Cavaliers pull away from overmatched Heat for 121-100 victory in series opener

Ira Winderman, South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Apr 20, 2025

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CLEVELAND — The Oklahoma City Thunder set the standard for No. 1 seeds earlier in the day, when in their Western Conference playoff opener against the Memphis Grizzlies they went up by 56 points and won by 51.

Four hours later, against that backdrop, the Miami Heat took the court against the East No. 1 seed Cleveland Cavaliers, a team second only to the Thunder in the NBA this season.

The makings for something similarly awful certainly was in place, with the Cavaliers closing the regular season 27 games ahead of the Heat.

So all things bring relative, a respectable effort by Erik Spoelstra’s team in the opening game of the best-of-seven series, a 121-100 loss at Rocket Arena that had the Heat within six late in the third period.

The Cavaliers’ superior depth of talent proved to be too much for a Heat team coming off a grueling play-in victory two nights earlier against the Atlanta Hawks.

Cleveland got 30 points from Donovan Mitchell, 28 from Ty Jerome, 27 from Darius Garland, as well as 12 points and 11 rebounds from center Jarrett Allen.

From the Heat, there were 24 points from Bam Adebayo, 21 from Tyler Herro and 18 from Davion Mitchell.

Game 2 is Wednesday night back on the Cavaliers’ court, with the winner of this series to play the winner of the series between the Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks that Indiana leads 1-0.

Five Degrees of Heat from Sunday night’s game:

— 1. Closing time: The Cavaliers led 31-24 at the end of the first period and moved to a 16-point lead in the second quarter before the Heat closed within 62-54 at the half.

The Heat then fell behind by 13 in the third quarter, closed within six later in the period, before going into the fourth down 87-79.

From there, the Heat closed within seven before Cleveland pushed back to a 17-point lead midway through the final period, effectively ending it.

The Cavaliers’ largest leads of the game came at the end of the game, in what proved to be an evening of attrition for the Heat.

— 2. His part: Herro was up to 17 points by the intermission, despite drawing almost the entire focus of the Cavaliers defense, scoring 12 in the second period to keep the Heat afloat.

Most of Herro’s offense came off his own shot creation.

Herro was coming off 38- and 30-point performances in the play-in round, against Chicago and Atlanta, respectively.

But the toll of all too often being forced to play 1-on-5 on the perimeter took its toll, with Herro tailing off significantly in the second half. He closed 7 of 18 from the field.

With the need for his offense, Herro finished with just one assist.

— 3. His part, too: Adebayo extended his career-best postseason streak of 20-point games to 11.

It was the 61st postseason game for Adebayo in double figures, tying him for third place on that Heat all-time postseason list with Chris Bosh and Jimmy Butler. The franchise leader is Dwyane Wade (166), followed by LeBron James (85).

He closed one rebound short of his 32nd career playoff double-double, at 10 of 22 from the field, with nine rebounds.

— 4. Not his time: When the Heat drafted 7-foot Kel’el Ware last June at No. 15 out of Indiana, the thought was he eventually could provide the type of length needed in matchups such as this against the Cavaliers Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley.

Instead, Ware closed the first half with neither a rebound nor a point.

In addition, Ware, who turned 21 Sunday, very much showed his youth in defending the paint against the Cavaliers’ attacking game.

That again often had Spoelstra going with 6-foot-5 Haywood Highsmith in his power rotation.

Ware’s first rebound did not come up 1:50 into the second half, off a missed Adebayo free throw. His first points came on a put-back dunk with 7:01 to play in the third period.

He closed with two points and three rebounds.

— 5. Time to marinate: There now will be only one game in the series over the next five days, Wednesday night’s 7:30 p.m. Game 2 back at Rocket Arena, before Game 3 at 1 p.m. Saturday in the first of two at Kaseya Center.

If nothing else, it will give the Heat time to regroup after Friday night’s overtime play-in victory in Atlanta, Saturday’s optional practice at Cleveland State and then Sunday’s game less than 45 hours after advancing to this series.

The Cavaliers, by contrast, had been off a week prior to Game 1.