How the shorthanded Cavs extinguished the Heat Wednesday night

After a tough down to the last second loss to the Heat in Miami, the Cavaliers were looking to bounce back as they stayed in Miami for another game on Wednesday night.

Cleveland was down Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and Jaylon Tyson due to rest tonight, also without Darius Garland, who reaggravated his great toe injury. Even though this is bad news, these inactives gave many reserves and bench players to start and get good minutes.

Miami came out hot to start the game, as they scored nearly 40 points in the first quarter, led by strong starts from Norman Powell and Andrew Wiggins. Craig Porter Jr. impressed with seven points, three assists, and a couple of blocks. The Heat led by nine after one.

The Cavs were not out of it just yet, though. Jarrett Allen dominated the paint in the second quarter, scoring four buckets down low, two of which were assisted by Porter Jr., who increased his scoring output to 15 points by halftime. The Cavs outscored the Heat by six points in the second, cutting the lead to three for Miami.

The third quarter mostly stayed the same as Miami outscored Cleveland by just one point, Powell and Davion Mitchell getting some buckets inside. Tyrese Proctor and Dean Wade stepping up for Cleveland, nailing a couple of threes to keep Cleveland close.

With the Heat leading by four, the fourth quarter came, Cleveland turned it on. Luke Travers came in and immediately made an impact, making a couple of free throws and a floater. Nae’Qwan Tomlin also came in and showed out, scoring nine points and grabbing six rebounds, four of them being offensive.

The Cavalanche may have been delayed, but eventually commenced in the fourth quarter as Cleveland outscored Miami 37-19 using an 8-0 and a 7-0 run to stamp the win. De’Andre Hunter with some clutch buckets to seal it. Hunter finished the game with 21 points, shooting 8/13.

Jarrett Allen dominated, scoring 30 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Lonzo Ball found his shooting stroke, also going 4-7 from behind the arc. Craig Porter Jr. was the MVP of this game for Cleveland, though, scoring 19 points, 3-3 from three, dishing out nine assists, three steals, and four blocked shots!

A very nice short-handed win for the Cavaliers against a good Miami team, now Cleveland cruises back home for a four-game home stand starting tomorrow night vs the Raptors.