Cavs vs. Heat preview and gamethread

Was Game 1 Miami’s best punch?

The Cleveland Cavaliers were able to put away the Miami Heat in Game 1 behind a combined 85 points from Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, and Ty Jerome. The question remains, how will the Heat adjust, and was that their best approach?

Who: Cleveland Cavaliers vs Miami Heat

Where: Rocket Arena - Cleveland, OH

When: 7:30 pm EST

TV: NBA TV, FanDuel Sports Network Cleveland

Line: Cavaliers -12

Expected Cavs starting lineup: Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Max Strus, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen

Cavs injury report: Not yet submitted

Expected Heat starting lineup: Tyler Herro, Alec Burks, Andrew Wiggins, Bam Adebayo, Kel’el Ware

Heat injury report: Terry Rozier - OUT (ankle), Kevin Love - OUT (personal)

What to watch for

What will the Heat do to counter and how will Cleveland respond?

First of all, the Miami Heat, led by coaching mastermind Erik Spoelstra, are punching way above their weight. No 10th seeds have made the playoffs from the Play-In thus far in its short existence. Out of the teams that competed for the two playoff spots (Hawks, Bulls, Magic, and Heat), the Heat were certainly not at the top of the list in terms of overall talent. However, they hung around with Cleveland more than most thought they would.

Game 1 felt like the Heat really threw everything at the wall to see what would stick. The offense was put on the back of Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo. The Miami duo combined for 40 of the Heat’s 80 field goal attempts. Herro made tough shots and Bam got to his spots at times, but it simply feels like the Heat are undermanned in this series.

The Heat’s best counter remains to confuse Cleveland by switching up the defense by possession and remaining physically imposing. The Heat have a lot of size and physicality at their disposal. They played well for a team playing their third postseason game in five nights. With the three days' rest, I would expect their execution and tenacity to improve.

Then the Cavaliers will need to rely on their clear talent advantage. Game 1’s winning margin doesn’t properly shine the light on the fact that Evan Mobley, De’Andre Hunter, Dean Wade, and Isaac Okoro all performed below expectations based on their regular-season play. If the Cavaliers can even get an average Mobley game from this past regular season, they should be able to impose their will.