The Cleveland Cavaliers lost their seventh-straight game in the form of a 117-92 home defeat to the Miami Heat. It was Cleveland’s second matchup with the Heat in a three-game span.
It wasn’t a kind start to the homestand for the Cleveland Cavaliers, as they were trounced by the Miami Heat in another 20+ point loss to the team from South Beach. After falling by 24 points on December 29th on the road, the Wine and Gold allowed the Heat to waltz in and win Wednesday’s contest by a 25-point margin.
A returning Tristan Thompson led all Cleveland scorers with 14 points in 23 minutes. Thompson was on a minutes restriction due to just coming back from injury, leaving his impact to be minimal on Wednesday.
However, his lack of rebounding was uncharacteristically bad. Thompson only snatched up two rebounds as he struggled to secure any boards while on the floor, just like the rest of the rotation.
The Cavaliers finished with just 22 rebounds as a team, which is simply inexcusable.
For Miami, Josh Richardson continued his impressive 2018-19 campaign with a 24-point showing on nine-of-16 shooting. Richardson knocked down four triples in the victory and also added five assists.
Tyler Johnson provided sixteen points off the bench to accompany Richardson in the scoring department on a very balanced offensive night for the Heat.
Cleveland has a chance to end their losing ways at home with three more contests coming up at Quicken Loans Arena, starting with the Utah Jazz on Friday.
Let’s take one final look at this one before we move on.