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Cavs dominated fourth quarter

Originally posted on thePeachBasket | By Eric Labrador | Last updated Apr 21, 2025 12:35 PM ET

The Cavs dominated the fourth quarter of Game 1 in the Eastern Conference quarterfinal and beat Miami by 20. The Heat were competitive in the first three quarters but Cleveland up-shifted and Miami couldn’t keep pace. Ty Jerome had the game of his life. Donovan Mitchell scored 30 and Darius Garland had 27.

Heat trips to the foul line, three’s doom them

In a statistic that doesn’t bode well for Miami, they went to the foul line only 12 times. This shows that the Heat players weren’t intentional with their drives to the basket. Conversely, they shot 31 three-pointers and made 13 of them. In what was the difference in the game, the Cavs made 18 out of 43 three-point shots.

The Heat were trailing by 10 heading into the fourth quarter. They cut the deficit to eight but then the Cavs began sinking three-point shots to push the lead up. The Heat were outrebounded by five and almost equal to the Cavs in every other category. They just couldn’t keep up with Cleveland.

Ty Jerome surprise

The first surprise of the playoff series came from rookie Ty Jerome. He scored 28 points on 10 for 15 shooting. Jerome is also a finalist for the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award. He was taunting Heat players in Game 1 with his brash talking.

Coach Kenny Atkinson made a lineup change in Game 1, throwing Sam Merrill into the rotation. Merrill responded with a good defensive performance on Tyler Herro along with Max Strus. Atkinson is a good coach and is ready to take the Cavaliers to the next round.

Heat need to get ready for Game 2

One of the keys to the Heat in this playoff series is for Kel’el Ware to play big. On Sunday, ala the Kevin Hart joke about his Dad’s quirky sayings, “he learned today.” He was schooled by the Cavs, who presented a different offensive set for him than did Chicago or Atlanta. He was caught out of position defensively and ended up with two points and three rebounds. Game 2 is Wednesday in Cleveland so there is time to cram.

Tyler Herro, as per Heat beat writer Ira Winderman, was put under the Cavs defensive pressure on Sunday. It left the Heat without another “shot creator.” Bam Adebayo had 24 points and 9 rebounds to help in his capacity. Andrew Wiggins had 14 points and committed four turnovers. Davion Mitchell had 18 points and 9 assists.

This article first appeared on thePeachBasket and was syndicated with permission.

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