Reason #2 – Tristan Thompson
Let’s get this out of the way, Tristan Thompson has been incredible this season, tonight was his worst game of the year, by a longshot.
Thompson is also not entirely responsible for this loss, his impact for the Cavaliers is just so important that when he plays badly the Cavaliers have very little hope of winning against good teams.
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According to ESPN’s box score, Thompson played a season-low 23 minutes, had a season-low two points, and a season-low three rebounds.
The Heat have an excellent triumvirate of big men that play their role exceptionally well. Thompson performing so poorly in a game against that type of competition gives the Cavaliers little chance to have a successful night.
Bam Adebayo, Meyers Leonard, and Kelly Olynyk combined for 31 points, 25 rebounds, and 8 assists on a combined 13-24 shooting from the field according to ESPN. Each one of them has a specific role for the Heat, and each of them executes that role exactly how Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra envisions.
Thompson has to forget about this game and get ready for another matchup with superstar center Joel Embiid on Sunday. In Philadelphia, on Tuesday night, Thompson acquitted himself very well as he contributed 17 points and 12 rebounds. A bounce-back performance should be expected from Thompson as he has given Cavalier fans no reason to think otherwise.
For the season, according to Basketball-Reference, Thompson has per-game averages of 16.5 points, and 11.4 rebounds, including 4.8 offensive rebounds per game.