Cavs Fall To Heat In Potential Playoff Matchup

The Cleveland Cavaliers could not overcome a late-game slump and the Miami Heat came away with a 100-97 win.

You always have to be on your A-game when playing the Miami Heat. 

It doesn't matter who their starting five is, where they rank in the playoff hunt, or what their record is. Miami has built a culture and they find players who live up to it making them one of the toughest opponents to play in the NBA.

The Cavs knew that this wouldn't be an easy game and they came out with a ton of energy to set the tone early. The Heat are an experienced and well-coached so their response was inevitable.

After going back and forth throughout the entire game, the Heat came away with a 100-97 victory. This is another concerning late-game loss for the Cavs.

Watch the postgame press conference here:

The Cavs were the fifth seed and the Heat were the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference heading into Tuesday night's game. If the dominos fall the right way over the final couple of months of the season, then these two teams could easily be playing in a playoff series come this April.

The intensity of this game definitely lived up to this potential of being a playoff-like competition. Each team played great defense, had their own individual runs, and the game went down to the last few possessions. 

All you have to do is look at the final score and see the defense that was played in this game. The Cavs have the second-best defensive rating in the NBA and the Heat have the third so it's no surprise it was low-scoring.

It's hard to look at this game and criticize the Cavs for a lot, outside of the last four minutes. These late-game breakdowns are turning into an unwelcome trend for Cleveland

The usual suspects of Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen all contributed at a high level on both offense and defense. They went toe-to-toe with Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, but they just couldn't close it out in the end. 

The Cavs are back in action on Thursday as they look to get payback on the Grizzlies for another late-game meltdown earlier this month. 

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