Inside The Heat

Miami Heat Without Key Contributor Vs Cleveland Cavaliers In Game 1

Shandel Richardson|
Apr 16, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra gestures to his team against the Chicago Bulls during the second half at United Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images
Apr 16, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra gestures to his team against the Chicago Bulls during the second half at United Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images | David Banks-Imagn Images

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Miami HeatCleveland Cavaliers

Miami Heat forward Kevin Love is ruled out for Sunday's Game 1 against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Love is listed out due to personal reasons.

Here's the game preview:

Game time: 7 p.m., Rocket Arena, Cleveland

Betting line: Heat +12.5, Odd Sharks

VITALS: The Heat and Cavaliers met three times this regular season with Cleveland winning the series, 2-1. The HEAT are 80-53 all-time versus Cleveland during the regular season, including 51-17 in home games and 29-36 in road games. The teams enter this postseason having never faced each other in the playoffs as Miami has faced every other Eastern Conference team in the postseason except Cleveland.

PROJECTED STARTERS

HEAT

G Tyler Herro

G Alec Burks

C Kel'el Ware

F Andrew Wiggins

F Bam Adebayo

CAVALIERS

G Donovan Mitchell

G Darius Garland

C Jarrett Allen

F Max Strus

F Evan Mobley

INJURY REPORT

HEAT

Kevin Love: Out - Personal Reasons

CAVALIERS

N/A

QUOTABLE

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra on the season: "We’ve been through a lot. We’ve all been through probably as much as a team probably can go through. And I really commend the team for finding a way to embrace the adversity. There were some uncomfortable moments when we were losing games, but it was bringing us closer together, which I really respect out of that locker room. And then we started playing our best basketball at the end of the season, after that losing streak.”

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Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Miami Heat On SI. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

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Shandel Richardson
SHANDEL RICHARDSON

Shandel has covered the NBA since 2010, with previous stops at The Athletic and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He has covered six NBA Finals, one Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournament. He has also been a beat writer for the Miami Hurricanes and contributed on every major beat in South Florida since 2003, including the Miami Dolphins and Miami Marlins. He can also be read in the Sportsbook Review for gambling coverage from around the NBA. A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Shandel attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He's also worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Star. TWITTER: @ShandelRich EMAIL: shandelrich@gmail.com You can subscribe to our YouTube channel here Follow all of our Miami Heat coverage on Facebook here