Cavaliers trounce Miami 149-128
BY TIM SHIRER
CAVS BEAT WRITER
(CLEVELAND, OH) - Friday night the Cleveland Cavaliers (45-28, 23-14 home) looked to rebound after a less than stellar performance on Wednesday night at Rocket Arena when they fell to the visiting Miami Heat (39-34, 16-20 road) 120-103.
For the first time after missing the last ten games with right knee tendonitis Cavs Center Jarrett Allen returned. The Cavs avenged Wednesday night’s loss in a big way trouncing the Heat 149-128 sending the sellout crowd home happy.
Appropriately the first basket of the game was by Allen with a hook shot just 18 seconds into the game. With 10:32 left in the quarter, the Cavs took an 8-0 lead when Sam Merrill drained a three in front of the Cleveland bench on a pass from Donovan Mitchell. Then with 9:28 left in the opening quarter the Cavs lead grew to 15-2 and Miami’s future hall of fame head coach Erik Spoelstra took a timeout. With 5:38 remaining the Heat cut the Cleveland lead to 21-12 when Davion Mitchell scored in the paint. Max Struss entered the game around the five-minute mark and made two consecutive three’s to give the Cavs a 27-14 advantage with 4:37 left. Then with 2:57 left the Cavs lead was 32-18 when Strus drained his third three in less than two minutes. The Strus show continued and with 1:15 left in the opening quarter he drained his fourth three in a row, giving the Cavs a 37-22 lead. With :36.1 left Keon Ellis hit a three from the top of the arc. When the buzzer sounded ending the opening quarter the Cavs led 40-27. Strus led all scorers with 12 points. Jaime Jaquez, Jr. led the Heat with six first quarter points. The Cavs outshot the Heat 54% (14 of 26) to 46% (11 of 24) from the field. The Cavs were scorching hot from three-point range shooting 54% (7 of 13) while Miami shot 38% (3 of 8) from ling range. The Cavs also outrebounded Miami 13-12.
The Heat opened the second quarter on a 7-2 run, cutting the Cavs lead to 42-34 with just 1:40 gone in the period. With 8:36 left on the clock Merril hit a three and the Cavs had their biggest lead to that point at 16 points leading 50-34. The lead grew to 55-36 when Donovan Mitchell stole the ball and Evan Mobley hit James Harden who drained a three with 7:54 remaining. The lead was 23 points in favor of the Cavs with 5:18 left as Strus continued to torch his former team with another three. The Cavs were in blow out mode with 3:18 left in the half as they were up 71-40. As time ran out on the first half Strus drilled his six three of the half and gave the Cavs an 81-46 lead heading into the locker room. The 35 point lead was the Cavs largest at halftime this season. Strus led all scorers with 22 first half points. Harden and Allen each had 14 points. Jaquez, Jr. led Miami with 10 points. Cleveland shot 55% (31 of 56) in the opening half while Miami shot just 40% (18 of 45) from the field. The Cavs were and even 50% (12 of 24) from long range while the Heat shot a miserable 22% (4 of 18). Cleveland also outrebounded the Heat 27-21 in the first 24 minutes. Points off turnovers were a huge factor as the Heat turned it over nine times resulting in 17 Cavs points. Meanwhile the Cavs turned the ball over only twice resulting in two Heat points.
The second half began with the two teams trading basket and with 6:36 left the Cavs led 91-61. The Heat trimmed the Cavs lead to 27 points and then Strus hit his seventh three of the game to put the Cavs up 98-68 with 4:32 left in the third quarter. With 2:41 remaining in the third the Heat cut the Cleveland lead to 101-78. With 2:22 left the Cavs lead was at 101-82. As the third quarter came to and end the Cavs led 109-87 as Ellis hit a three on an assist from Mobley with time running out. Strus was still leading all scorers with 26 points. Jaquez, Jr. was pacing Miami with 18 through three.
The Heat were not playing like they were down by 20+ points even with 6:40 remaining and the Cavs leading 123-101. Tyler Herro was then called with a flagrant foul one. He also received a technical foul after mouthing off to the officials. With 5:41 left in the game Tyrese Proctor replaced James Harden who was the final starter in the game. Allen played only five minutes in the second half due to a minute’s restriction. Allen finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds in 18 minutes in his return to action. Strus exited the game with 4:32 remaining and was replaced by Riley Minix. Strus finished the night with a game high 29 points, including hitting 8 of 11 three-point shots.
Mobley and Harden joined Allen with double doubles. Mobley poured in 23 points and had 10 rebounds. While Harden had 17 points and 14 assists, which is the most assists ever by a Cavs player against the Heat breaking the old record of 12 which several Cavs players had done seven times.
The Cavs will now head out on a three game West coast trip with stops in Utah, Los Angeles (Lakers), and San Francisco to take on the Warriors. First stop on the trip will be Salt Lake City, Utah, to take on the Jazz (21-52, 13-25 home) at 9:00 pm (EST).
POSTED 03/27/2026 22:29
Lake County Sentinel
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Cavs point guard James Harden hits a three point basket in the second quarter of the Cavs resounding 149-128 win over the Miami Heat, Friday at Rocket Arena. Photo by Tommy Shirer
