Heat build 45-point lead, roll past Cavaliers 121-84
MIAMI — There was a 2-on-0 break in the third quarter when Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo seemed like they couldn’t decide which one was going to get the easy basket.
It was that kind of night for the Miami Heat. Everything went right.
Haywood Highsmith scored 18 points, part of a 59-point effort by Miami’s reserves, and the Heat built what was their biggest lead in more than a decade on the way to beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 121-84 on Sunday night to snap a threegame home slide.
“Our home fans really deserved this, to be honest with you,” Highsmith said. “We haven’t been playing our best basketball at home. They deserve our best version of basketball and tonight was definitely fun for them.”
Adebayo had 15 points and 16 rebounds and Butler scored 15 points for the Heat, who led by 45 in the fourth quarter. Their biggest lead this season entering Sunday was 33, also against Cleveland on Nov. 22, and the 45-point cushion was their largest since leading Chicago by 46 in a playoff game on May 8, 2013.
Miami was coming off a 23-point loss to New Orleans on Friday.
“This group really cares. Even after a night like the other night … when it’s a really lopsided loss and you can erroneously say, ‘that’s a listless team,’ it’s not,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “This is a team that cares deeply.”
Evan Mobley scored 15 points for Cleveland (4328), which lost for the seventh time in 10 games but remained No. 3 in the East, a half-game ahead of New York. The Heat remained in seventh place in the East.
Both teams were short-handed Sunday. Cleveland got Mobley back after a nine-game absence with an ankle issue, but was again without Donovan Mitchell, Max Strus and Dean Wade. Miami played without Tyler Herro, Kevin Love, Duncan Robinson and Jaime Jaquez Jr.
“Mentally, physically, we’re worn,” Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “It’s on us all to figure it out. There’s no excuses. It doesn’t get any easier. But I just think tonight was one of those nights where collectively, it just set in on us.”