The Cavs lost this one in the 3rd quarter when they were held scoreless for 6:05, being outscored 13-0. They lost by 12. The Cavs still run into spells where they can't buy a bucket. I hate it when this happens, but give Miami credit, they are a very good defensive team, ranking 4th in scoring defense.
I said if Butler plays the Cavs have no chance and unfortunately he made it back for this one, scoring 24 points with 5 assists. Adebayo had a field day with Jarrett Allen out; 30 points and 17 rebounds. The Cavs are just not equipped to beat the top team in the East on the road without Allen. But it was Herro and Strus off the bench that was the difference, IMO. They combined for 39 points; 22 and 17. Nobody off our bench scored more than 11.
Overall their bench outscored ours 47-27 if you don't count the last two minutes of garbage time. Strus had 17 points in 19 minutes, including five 3's.
The Heat did a great job of defensing Garland, holding him to 4-for-17 from the field after he scored 41 the last game. He also committed 7 turnovers. We're not going to beat Miami with Garland making 4 field goals against 7 turnovers. At one point the Heat had 28 points off turnovers to 7 for the Cavs.
It was a good effort against the best team in the East on their home court, but after the Cavs got up 68-63 they could not sustain the momentum and hit that six-minute scoring drought which effectively ended the game.
If Adebayo had not missed over seven weeks with an injury who knows what the Heat's record would be.
So it's on to Chicago and let's win there.
