Bam Adebayo and Ducan Robinson were able to return to play with the Heat this Sunday, November 20 in the clash in Cleveland, but they still miss Jimmy Butler too much, without a doubt the heart of the team.
Without Butler on the court, the Cavaliers were strong to beat the Miami quintet 113-87, which thus suffers its third consecutive loss on the road.
The Heat now with 7-10 moves away from the first places, although they continued in 11th place in the East and the worst thing is that they have entered into a losing dynamic, which does not correspond to a team with aspirations to win the title.
The key to the defeat was the offensive collapse suffered in the second quarter and the emotional collapse in the third in which they were losing by more than 30 points. Chaos took over the Heat, which was nothing like the team that with seven men battled until the end in Washington, this Sunday was its shadow.
It is that you cannot ask more of a team that, except for Kyle Lowry and Adebayo, is from the G-League and as such has played on this tour, and that is not possible. Adebayo was the best with 21 points; Meanwhile, Lowry accused the effort of the previous game and left with only 9.
Caleb Martin was much better reaching 17 points; while Dewayne Dedmon stood out for the second unit reaching 10 points.
Perhaps the best thing for the Heat is that these games serve to develop players and on the other hand they are valid to discard players and one thing is very certain: this team is not enough with what it has and it needs reinforcements.
In the NBA you have to make a lot of baskets and this Heat doesn’t have an aim, it shot almost the same as Cleveland (80-83) and was much less effective (31-44), especially in triples with a worrying 19.4 percent (6 of 31 ). The rebounding battle was an embarrassment (30-49), and they were outscored in the paint (40-50).
It is true that Cleveland has a very good defense and a great attack led by Darius Garland with 25 points, Cedi Osman with 20 plus 12 rebounds, Evan Mobley with 15 and 10, Isaac Okoro with 13, Donovan Mitchell with another 13 and Lamar Stevens with 11. .
Play
The Cavaliers took the first quarter 28-27 after the Heat, with 10 points from Adebayo, was leading most of the time. Miami started well, taking a 9-point lead, but Cleveland reacted and gradually got closer on the scoreboard until it was turned around at the end of the quarter.
In the second, an 18-5 start by the Cavs, left behind the quintet of the Capital del Sol and taking advantage of Miami’s offensive collapse, ended up winning the quarter 31-15, to finish with a good 59-42 advantage the first half with 16 points from Garland, 13 from Mobley and another 13 from Okoro.
The third the Heat was a total disaster and far from getting closer, they moved away, and in the end it ended up being a quarter as miserable as the second, won by Cleveland 36-22, to extend the advantage to 95-64, sentencing the game.
The last set was a pure formality, played largely by the available reserve players. Miami took the quarter 23-18, but the damage was already done and they fell without palliatives by 26 points behind.
This Monday the 21st, the Heat closes the tour against the Timberwolves who, unlike their rival, have won the last four games in a row.