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Three Keys: Cavaliers vs. Heat

Key: Cleveland Heatwave

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After a strong road trip that saw the Wine & Gold take two of three, John Beilein’s young squad now returns for a pair of home contests – beginning with a Thursday night matchup against Jimmy Butler and the surprising Heat.

The Cavaliers nearly completed the road sweep on Tuesday night, taking the Eastern Conference heavyweight Sixers to the final moments – holding a five-point lead late in Philly. But the Sixers closed the contest on a 6-0 run, capped by Joel Embiid’s deciding dunk with 13.2 to play. Kevin Love’s triple attempt rattled out on Cleveland’s last possession, but the Cavaliers come home with their head held high – with a pair of tough teams rolling in before embarking on another three-game trip next week.

At 7-3, the Heat are off to their best start since the Big Three days – getting back on track with a win over Detroit on Tuesday night following an early season West Coast junket. Jimmy Butler and Kendrick Nunn led the way for Miami – which took all four meetings against Cleveland last season.

The Cavaliers have won six of the last nine meetings against Miami on their home floor and would love to get one tonight before heading back to South Beach – where the Cavaliers have struggled mightily over the years – for a quick rematch next Wednesday night.

Key: The Butler Did It

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After missing the first three games of the season with paternity leave, Jimmy Butler has been on a nice roll in his first season with Miami. The 30-year-old swingman’s numbers are slightly down from his Chicago days, but he’s also having to carry less of the load with Erik Spoelstra’s squad.

Butler has topped the 20-point mark three times this season and had a 34-point outburst in a road win over Phoenix, but hasn’t yet had a monster night this year. Butler has always had decent success against the Wine & Gold – scoring at least 16 points against Cleveland in each of the last 14 meetings.

With the Cavaliers two bigs – Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love – playing at an All-Star level and the young backcourt of Darius Garland and Collin Sexton stealing most of the headlines, small forward Cedi Osman has almost been an afterthought this season.

The young Cedi seemed to run out of steam over the last two games of the recent roadie – tallying five and four points, respectively, against New York and Philly, attempting a combined 13 shots in both. Before that, Osman was off to a solid start, netting double-figures in seven of his first eight outings.

Cedi’s only faced Miami four times in his young career, but in one of those meetings – a late January loss in Cleveland last year – he went off for a career-high 29 points, going 11-of-20 from the floor, including 3-of-8 from deep, adding four boards, four assists and a pair of steals.

He could use another big game to get his season jumpstarted.

Key: Front and Center

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A matchup with the Heat used to mean a battle on the block with shot-blocker supreme, Hassan Whiteside. But this year’s Heat squad is leaner and meaner and they’ve reinvented their frontline with newly-acquired Meyers Leonard, improving third-year man Bam Adebayo and, of course, Jimmy Butler.

Adebayo has been particularly impressive, upping his scoring average over four points this season, starting all ten games for the Heat and netting double-figures in eight of them while being a complete nuisance on the defensive end – averaging 1.6 steals and 1.4 blocks so far this year. (At 2.71 spg, Jimmy Butler leads the league.)

After spending his first seven years with Portland, Leonard has started all 10 games for Miami this year. He’s had a couple decent scoring games – topping the 20-point mark in a win over Houston, but he’s not in the lineup to do any offensive heavy lifting.

The Cavaliers two big men have been outstanding all year.

Against Philadelphia, Tristan Thompson notched his eighth double-double of the season, finishing with 17 points and a team-best 12 boards. So far this season, Tristan has totaled 165 points, 114 rebounds, 23 assists and 14 blocks – joining Brad Daugherty as just one of two players in franchise history to record at least 150 points, 100 rebounds, 20 assists and 10 blocks through the first 10 games

Kevin Love registered his fourth 20-point game of the season on Tuesday night, notching 20 points and eight boards in the loss. The 12th-year man is second on the team in scoring (18.5) and assists (3.4), while leading Cleveland on the glass – averaging 12.9 rpg, good for 5th in the NBA this year.