The Cleveland Cavaliers ran the Miami Heat off the floor. Let’s go over today’s winners and losers.
WINNER – Jarrett Allen
In case you couldn’t tell, the Cavs missed Jarrett Allen. That was clear the moment he returned to the floor for his first game since March 3rd.
During that time without Allen, the Cavs ‘ defense had fallen off a cliff. They ranked 20th in defensive rating over the last two weeks. And, while their offense had been surging, it still felt like they were missing an important contributor.
Allen provided the
goods as soon as he hit the hardwood.
In the opening minutes, Allen sealed Bam Adebayo in the paint for an easy post hook, pounded the glass for a few rebounds, and ran like the wind to finish an alley-oop jam. This trend repeated until he had 18 points and 10 rebounds midway through the third quarter.
“He’s been the best rim protector in the league post All-Star,” said Kenny Atkinson. “And then his rim presence offensively, I think sometimes without him, we become too perimeter oriented.”
Allen, in years past, has been the unsung hero of this team. I’m not so sure he’s being unsung anymore. Everyone in Rocket Arena seemed to appreciate the performance he just had. I know I did.
WINNER – Max Strus
Well, if the Cavs missed Jarrett Allen, you can say the same thing about Max Strus.
Strus already gave us an electric reintroduction when he hit Boston with a barrage of three-pointers in his first game of the season earlier this month. But after a few games of not having much success, Strus once again jolted back to life by erupting from downtown against his former team.
“Everything is game speed,” said Kenny Atkinson after the game. “He’s first in the gym, in the performance room, lifting, rehab, recovery, he does a phenomenal job taking care of his body — so I knew he had a little rest here, he didn’t play the last game, and so I kinda felt like he was going to come out and have a big game.”
It doesn’t take much to get Strus going. A semi-open jumper kicked it off. From there, any sliver of daylight meant Strus was launching it. The gravity that comes from having a player on a heater like this opened the floor for everyone else to attack. Miami wouldn’t dare to leave him.
Was it a revenge game? Or just Mad Max doing his thing? I don’t really care; it was awesome either way.
WINNER – Everyone Else
It was just one of those nights.
Who else can I shout out? James Harden, who put the Heat’s defense into a torture chamber and didn’t let them out until he had 17 points and 14 assists.
How about Evan Mobley, who padded his stats a bit in the fourth quarter, but punished Kel’el Ware in isolation after being embarrassed the game before. Mobley might have taken advantage of garbage time for 12 fourth-quarter points — but he owed them a little something extra.
The bench was all around much more impactful than last time. After only combining for 14 points in their first meeting, Cleveland’s bench had 50 points going into the fourth quarter against Miami this time around. Even if you subtract the points added by Strus, this was still a much better showing from them.
All in all, the Cavs were a well-oiled machine tonight. They played their hearts out defensively and couldn’t miss a shot on the other end. That’s how you build a 30+ point lead and get yourself back on track.
