Cavs can’t pull off miniseries sweep of Heat, road inconsistencies continue

The Cleveland Cavaliers now head over to Charlotte from Miami after a rendezvous with an ex (Kevin Love) and splitting its second miniseries of the season.

The Cavs had a nice opportunity to pick up two wins in South Beach, but split the miniseries in underwhelming fashion.

On Wednesday, Cleveland’s outside protectors struggled to stay in front of the ball and close out to the perimeter against an offensively challenged team for three quarters. Yet, active hands and clogging the lane generated 13 steals for the visitors out of Miami’s 22 turnovers.

Off those losses of possession, the Cavaliers converted 31 points and 10 more field goal attempts than the Heat.

With the ball, Cleveland didn’t see much resistance from Miami at the top or when dribbling down the lane. The backline defenders for the Heat gave up 56 points in the paint to the Cavaliers.

Darius Garland bent Miami’s coverages to his will. Without help, he got into the paint and even dribbled between Tyler Herro and Gabe Vincent for a running six-foot layup.

Donovan Mitchell had an off night, only recording seven out of 18 field goal attempts, but his burst with the rock put defenders on his back hip, habitually drawing help and exposing an area for a cut or deep shot.

In Wednesday’s four-point win that included six ties and 18 lead changes, Jarrett Allen was the lone Cavalier to record every fourth-quarter minute. The Fro had just a point in the final frame and missed his single try from the field, but he blew up the Heat’s offense and recovered seven rebounds. He also forced pass outs to the perimeter when ball handlers caught sight of him inching in as assistance.

With the Cavaliers up five points and 22 seconds left, the Heat ran a cross-court sideline out of bounds to perfection. Isaac Okoro was caught on Bam Adebayo’s screen at the key when trailing Herro to the opposite corner. Cleveland mistakenly had Caris LeVert covering the inbound instead of Allen or Evan Mobley’s additional length against Max Strus. Herro caught the rock and leaned left as Okoro got back into the picture, but the opening was enough to slice the lead to two.

Instantly, the Cavs called a timeout and subbed out DG and Spida for LeVert and Lamar Stevens. Adebayo picked up his fifth foul, marking Allen on a SLOB play and sending him to the line. Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff substituted LeVert back in for Garland and Stevens in for Ricky the Blonde (Rubio). Allen made one out of two, and now Cleveland was up three on defense with 20 seconds left.

The Cavaliers let the shot clock get below 10 seconds and foolishly decided not to foul and allowed Strus a chance to tie. Fortunately for the visitors, Mitchell tracked Strus’ movement from the corner to the wing and got over Butler’s screen to contest and force the miss.

Miami fouled Mobley, and he made one out of two, but there were only two seconds left with no timeouts for the hosts. The White and Wine won 104-100.

Two nights later, the Cavaliers matched up with the same outfit. Garland didn’t suit up because of a right quad contusion he suffered in Wednesday’s second half. LeVert started in his place, picking up 16 points with four assists and three rebounds, but the Spida upped his usage to 38.1% from his season average of 31.9% without his primary backcourt mate.

Mitchell made his first three out of five baskets, maneuvering past a double team and splashing a deep tray on a catch-and-shoot play, plus a left-wing pull-up triple in Adebayo’s eye.

In the first quarter, Okoro scored twice on backdoor cuts because Miami loaded up on the strongside, and Stevens and Mobley both canned a trifecta when the hosts refused to close out.

At the intermission, Cleveland held a nine-point lead and converted 51.3% of its attempts. Defensively, it contained the Heat to three out of 10 deep buckets in this stretch and continued the trend of Wednesday’s game by forcing a high volume of turnovers (10). Mitchell also had 25 points on 75% field goal efficiency.

In the second half, No. 45 dropped an additional 17 points, but on a third of his tries. He wasn’t as sharp on open jumpers or drive-bys next to the rim. At one point, he missed five consecutive attempts, but he got on the fourth-quarter scoreboard midway through it, spinning past Herro in the lane and dropping a floater to cut Cleveland’s deficit to one point.

In the last period, Mitchell was the only Cavalier to log multiple field goals. Everyone else recorded one, and the team shot 39.1% from the field while getting outscored by 11. Nobody could subdue Butler. Miami’s forward made nine out of 11 baskets in the second half and was immaculate on his four tries in the fourth quarter.

Butler attacked Mitchell when he caught him in a mismatch twice and scored. He even hit a turnaround fadeaway jumper over Allen (four inches taller) in the low post.

Naturally, Miami was up one point, and Butler got the ball back with 26 seconds left. Caleb Martin set a ghost screen, momentarily switching Spida as the cover before he gave up as he attempted a reach, and Stevens had to close out to Butler at the elbow. He managed a solid contest, but it was not enough in front of raining Jimmy Buckets.

Down three points with 8.9 seconds left, Cleveland didn’t have a timeout, and Mitchell had to take the ball cross-court. Butler intentionally fouled him, preventing an opportunity to tie. At the stripe, Mitchell missed the second try, and the Cavs had to immediately put Butler, an excellent free throw shooter, at the line. He sealed Cleveland’s coffin by making both, en route to a 119-115 W.

At the postgame presser, Bickerstaff paid Butler respect. He said, “Jimmy Butler made shot after shot after shot. Some of them highly contested. But, that’s why he is Jimmy Butler…”

The two games in Miami resulted in a split, but undermanned, faced up with a battered rival, the Cavaliers blew an opportunity to establish some credibility on the road. The record on tour now drops to 14-20 with 15 matches left, seven being on the road.

Cleveland gets a C for the miniseries.