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

Second Takeaway: Cavaliers beat on the glass

The Cavaliers were beaten on the boards by six, allowing Miami, the smaller team, to have more possessions than they should have. The hosts allowed 11 second-chance points off nine offensive rebounds. On one possession, Jarrett Allen was boxing out Bam Adebayo in the low post and lost a 50-50 ball as his man jumped higher and tapped it outside. Adebayo had four of Miami’s nine recoveries.

Even miniature Kyle Lowry snatched a couple of offensive boards. He beat Caris LeVert to a miss that resulted in a Tyler Herro left-wing triple. The next one was a lucky bounce over to Lowry on the baseline. Cleveland ran a 1-2-2 zone with Ricky Rubio as one of the low men with Evan Mobley. Rubio over-helped to box out Butler as #4 already tagged him, leaving him out of position for the snatch.

The most grievous of these errors came when Mitchell switched onto Herro, forcing a missed 3-pointer. Isaac Okoro, Spida, and Mobley failed to get their mitts on it as it rolled to the key, and Martin dived for it.

Cleveland is bigger than most teams every night. Allowing an undersized 6-foot-5 power forward like Martin to finish the game with 11 rebounds indicates the Cavs weren’t doing enough on the glass on both sides. 10 of his 11 boards were defensive, but he spent a lot of time switching to the perimeter. He also beat Wade for one in the lane and Allen for another under the hoop.