Coup’s Takeaways: Kyle Lowry Ties HEAT-High As Miami Rolls In Cleveland Behind Shooting And Defense

1. Early leads matter unless they don’t. Or they don’t matter unless they do.

For the third straight game, after the two-night set in Chicago, Miami couldn’t miss in the early going, jumping out to a 16-2 lead with Kyle Lowry eventually hitting his first five threes. No Donovan Mitchell for Cleveland but also no Bam Adebayo or Tyler Herro for Miami, so Cleveland was scoring just fine – when they weren’t turning the ball over. The Cavaliers still had plenty of shotmaking juice but they were sped up by a team dialing up the perimeter pressure, with 12 of Cleveland’s first-half turnovers (to Miami’s four) being of the live-ball variety. All half-court offense being equal, it was transition where the HEAT pushed themselves out front, 69-55 at the break.

For the second straight game, after hitting nearly half their threes in Chicago, the shooting just wouldn’t cool down no matter who was shooting it. Whatever went up, it went in, and the lead stretched out over 20. Cleveland just couldn’t keep pace, their percentages looking good but turnovers continuing to drag the efficiency down like quicksand.

This is not a difficult one to explain. A minute into the fourth quarter Miami was 18-of-30 from three (finishing 20-of-35), with Jaime Jaquez Jr. (career-high 22 points) going 4-of-4, and had 12 fewer turnovers than the home team – Kyle Lowry having touched his HEAT -high with 28 points on 7-of-9 from three – their 28-point lead prompting Cleveland coach J.B. Bickerstaff to hold his starters out for the final period. Been a while since Miami has had consecutive walk-it-home fourth quarters, winning 129-96 for their first 30-point victory since May of 2022, but the day before Thanksgiving is as good a time as any.

2. Early last season the Cavaliers gave Miami’s zone its roughest night of the year, scoring 1.34 points per across 41 possessions in a 26-point victory over the HEAT. Their combination of two centers capable of operating in the middle of the floor in Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, the shooting of Darius Garland and second-side speed of Mitchell – Cleveland was running a screen on one side, quickly reversing it to Mitchell on the weak side as Mitchell launched into the paint – exploited all the holes in the zone as Cleveland looked more comfortable than most teams against the HEAT’s secondary look.

Allen and Mobley still had their moments tonight after Cleveland’s early turnovers trying to force the ball into them, but without that release valve in Mitchell after the zone tilted toward one side, the Cavaliers found themselves operating in tight spaces and found the ball going the other direction before they even got a shot up. And with Miami toggling between zone and man, throwing in some full-court pressure as they always do, with pressure high up on the floor – the help was faster and more furious tonight – Cleveland was alternating between earning good looks and coughing the ball up. On the second night of a traveling back-to-back, when fatigue slows the processing speed, it was a high wire act the Cavaliers couldn’t manage as they finished with 19 turnovers to Miami’s 10. Across 29 possessions, Cleveland scored just 0.82 points per possession.

3. Adebayo might be the most important player on the Heat as far as what he means to them on both ends of the court, but Erik Spoelstra has never tried to play the same way when Adebayo is not available. Instead of playing it safe, he tends to get even more aggressive, betting that asking his replacement big men to speed up the other team – push-up switches and blitzes being favored over soft drop coverage – is the best option. Aggression produces turnovers, and turnovers beget transition scores.

With Kevin Love and Tyler Herro also out, both Orlando Robinson and Thomas Bryant were game for what they were asked to do as they combined for +35 and 24 points on 17 shots.  The minutes might not always be there, but when one of your best players is out this is what you ask for in the middle. Nothing spectacular, just solid and efficient.

Meanwhile, Jaquez Jr. continuing to shoot this well is one of the sneakier important developments of the season. If the shooting is real, and it’s been great of late, he’s as complete a ready-to-go rookie as you’ll see.