Down three starters, the Miami Heat went into Cleveland with the popular opinion being that they won't be competitive. Instead, Miami gave the Cavaliers all they could handle as they were led by their captain, Bam Adebayo who had a season high 34 points. The Heat held a seven-point lead with a little over six minutes to go, but the offense dried up at the worst time. This ended up leading to a Cleveland rally and the Heat ultimately falling to the Cavaliers 112-107 Wednesday night at Rocket Arena.
Bam Adebayo did all he could to lift the Heat to victory.
Adebayo came out of the gate guns blazing and made it a point to attack and get shots up early. In the first quarter, Adebayo scored eight points, and the momentum rolled over as the game progressed, forcing the Cavaliers to send more help to guard him.
As Adebayo began to see more bodies, he displayed his patience and dissected the Cavaliers defense with his passing. A prime example is in the third quarter, Adebayo had a mismatch with Darius Garland on him. Instead of rushing into a bad shot, he waited for a second defender to come help. Once Jarrett Allen committed, Adebayo found Kevin Love for a wide-open corner three.
When it came to scoring, Adebayo provided the Heat with key relief buckets to maintain their lead in the fourth quarter. His most impressive make of the night was against Evan Mobley, as Adebayo hit a tough contested midrange over Mobley with the shot clock winding down. There was no screen set, or any action ran, Adebayo just went right at Mobley and hit a big bucket.
Adebayo continued to respond in key moments, as his next make was from beyond the arc to give Miami a five-point lead.
You can't ask for a better performance from Adebayo. Miami went against the best team in the association, and he was the best player on the court by far.
A key reason why the Heat lost was receiving no offensive production from Terry Rozier, who missed all of his second-half shots, including back-to-back 3-pointers, with one resulting in an airball. It was also very questionable to see Davion Mitchell check in the fourth quarter with under two minutes to go, knowing that the Heat had a lead and needed stops.
For the most part, each time the Heat's best players have had monster performances, the games mainly result in heartbreaking losses. But Wednesday night's loss might sting the most given how close they were in beating a juggernaut on the road being down key players.