Heat-Cavs Injury Report: Experienced Veterans Out For Game 2

Jan 29, 2025; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro (14) points to a teammate after shooting a three-point shot against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images | Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

The Cleveland Cavaliers announced their injury report remains clear ahead of Game 2 of their first round playoff series against the Miami Heat.

The Heat have ruled out 10-year veteran guard Terry Rozier as well as five-time All-Star Kevin Love. Rozier sprained his left ankle during an optional workout on Monday. Love remains away from the team due to personal reasons. Love played more than eight seasons with the Cavaliers, where he won a championship in 2016.

Heat forwards Nikola Jovic and Pelle Larsson, who were both in the Heat's rotation before their respective injuries, were both available for Game 1 but only played in the last minute and 23 seconds of the game. Up to that point, Jovic hadn't played since Feb. 23 with a broken metacarpal in his right hand. It remains to be seen whether coach Erik Spoelstra will try to re-integrate the promising young players in the middle of a series against a team that won 64 games in the regular season.

Here's the game preview:

How To Watch Miami Heat-Cleveland Cavaliers, Lineups, Injury Report, Betting Lines

Game time: 7:30 p.m. (April 23), Rocket Arena, Cleveland

TV: NBA TV, FanDuel Sports Network

Betting line: Heat +12, FanDuel

VITALS: The Heat are down 0-1 in the best-of-seven first round series. 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 entered 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

Terry Rozier: Out - Ankle

Kevin Love: Out - Personal Reasons

CAVALIERS

N/A

QUOTABLE

Heat forward Andrew Wiggins on what was missing in Game 1: "The physicality and, you know, just getting those 50-50 balls, limit the offensive rebound, just little stuff that we can clean up. You know, the beautiful thing about playoffs is, you know, every game is different. Every game is its own game so, next game will be a good one."

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Alexander Toledo is a contributor to Miami Heat On SI and producer/co-host of the Five on the Floor podcast, covering the Heat and NBA. He can be reached at toledoalexander22@gmail.com. Twitter: @tropicalblanket