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Key: Saturday Night on South Beach
After their record-setting performance on Friday night in Atlanta, the Cavaliers wrap up their mini-road trip on Saturday – taking on the hot Heat in the second half of a weekend back-to-back.
In Friday’s 135-130 shootout at Philips Arena, the Wine and Gold set an NBA regular season record – drilling 25 triples, the final one by Kyle Korver that essentially sealed the win for Cleveland. In the victory, the Cavaliers went 25-for-46 from deep and featured six players who each hit at least three threes.
Despite dropping two of their last three – including a 110-99 loss on Friday night in Orlando – the Heat still come into tonight’s contest having won 17 of their last 21 games.
Miami, which now trails Detroit by just 1.5 games for the final playoff spot in the East, dropped its only matchup against the Cavaliers this season – with the Wine and Gold thumping the Heat by 30 points in early December at The Q as Cleveland’s Big Three combined for 78 points.
These two teams square off again on Monday night in Cleveland with the final matchup slated for April 10 on South Beach.
Key: Do the Drew
After notching 13 points in the opening period on Friday, it was obvious that Uncle Drew was on his way to one of those nights. When the smoke cleared, Kyrie had posted his second 40-point game of the season – going off for 43 points on 14-for-21 shooting, including 5-of-8 from long-range.
The four-time All-Star, who was perfect in 10 attempts from the stripe – including six straight to ice the victory in the final minute – led both teams with nine assists and had four of Cleveland’s seven steals. And as good as Irving has been over the last month – topping the 20-point mark in 11 straight games including Friday night’s – he’s been even better over the last week, averaging 32.5 points, 6.5 assists and 4.3 steals over his last four outings.
His opposite number on Saturday night – Goran Dragic – comes in as the Heat’s leading scorer and has tallied double-figures in 51 of the 54 games he’s played this season.
The nine-year veteran struggled in last night’s loss in Orlando – going just 3-for-15 from the floor – and the Cavaliers held him in check during their first meeting, but Dragic has had some big nights against Cleveland in the past.
Key: Return of the King
With Dwyane Wade now in Chicago, the meeting between Cleveland and Miami has lost some of its luster. But lately, it doesn’t seem to matter who’s on the other bench when the four-time MVP and reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Month takes the floor.
LeBron’s recent reign of terror continued on Friday night in Atlanta – with James exploding for 38 points, going 14-for-27 from the floor, including 6-of-10 from beyond the arc, leading both squads with 13 boards to go with eight assists.
Friday marked LeBron’s fourth straight game grabbing double-digit boards and ninth time this season he’s canned at least four triples in a game. And for a player who prides himself on efficiency, James is shooting .605 from the floor since the start of February, including a .566 mark from long-range over that span.
Since returning to Cleveland, the 13-time All-Star has averaged 25.6 points per in seven meetings against his former squad, including a 28-point, 8-rebound, 8-assist effort in the Cavs’ 30-point win earlier this season.
The Heat will try to slow down the King with a combination of Luke Babbitt and rookie Rodney McGruder on Saturday night on South Beach.
Key: Find Your Center
Miami has one of the best two-way bigs in the Eastern Conference in Hassan Whiteside – the league’s current rebounding leader at 14.2 boards per contest.
Whiteside – who also leads the NBA in defensive rebounding (10.6 per), is fourth among shot-blockers (2.05) and sixth in double-doubles (40) – has grabbed double-digit rebounds in 52 games this season and has blocked at least three shots in 16 more.
Whiteside’s had some success against the Wine and Gold – including a two-game stretch last year in which he combined for 11 blocks – but was kept completely under wraps in the lone matchup this season – finishing with just eight points on 4-for-10 shooting, grabbing a dozen boards in the lopsided loss.
On Saturday night, he’ll face off against Tristan Thompson – who’ll try to shake out of a recent funk. After doubling-up in six of his previous seven games, Thompson hasn’t scored in double-figures in any of his last four outings and has grabbed double-digit boards just once over that span.
That could be a tall order against a Heat team that traditionally gives Tristan trouble – holding him to just 3.3 points and 5.3 boards over his last three meetings against Miami.
Key: Where There's a Williams
The last time these two squads faced off, the Cavaliers leading scorer was Kevin Love – who went off for 28 points and 15 boards. Miami’s leading scorer in that early December loss was Derrick Williams, who came off the bench to finish with 17 points.
It’s only fitting that on the day of their rematch that Williams would ink a deal to remain with the Cavaliers for the rest of the season after an outstanding audition off a pair of 10-day contracts. Williams, the former No. 2 overall pick in the 2011 Draft, was released by Miami on February 6 before signing on with Cleveland.
And all he’s done since his arrival is average 10.3 points and 3.1 boards while shooting 56 percent from the floor in nine games off the bench. He was once against the model of efficiency on Friday night in Atlanta – finishing with nine points, going 3-for-5 from the floor, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.
The Heat’s third- and fourth-ranked scorers – Tyler Johnson and James Johnson – both do their work off Eric Spoelstra’s bench, with former Cavalier Wayne Ellington giving them three reserves that each average double-figure scoring.