The Miami Heat are coming off two of their bigger victories of the season. Winning against the Milwaukee Bucks on last Wednesday before turning around to beat the hampered Chicago Bulls this past Saturday, they would hope to carry these good fortunes into Cleveland for a Monday matchup.
Facing off against a Cleveland team that had beat them several games back, the Heat would surely want to give a good showing this time around. They did too, starting off the game with a matching effort.
They would lead the game after one quarter, but then they allowed the Cavaliers to dominate the second. That was a theme in this game.
The Miami Heat would win the odd number periods, one and three, while the Cavs would do what they needed to and more in the even-numbered periods to come away with the win. That’s what happened.
The Miami Heat are 0-6 this season when scoring 100 points or fewer. They’ll have to keep that in mind as they move forward in their year.
There are more themes that go along with this game too. Well, there’s one that’s more pertinent than others.
When the Miami Heat have scored 100 or fewer points across their 28 games this season, they have not won the contest. That’s something that they are apparently aware of and should thrive to stay on top of as the season progresses.
Now, they’ll also have to do a better job at stopping the other team too, Kevin Love, in example. He’s gone absolutely nuclear in the two games this season between the two teams.
To a tune of 12/19 from the floor, 11/16 from range, 55 points, 15 boards, 4 dimes, and all only across 45 minutes in the two contests. Yea, that’s production.
On the other side, the Miami Heat couldn’t get enough from two of their main guys. While P.J. Tucker had a monster game for him, 23 points, nine boards, and five assists on 5/8 from three, it wasn’t enough.
With Tyler Herro and Duncan Robinson combining for just 18 points on 8/24 shooting and 1/10 from range, the Miami Heat didn’t have enough scoring on Monday night. That all plays into the major theme at hand though.
100 points scored is the Miami Heat’s magic number. They need to get there to give themselves their best shot to win every night.
They couldn’t on Monday and they were defeated.