Five takeaways from the Miami Heat’s dramatic 140-138 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night at Kaseya Center to improve to 3-0 on its four-game homestand. Next up for the Heat (7-4) is another matchup against the Cavaliers on Wednesday in Miami:
Last season’s first-round playoff series between the Heat and Cavaliers wasn’t competitive. But their first matchup of this season certainly was, and the Heat won it in dramatic fashion.
The Cavaliers ended the Heat’s season in dominant fashion, sweeping Miami in their first-round playoff series in April. The Cavaliers outscored the Heat by 122 points in the four games for the most lopsided playoff series in NBA history after the Heat became the first 10th-place team in either conference to make the playoffs from the league’s play-in tournament since this current play-in format was first instituted for the 2020-21 season.
But after an offseason of making significant changes to its offense in response to last season’s historically bad playoff exit at the hands of the Cavaliers, Miami stood tall against Cleveland in their first meeting this season.
In a back-and-forth game that included 15 lead changes and 12 ties, the Heat won the game on a game-winning inbounds play in overtime.
After Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell nailed a miraculous three-pointer to tie the game at 138 with 0.4 seconds left in overtime, the game looked like it was going to a second overtime.
But Heat coach Erik Spoelstra drew up the perfect inbounds pass, as Andrew Wiggins used a back screen from Davion Mitchell and cut open to the basket. Then Heat forward Nikola Jovic threw the perfect inbounds pass to find Wiggins for the game-winning alley-oop dunk at the final buzzer. What led to that play was a competitive affair.
The Cavaliers appeared to be in good position to escape with the win in regulation after forward Evan Mobley hit an above-the-break three-pointer off an assist from forward De’Andre Hunter to give Cleveland a two-point advantage.
But after Cavaliers guard Jaylon Tyson made just one of two free throws to extend the lead to two points with 12.8 seconds to play.
With one final opportunity to force overtime or win in regulation, Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. made a spinning eight-foot floater to tie the game with 7.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter and send the game to overtime.
The teams continued to trade punches in overtime, with the Heat holding a slim one-point lead with 1:13 left in the extra period.
That’s when Jaquez again delivered, hitting a turnaround fadeaway jumper from eight feet away to put Miami ahead by three points 53.7 seconds remaining.
The Cavaliers then found themselves in possession of the ball with eight seconds left and trailing by three points.
Instead of allowing the Cavaliers to go for the game-tying three-pointer, the Heat intentionally fouled Hunter as soon as he caught the inbounds pass with 7.2 seconds left. Hunter made both free throws to cut the deficit to one.
On the ensuing possession, the Cavaliers fouled Powell before the Heat could throw in the inbounds pass. That foul before the inbounds gave Powell one free throw and the Heat possession, but Powell missed that one free throw.
The Cavaliers were then forced to intentionally foul Powell after he caught the inbounds pass on the following posession with 6.5 seconds remainng with to preserve the clock. Powell made both free throws to put the Heat back ahead by three with 6.5 seconds remaining.
Then the Mitchell game-tying three and Wiggins’ game-winning dunk at the final buzzer happened.
After finding itself in an early 15-5 hole, the Heat outscored the Cavaliers 57-38 during the rest of the first half to enter halftime with a nine-point advantage.
Even while again missing its leading duo of Bam Adebayo (left big toe sprain) and Tyler Herro (left ankle surgery), the Heat’s new revamped offense produced 140 points on Monday.
Seven Heat players finished with double-digit points in another balanced effort.
Powell led the Heat with a game-high 33 points on 8-of-19 shooting from the field, 4-of-9 shooting on threes and 13-of-14 shooting from the foul line.
Wiggins totaled 23 pointsa and five assists, and the game-winner.
Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. continued his incredible bounce-back season after his rough sophomore NBA campaign.
Jaquez’s second NBA season didn’t live up to the high expectations he created for himself after being named to the NBA’s All-Rookie First Team. Jaquez’s production dipped across the board last season, and he even eventually dropped out of the Heat’s rotation in the final weeks of the season.
But Jaquez has been among the league’s top bench players through the three weeks of the season. He entered Monday averaging the third-most points in the NBA among bench players this season at 17.1 per game behind only Portland’s Jerami Grant and Philadelphia Quentin Grimes.
Jaquez, 24, also entered Monday tied with Denver Nuggets three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic for the league’s best plus/minus at plus 129 this season.
Jaquez again made a positive impact on Monday, recording 22 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists, one steal and two blocks.
Jaquez’s presence was felt immediately, as he recorded two points, three rebounds and two assists in his first 66 seconds on the court.
Jaquez finished three assists short of earning the second triple-double stat line of his NBA career.
Heat center Kel’el Ware struggled in last season’s playoff series against the Cavaliers, but he showed signs of growth in Monday’s matchup against the Cavaliers.
Ware’s first playoff experience was a rough one, closing his rookie campaign with arguably his worst stretch of the season.
The Heat’s 7-footer totaled just 19 pounds, 19 rebounds and two blocks in 73 minutes during the four-game sweep in his NBA playoff series. He struggled against the Cavaliers’ starting frontcourt of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen while being targeted on the defensive end in pick-and-rolls.
But Ware held his own against the Cavaliers’ talented frontcourt on Monday, totaling 14 rebounds, 20 rebounds, one steal and one block in his third straight start for the injured Adebayo.
It was rough from the start, as the 21-year-old Ware missed all four of his shot attempts in the first quarter. Ware went on to miss his first five shots on Monday before scoring his first points of the night on an alley-oop dunk with 4:14 left in the first half.
Ware took off from there, as he contributed six points, four rebounds and one block during an impressive third-quarter display.
With Monday marking the first time that the Heat and Cavaliers have faced off this season, last season’s lopsided first-round playoff series between the two teams was a popular topic.
“It was very humbling. It was embarrassing,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said during his pregame media session Monday, reflecting back on that painful playoff series. “And I’ve said this time and time again, but we felt like we did a lot to be proud of just to get into the playoffs. To be able to handle a lot of the adversity that we handled to go on a 10-game losing streak. And for a second there, we thought we were going to go on a 10-game winning streak. But then to have a back-to-back road deal to earn that ticket. So we felt like we had done some things to gain some momentum. And that came crashing down to reality pretty fast. They outclassed us in so many different ways.”
Several returning Heat players who were on last season’s roster mentioned in recent days that the memories from that first-round sweep out of the playoffs serve as added motivation against the Cavaliers.
“I almost never mentioned the other team,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said, downplaying the need to remind his players of the extra motivation that the Heat has against his team. “It’s always about us, our mentality, how we’re going to approach the game. Every team is a threat in the league. We respect our opponents. It’s the NBA. Every night is a challenge.”
The Heat and Cavaliers will face off again Wednesday in Miami.
This marks the first of six times this season that the Heat will face the same opponent in back-to-back games.
The Heat actually does it again in the coming days, taking on the Knicks in New York on Friday before returning home to host the Knicks on Monday.
The Heat also again faces the Cavaliers in back-to-back games later this season, traveling to Cleveland to play the Cavaliers on March 25 and 27.