{"id":42132,"date":"2025-11-11T06:32:29","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T06:32:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/42132\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T06:32:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T06:32:29","slug":"an-analysis-of-monday-nights-miami-heat-cleveland-cavaliers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/42132\/","title":{"rendered":"An analysis of Monday night’s Miami Heat-Cleveland Cavaliers"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI \u2014 Observations and other notes of interest from Monday night\u2019s 140-138 OT victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u2013 This was toe to toe.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Not the Heat getting sand kicked in their faces by the Cavaliers.<\/p>\n

\u2013 As was the case in April<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Even in November, that\u2019s meaningful.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Because already this team has shown it won\u2019t back down.<\/p>\n

\u2013 (Unless it\u2019s against Nikola Jokic at altitude<\/a> in the final game of a week-plus on the road.)<\/p>\n

\u2013 There still is a talent deficit against the Cavaliers.<\/p>\n

\u2013 But this is a team that doesn\u2019t care about any talent deficit.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Even with Bam Adebayo out.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Even with Tyler Herro out.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Are the Heat back? That\u2019s a story for another day, or at least more than 11 games into the process.<\/p>\n

\u2013 But the fight is back.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Which puts this season on far better footing.<\/p>\n

\u2013 And bodes better if there is a playoff matchup.<\/p>\n

\u2013 As well as bodes better for Wednesday night\u2019s rematch back at Kaseya Center.<\/p>\n

\u2013 With Adebayo missing a third consecutive game with his toe sprain, the Heat for the third consecutive game opened with Kel\u2019el Ware, Andrew Wiggins, Pelle Larsson, Davion Mitchell and Norman Powell.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Ware had been listed with a right hip flexor strain on the injury report 90 minutes before the game.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Inactive again were Adebayo, Herro (ankle), Terry Rozier (not with team), Jahmir Young (G League) and Myron Gardner (G League).<\/p>\n

\u2013 The Cavaliers opened with Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley, De\u2019Andre Hunter, Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Jaime Jaquez Jr. again was first off the Heat bench.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Followed by Nikola Jovic.<\/p>\n

\u2013 And then Simone Fontecchio.<\/p>\n

\u2013 With Dru Smith again making it nine deep.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Heat coach Erik Spoelstra tried not to overstate the Cavs rematch against the playoffs from last season\u2019s first-round blowout.<\/p>\n

\u2013 \u201cWe\u2019re just focused on enjoying the competition,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not necessarily about the playoffs last year. But there\u2019s deep respect for them and what they\u2019ve been able to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 Of having so many different team leaders in so many different statistical categories on a game-by-game basis, Spoelstra said pregame, \u201cWe felt that was a strength of our roster. We wanted to lean into that, regardless of what other people thought. But you also need the emotional understanding and stability of a locker room to also lean into that. And we have a group that\u2019s been willing to do that, and that expands our possibilities, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 Spoelstra was asked pregame to reflect on Sunday\u2019s passing of Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkens, who both coached and played in Spoelstra\u2019s native Portland, Ore.<\/p>\n

\u2013 \u201cHe\u2019s a legend in Portland and in the Northwest,\u201d Spoelstra said. \u201cHe played two years and was a player-coach for the Trail Blazers before he went to Seattle. Everybody in the Northwest is very familiar with him, in a similar way as Jack Ramsay. He\u2019s one of the titans of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 Spoelstra added, \u201cEverybody respected his career as a player and a coach, but more so respected him as a human being. And my interactions with him were amazing. He had so much grace and he followed the game and was very complimentary. It was a sad day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 FanDuel Sports Network announced Monday it will televise and stream all 24 home games of the Heat\u2019s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Games will stream on the FanDuel Sports Network app and be televised on either FanDuel Sports Network Sun or FanDuel Sports Network Florida in South Florida.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Coverage begins with the Skyforce\u2019s home opener on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. against the Noblesville Boom, the Indiana Pacers\u2019 affiliate.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Legendary Skyforce announcer Dan Peters again will be on the call.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Among those on the Skyforce roster are Heat two-way players Gardner and Young.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Among those in Monday night\u2019s crowd at Kaseya Center were Heat alums Goran Dragic and Marcus Banks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI \u2014 Observations and other notes of interest from Monday night\u2019s 140-138 OT victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42133,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[114,123,125,2490,16151,124,2295,110],"class_list":{"0":"post-42132","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami","8":"tag-latest-headlines","9":"tag-miami","10":"tag-miami-headlines","11":"tag-miami-heat","12":"tag-miami-heat-blog","13":"tag-miami-news","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}