. In this game, we were alive.” The Heat’s defense fueled its offense, forcing the Cavaliers into 17 turnovers on its way to tying a season-high with 35 points off turnovers behind its disruptive press-zone scheme. “I liked the defensive efforts,” Spoelstra said. “… Sometimes you can control a game with your efforts, your toughness and committing to doing all those tough things. I don’t even know what our offensive profile was today. I just like the efforts, I like the energy, I like the enthusiasm.” The Heat posted its best single-game defensive rating of the season on Sunday, allowing just 88.4 points per 100 possessions. Miami improved to 8-0 this season when holding its opponent under 100 points scored per 100 possessions. “We were just having fun out there, moving the ball, playing great defense, playing great offense and it resulted in a great bounce-back win that we needed,” Heat forward Haywood Highsmith said. This is the Heat’s biggest blowout win in a few years. Sunday’s 37-point win goes down as the Heat’s most lopsided victory of the season, surpassing a 33-point win over the Cavaliers in Cleveland on Nov. 22. Yes, the Heat’s two most lopsided wins of the season came against the Cavaliers. “I think our home fans really deserved this, to be honest with you,” Highsmith said. “We haven’t been playing the best basketball at home.” Sunday’s rout is also the Heat’s most lopsided win since it defeated the Milwaukee Bucks by 42 points on Oct. 21, 2021.
It marked the ninth game in franchise history that the Heat has won by 37 or more points. Also, the Heat’s 45-point lead in Sunday’s fourth quarter marked its largest in a game since taking a 46-point lead over the Chicago Bulls in a playoff game on May 8, 2013, according to the Associated Press. Another rotation player joined the Heat’s long list of injuries. After playing in 25 straight games, Heat rookie Jaime Jaquez Jr. missed Sunday’s win with left knee/ankle discomfort. The Heat was also without four other rotation players against the Cavaliers because of injuries — Herro (right foot medial tendinitis), Love (right heel bruise), Josh Richardson (right shoulder surgery) and Robinson (left facet syndrome). Herro missed his 15th straight game, Love missed his 13th straight game and Robinson missed his third straight game, while Richardson has been out since February and will miss the rest of the season. But the hope is that Herro, Jaquez, Love and Robinson will return at some point before the end of the regular season. The Cavaliers were also missing a chunk of their rotation, playing without Donovan Mitchell (nasal fracture), Max Strus (right knee strain) and Dean Wade (right knee sprain) on Sunday.
But Cavaliers starting forward Evan Mobley made his return against the Heat after missing nine straight games because of a sprained left ankle. Mobley was the only Cavaliers player who finished with double-digit points on Sunday, recording 15 points and four rebounds in his return. Amid those injury issues, others around the Heat’s leading duo of Adebayo and Butler stepped up on Sunday. With the Heat turning to a starting lineup of Terry Rozier, Patty Mills, Butler, Nikola Jovic and Adebayo for the second straight game, Caleb Martin, Thomas Bryant, Highsmith and Delon Wright were used as Miami’s primary reserves before both teams emptied their benches late in the lopsided contest. Highsmith turned in one of his highest-scoring games of the season and it was needed with so many Heat rotation players out. Highsmith closed Sunday’s win with a team-high 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and 4-of-4 shooting on threes while also providing his usual standout defense. It marked the second-most points Highsmith has scored in a game this season, falling just short of his season-high 19-point performance on Jan. 10 against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Rozier and Bryant each added 14 points for the Heat. In total, seven Heat players finished with double-digit points. The Heat’s supporting cast around Adebayo and Butler combined to score 91 points on Sunday.
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Considering Herro, Jaquez, Love and Robinson were out, that’s impressive work by those around the Heat’s leading duo. The Heat stayed in seventh place in the East on Sunday, but did gain ground on sixth place. The seventh-place Heat (39-32) holds the same record as the eighth-place 76ers (39-32), which defeated the Clippers in Los Angeles on Sunday. But the Heat is ahead in the standings because it currently holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over the 76ers. The Heat leads the regular-season series over the 76ers 2-1, with one regular-season matchup between the two teams remaining on April 4 in Miami. The Heat is also now just one-half game behind the Indiana Pacers (40-32), which lost to the Lakers in Los Angeles on Sunday, for sixth place in the East. The Heat needs to finish with a top-six seed in the East to avoid the play-in tourney, which features the seventh-through-10th-place teams competing for the final two playoff seeds in each conference.
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