MIAMI – It was an exciting Sunday night as the Miami Heat beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 122-113, in what was not only their third straight quality win and the second game in a back-to-back, but it was also against the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. The team is on a roll after the Heat routed the Los Angeles Lakers by 41 points last Wednesday and then beat the explosive Phoenix Suns Saturday night as Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro speak on what's going right.
Adebayo would record another efficient performance after a cold start to the season as he scored 16 points on seven for 14 shooting, two of four from deep, to go along with 13 rebounds and six assists.
He would have a humorous response to ClutchPoints when asked what the reasons are for the winning streak, saying it was Dru Smith, the Heat guard who has been seeing productive minutes the past few games. Smith would be sitting next to him during the answer before Adebayo continued saying that it has been an exceptional “collective” effort.
“I think it's collectively, just playing great basketball,” Adebayo said. “Everybody's doing their part, no matter what that last column says, we're all doing our part trying to figure out how we can get wins. You know, it's getting to a season we're trying to figure out. You don't realize how hard it is to actually get a win in this league. Like it's very easy to lose a game. And when you have games where you look back at third quarter sometimes just like, mistake after mistake after mistake, and, you know, we started to clean that up and now we're rolling. So it's good for us to see the basketball go in and we're playing great basketball.”
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Heat's Tyler Herro on “everything” going their way
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Sam Merrill (5) defends Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro (14) during the second half at Kaseya Center.
Rhona Wise-Imagn Images
Heat star Tyler Herro would turn in another outstanding performance, continuing his impressive season, as he finished with 34 points on 10 for 19 shooting, five of nine from three-point range, with seven assists and six rebounds. 19 of those points came in the third quarter, where they separated themselves from the Cavs, though said after the game that it seems like “everything” has been going their way in these past three games.
“Feels like everything honestly, everything's heading in the right direction on both sides,” Herro said. “I feel like everyone's sharing the ball and making the right play offensively and defensively, just playing together, talking, communicating, covering for each other, doing all the things that it requires to win in this league, first of all. And then, obviously, the goal is to win a championship. But I think it starts now, building the habits, building all the things that we're gonna need come April, May, all good stuff.”
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It is a valid point, as the offense has been clicking on all measures, scoring more than 120 in the past three games, enough to put Miami as a top-10 team in terms of rating, as they are ninth after Sunday's victory. They also have the 11th ranked defensive rating as they have been able to stifle top offensive players like Anthony Davis, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, and now Donovan Mitchell.
Heat's Erik Spoelstra if the win over the Cavs is a “statement” victory
Some could see the win over the No. 1 team in the East record-wise as a statement, but Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra would downplay that idea and rather sees the wins as an opportunity for the team “to see the possibilities.”
“Not necessarily a statement,” Spoelstra said. “I don't think anybody in the league is going to acknowledge, you know, what we did in the last 24 hours, 48 hours. But you just want your team to see the possibilities, you know, with that type of intentional play and doing things to our identity more often than not. That doesn't mean it's always gonna end up like perfect. It just puts yourself in a position, best position to win, and then you want to build on that. So I think the locker room sees the possibilities with this team. We just have to keep on going.”
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There could also be people saying that this is the Heat's turning point, recording victories against three quality opponents, but the team, especially Herro, has the mindset of not looking ahead. The Heat star would say to ClutchPoints after the victory that he doesn't “want to talk too early” and will focus one game at a time.
“I don't know, we'll see,” Herro said when asked if Miami has hit their stride. “I don't want to talk too early, we'll see what happens, we got another game Thursday that we gotta win.”
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The team is now 12-10, which puts them fifth in the Eastern Conference as they look to make it four straight wins against the Toronto Raptors next Thursday.