Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Heat defeat Cavs
Waiters, Heat stun LeBron, Cavaliers
Miami beats LeBron James and the Cavaliers 106-98. The Heat have won 19 of their last 23 games.
CLEVELAND — So who exactly saw this coming?
Because these weren’t the same Cleveland Cavaliers from Saturday night, when they rested LeBron James and Kyrie Irving in their 28-point loss at AmericanAirlines Arena.
And it wasn’t even the same Miami Heat, with Tyler Johnson and James Johnson held out with nagging injuries.
And yet perhaps the Heat’s 106-98 victory Monday night at Quicken Loans Arena made total sense.
Because the Heat have now won 19 of their past 23 games. And that can’t be by accident. So perhaps this, indeed, is who the Heat are.
“We believe in ourselves,” guard Dion Waiters said. “And if they don’t, I think we’ve done a good job of opening their eyes.”
And perhaps opened eyes to the possibility that if these teams do meet in the first round of the playoffs it could be something other than annihilation.
The Cavaliers, by then, of course, will be far closer to
whole than they were Monday night, with Kevin Love to return from his knee injury and J.R. Smith from his thumb ailment.
But what the Heat showed Monday night is that the adversity of the season-long absence of Chris Bosh and rash of injuries that this time had Tyler Johnson out with shoulder soreness issue and James Johnson with an elbow laceration, has steeled this roster.
“We don’t make excuses,” guard Goran Dragic said.
So Waiters scored 24 of his 29 points in the first half and then converted a dagger 32-foot 3-pointer with the game in the balance, Dragic added 21 points and Wayne Ellington fueled the Heat’s 3-point game to the tune of 18 points. There also was a 13-point, 11-rebound double-double by Heat center Hassan Whiteside.
In many ways, the game reflected Waiters’ night, a 10-of-12 first half and then a 2-of-12 second half.
“He’s fearless,” coach Erik Spoelstra said. “That irrational confidence, sometimes it drives you nuts.”
And sometimes it drives you to better places, with the Heat now within 1 1⁄2 games of the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls, who are tied for seventh place in the Eastern Conference.
From the Cavaliers, the overwhelming two-man game of James and Irving was back, with James closing with 30 points and 17 rebounds, and Irving with 32 points.
Much of the game was spent with Heat rookie forward Okaro White defending James.
“He’s a competitor, that’s why we liked him,” Spoelstra said. “In this game, you’ve got to play the best player on this planet — OK, figure it out.”
After the Heat led by 20 early in the fourth quarter, a James 3-pointer that put him at 30 points drew the Cavaliers within 101-90 with 5:02 to play. Irving then splashed in a 3-pointer to move Cleveland with 101-93 with 4:04 remaining.
From there, Heat guard Josh Richardson worked his way to the foul line with 2:42 to play, making both attempts for a 103-93 Heat lead.
Center Tristan Thompson followed with an alleyoop dunk on the other end to bring the Cavaliers within eight.
After Richardson missed an open 3-pointer on an offensive scramble, Thompson then worked his way to the line with 1:47 left, making on the second of the two free throws to draw Cleveland within 103-96.
Waiters then found Ellington, who missed an open 3-pointer, with Deron Williams converting a 15-foot jumper on the other end to draw Cleveland within 103-98 with 68 seconds to play.
After a Waiters miss, James also missed, putting the Heat in possession up five with 34.5 seconds to play.
And that’s when, with the shot-clock expiring, Waiter banked in a 32-bank 3-pointer for a 106-98 Heat lead with 12.2 seconds to play. Game. “Great teams are going to make a run and come back.” Spoelstra said. “If the game would have been 10 more minutes, I don’t know what would have happened.”
The Cavaliers were coached by assistant and former Hawks coach Larry Drew, with Tyronn Lue out with an illness that has bothered him for a week.
Despite the Cavaliers opening the third period with a 7-0 run to reduce the Heat’s 10-point halftime lead to three, the Heat then pushed back to an 18-point lead in the third, taking an 89-71 lead into the fourth.
The Heat did much of their damage in the third when James went to the bench, including loading up on 3-pointers from Ellington.
Waiters, who shot 1 of 7 in the third period, still went into the fourth with 26 points, with Ellington, who was 5 of 8 on 3-pointers to that point, with 18 points.
With Waiters scoring his 24 in the first half on 10 of 12 shooting, including 4 of 4 on 3-pointers, the Heat, after earlier pushing to a 15-point lead, took a 62-52 edge into halftime.
Waiters was supported by 11 first-half points from Dragic, with James ending the first half with 16 points and 11 rebounds.