CLEVELAND, Ohio- It wasn’t necessarily pretty or enthralling basketball on Wednesday night but it got the job done for the Cleveland Cavaliers against the Miami Heat. Battling against the adversity of it having Kevin Love and the continued efforts of helping Isaiah Thomas mesh with the team were two of the storylines going into the game. Cleveland scored the 91-89 victory to earn an important win against a top Eastern Conference team.
Here’s our three takeaways from the game:
1. Finding Isaiah- The Cavs are continuing to work through the bumps in the road in the Isaiah Thomas transition into the point guard position. Wednesday was no different, as Thomas went 2-of-15 and only scored thirteen points.
Thomas appeared to continue his struggles in gathering the rhythm with his teammates and spent most of the game trying to pass around before taking his shot. It wasn’t the most ideal way to create a flow for the team and is why Thomas couldn’t find his looks.
2. Wade Adds Stability Again- Having Dwyane Wade on the floor is such a great commodity for Cleveland to have. The veteran guard continued to create havoc for the opposition on Wednesday.
Wade put up nine points and grabbed five boards in twenty-six minutes of game action. While on the floor, he worked well with Isaiah Thomas at times and Derrick Rose at other times. Wade made both guards play flawlessly and not afraid, adding another trusted guy when LeBron is not on the floor.
3. Concerns On Closing Out- Perimeter defense should’ve absolutely ended the Cavs’ chances of winning on Wednesday. Instead, Miami couldn’t capitalize on poor close-outs and lack of attentive perimeter defense and let Cleveland escape with the win.
The Heat went 3-for-28 in what was a dreadful performance. It didn’t matter if it was heavily contested or wide-open, Miami was nowhere close to confidently hitting three’s.
Trust and believe that Cleveland will not believe the next opponent will shoot so poorly from long-range. With Houston right around the corner, the Cavs will look to shut down a plethora of three-point shots.
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