CLEVELAND CAVALIERS VS MIAMI HEAT
1.68
TOTAL POINTS CLEVELAND (INCL OVERTIME) - OVER 110.5
The dominating top seed in the Eastern Conference, The Cleveland Cavaliers, are up one to nothing in the series with the 8th seed, The Miami Heat. The Heat could not find any answers in the first game of the series. What kind of adjustments will be made for game two of the series by their well respected head coach, Eric Spoelstra.
The Cavs were heavily expected to win the first game of the series at home. And so they did. Cleveland won the game 121-100. Their starting backcourt of Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell had a great game with effective shooting. So did their back up guard, Ty Jerome. The three of them scored a total of 85 points together. Garland had 27 points, Mitchell had 30 and Jerome 28 off the bench. Garland and Jerome made five shots each from behind the arc. Mitchell made two three pointers. The Heat could not find any answers defensively for Cavs backcourt rotation. They need to come up with something tonight if they are about to steal game two.
Kenny Atkinson, head coach of the Cavs went with a ten man rotation in game one. That says a lot about the confidence Kenny has in his players and the deep roster that Atkinson has at his disposal. Jerome and Sam Merril got the most minutes off the Bench. De’Andre Hunter, a very sought after defender at the trade deadline day, got the third most minutes off the bench. He joined the Cavs from The Hawks.
Atkinson chose to start Max Strus at the small forward position instead of Hunter. Strus was best on the team in game one with his plus 18. My bet is that Hunter will get more minutes going forward with the NBA Playoffs when more defence is required on the floor. Evan Mobley and Jarred Allen were solid too for Cleveland in game one. Allen had a double double with 12 points and eleven boards. Mobley had nine points and seven rebounds. Cavs were the much more physical team out of the two, and they set the tone early.
Bam Adebayo of the Heat was a bit frustrated after game one. He told nba.com: “we’ve seen them all season. You understand what it is and what they do. A lot of smart plays. we can not have any defensive lapses”. So the Heat got their work cut out for them. Tyler Herro was a bit problematic on the defensive end off the floor. Jerome, Garland and Mithell were targeting him all game long. A lot is asked by the player nicknamed, “off night”, Davion Mittchell. Perhaps too much. He is a good defender, but we all have our limitations.
The Miami heat needs to set the physical tone from the tip off tonight. Herro scored 21 points for the Heat. Adebayo had 24 and Mitchell scored 18 off the bench. The rookie center Kel’el Ware could be more helpful tonight than he was in the first game of the series. The playmaking forward out of Serbia, Nikola Jovic, will see more of the floor tonight for Miami. He is back from injury. The former Cavalier, Kevin Love is out for the game.
