Shorthanded Heat stumble to the finish in 111-99 loss to Cavaliers

MIAMI – Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and Haywood Highsmith again were out. This time, it also was as if Jimmy Butler wasn’t there.

For the Miami Heat, even after an early 16-point lead Friday night at Kaseya Center, that was too much to overcome.

So no traction after Wednesday night’s road victory over the Toronto Raptors. Instead, a 111-99 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers that dropped the record to 12-10.

“We were bobbling, mis-dribbling, careless with the ball right out the gate,” coach Erik Spoelstra said of a night the Heat committed 18 turnovers. “And that just kind of sets the tone, gets you disjointed, gets everybody out of rhythm.”

While the Heat again had to deal with a reworked rotation, it wasn’t as if the Cavaliers were whole, with Cleveland lacking forward Evan Mobley due to knee soreness.

In a game that turned sloppy and choppy for the Heat after a solid start, Butler never found a rhythm, closing 5 of 15 from the field, with 16 points. Teammate Duncan Robinson was even worse, at 0 for 7 from the field, including 0 for 6 on 3-pointers, with six turnovers and four fouls.

Josh Richardson compensated early, with all 17 of his points coming in the first half. The Heat also got 17 points from Kyle Lowry, 14 points from Jaime Jaquez Jr.  and 14 points and a season-high 12 rebounds from Kevin Love, but it wasn’t enough to offset the 26 points Cleveland got from Donovan Mitchell and the 18 from Darius Garland.

“For us to get back, it just takes some concentration and some will to keep fighting to get better,” Lowry said. “It’s a good game for us to learn long term.”

Five Degrees of Heat from Friday night’s game:

1. Game flow: The Heat had a 15-0 first-quarter run and went into the second period up 25-17, after Cleveland’s lowest-scoring quarter of the season. Cleveland then put together a 15-0 run of their own in the second period, to take a 53-52 lead into halftime.

From there, Cleveland opened the third quarter on a 13-0 run, including 11 points by Mitchell, to eventually go up 16, before taking an 88-75 lead into the fourth.

The Cavaliers would go up 18 early in the fourth, before a Love 3-pointer drew the Heat within 98-88 with 6:37 to play. But that also is what the rally stalled.

“It was just too much for us to overcome there at the end,” Love said.

2. Rich start: Richardson opened 4 of 4 on 3-pointers, with his fourth forcing a Cavaliers timeout with 8:57 left in the second period and the Heat up 39-23.

Richardson’s previous high for 3-pointers in a game this season had been three.

Richardson was up to 17 points by halftime, at 5 of 6 on 3-pointers at that stage.

Later, Richardson, fined $2,000 earlier in the day for an uncalled flopping violation in Wednesday night’s victory over the Toronto Raptors, was called for a flopping technical foul in the third period.

“I do think all three of my flopping calls were terrible,” Richardson said of those cited against him this season. “I don’t know what it is. Maybe I need to start running people over.”

Richardson then cooled from there, closing 6 of 11 from the field, 5 of 7 on 3-pointers.

3. Inside story: The Heat deficits weren’t for a lack of hustle.

In the third period, Caleb Martin caught Garland in transition for an impressive chase-down block that led to a Butler dunk on the other end.

Then, later in the third, 6-foot-6 Jaquez blocked a dunk attempt by 6-11 Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen at the rim.

But there also were the negatives of the 18 turnovers and being outrebounded 51-37.

“These are painful lessons when you lose home games like this, even when you have double-digit leads,” Spoelstra said.

4. Early Love: With Orlando Robinson, who again started in place of Adebayo, forced to the bench with 7:11 to play in the first period with his second foul, Love entered and began launching a series of long outlet passes.

Love closed the first quarter with seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and a blocked shot. From there, he moved on to his season high in rebounds.

The Cavaliers gave Love a buyout last February after he fell out of their rotation.

5. Strus vs. Heat: Max Strus made his first appearance at Kaseya Center since leaving as a free agent in the offseason.

Strus opened defensively on Duncan Robinson, whom he has credited as a mentor. The Heat opened with Kyle Lowry on Strus.

Strus closed 4 of 17 from the field, including 2 of 11 on 3-pointers, for 11 points, also with seven rebounds.

Strus entered averaging career-highs this season in points (14.5), rebounds (5.5), assists (4.1), steals (1.00), blocks (0.62) and minutes (35.), having signed with Cleveland in the offseason.