Heat pull off road win over undermanned Cavaliers

In the last seconds of regulation, Terry Rozier made seven of his twenty-four points, including the game-winning 3-pointer with 14.5 seconds left to play in the Miami Heat’s 107-104 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday.

NBA: Miami Heat at Cleveland CavaliersNBA: Miami Heat at Cleveland Cavaliers

NBA: Miami Heat at Cleveland CavaliersNBA: Miami Heat at Cleveland Cavaliers

Miami, who started the game ranked third in the Eastern Conference, led the most of the way against a Cleveland squad that had not lost since defeating a club with a record above.500 on February 26.

Despite this, the Heat were only able to increase their lead to 11 points at its highest point. With Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and Max Strus out of the game, the Cavaliers came back to lead by ten points in the fourth quarter thanks to Georges Niang.

Niang finished with 18 points, one of five Cleveland scorers in double figures. With a team-high 25 points and 20 rebounds, Jarrett Allen scored his 34th double-double of the season and his first 20+ point, 20+ rebound double-double since December 27.

With 1:34 left, Niang scored his final two points on a pair of free throws to give the Cavaliers a four-point lead. However, Rozier quickly erased the advantage when Isaac Okoro fouled him on a successful three-point effort.

NBA: Miami Heat at Cleveland CavaliersNBA: Miami Heat at Cleveland CavaliersNBA: Miami Heat at Cleveland CavaliersNBA: Miami Heat at Cleveland CavaliersNBA: Miami Heat at Cleveland CavaliersNBA: Miami Heat at Cleveland Cavaliers

In order to set up the game-winning basket for Cleveland on their next possession, the Miami defense forced a shot-clock viоlatiоn, which Rozier converted on the four-point play to tie the score at 100-100.

Rozier made five of six 3-pointers. With a game-high 30 points, Jimmy Butler was 2-of-4 from beyond the arc and 11-of-19 overall from the field.

Butler nearly pulled off four thefts. Ten-point scorer Patty Mills added two more steals. Nikola Jovic led Miami with 14 points on 4-of-10 shooting from three-point range.

In the defeat, Caris LeVert scored 16 points and dished out 12 assists for his third double-double in the previous five games. Sam Merrill scored all 12 of his points off the bench by going 4-of-9 beyond the arc, while Darius Garland made 5-of-12 from 3-point range en way to 20 points.

NBA: Miami Heat at Cleveland CavaliersNBA: Miami Heat at Cleveland CavaliersNBA: Miami Heat at Cleveland CavaliersNBA: Miami Heat at Cleveland Cavaliers