Miami too hot to handle as Cavaliers lose yet another close game

On Tuesday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers welcomed the Miami Heat to town. The entire game between two evenly-matched Eastern Conference teams was close throughout, but some big bucks by the Heat’s stars were the difference in a 100-97 Heat win. How did the game go down?

The Cavs were gutting the Heat midway through the first quarter. They instantly attacked the middle of Miami’s 2-3 zone, picked up quick fastbreak buckets, and forced five turnovers in just as many minutes. The defense was as tight as Fort Knox. Then, Miami flipped the game’s pace like a light switch and handed the home team its fifth loss in Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The Cavs couldn’t take the Heat.

First Takeaway: Cavaliers launching bricks from deep

Miami’s zone tempted Cleveland to take nine more triples than its average. Some of this can be attributed to Donovan Mitchell, who bricked 10 3-pointers, not having his usual burst as he overcomes his groin strain. He was settling for jumpers when he usually dusts by a rival for an unchallenged layup or acrobatic finish through traffic.

Cleveland found success on catch-and-shoot looks in the corners, making 44% of its tries in those spots. Yet, they were completely shut down at the top of the key and the wings. From there, they converted four out of 24 attempts.

Miami was able to contest against Darius Garland with the length of Jimmy Butler and Caleb Martin on multiple misses. On the others, DG was off target.

Dean Wade, in his sixth game back after missing 23 straight, was shooting blanks from behind the arc. Caris LeVert, too, missed a few wide-open looks.