Cleveland once again shows why they’re a championship contender.
The Cleveland Cavaliers did what title contenders are supposed to do. They went on the road, took care of business, and ended any hope the Miami Heat had of making this a competitive series, and won Game 3 in a 124-87 rout.
Darius Garland missed this game with a toe sprain. Cleveland didn’t miss his services on Saturday afternoon thanks to an overall team effort led by Jarrett Allen.
Allen, when he’s playing aggressively, is difficult to handle. He came out of the gates quickly, scoring Cleveland’s first six points in what was a shaky start to the game.
The Cavs went down 12-4 early on, but they quickly found their footing from there, thanks to their defense. They rattled off an 18-0 run highlighted by forcing four turnovers in that stretch. This completely flipped the momentum of the game.
Cleveland kept their foot on the gas from there. They extended their advantage to 13 by the end of the first quarter. They kept pushing their margin throughout the second as the defense continued to not give Miami an inch of daylight.
Head coach Kenny Atkinson has spoken at length about winning the possession battle. The Cavs did that. They finished the first half with six more second-chance points and seven more points off turnovers. Those 13 points helped fuel a 20-point lead at the break.
The Heat came out fighting in the third quarter. They scored the first seven points, but the Cavs were able to quickly extend their lead back to 20 midway through the third to end any thoughts of a comeback.
The Cavaliers learned their lesson from Game 2. Instead of losing focus for stretches in the third quarter, they kept their foot firmly on the gas until they ended up with a 37-point win.
Allen turned in a superb game. He led the way with 22 points on 8-9 shooting with nine rebounds.
De’Andre Hunter was phenomenal off the bench. He had a strong bounce-back performance in Game 2 after failing to score in the series opener. That progression continued as he was Cleveland’s best scorer for stretches of Game 3. He finished with 21 points on 6-8 shooting in the victory.
Evan Mobley added 19 points and six rebounds while going 8-13 from the field. Max Strus had a nice return to Miami as he supplied 18 points and five assists in the blowout victory.
Donovan Mitchell had a quiet game with 13 points on 4-14 shooting with just one assist and three boards.
Bam Adebayo led the Heat with 22 points and nine rebounds. Tyler Herro had 13 points on 5-13 shooting.
The series isn’t officially over, but it feels like it is. The only remaining remaining is whether Miami can get the series to shift back to Cleveland. We’ll find out in Game 4 on Monday evening.