*** Two good pieces of news came out of Sunday night’s contest in Miami. One: That Evan Mobley returned to the lineup after a nine-game absence. The second: That the Cavaliers have a chance to wash the taste of the ugly loss out of their mouths on Monday night. The Heat didn’t need any last-second heroics from Terry Rozier on Sunday night, handing a listless Cavs squad their third straight defeat – a 121-84 loss at the Kaseya Center. Cleveland managed just 57 points through the first three quarters and only one starter, Mobley, saw action in the fourth as the Cavaliers fell to Miami for the third time in four tries this year.
*** The Cavaliers were never in it on Sunday. They trailed by 10 points after one quarter, scored just 17 points in the second quarter and 18 more in the third. The Heat led by as many as 45 points late in the fourth quarter.
*** Cleveland has now dropped six of its last eight with 11 games to go in the regular season. The Heat also handed the Cavs their two worst losses of the season – a 33-point margin in the first meeting; 37 on Sunday night.
*** Mobley had missed the previous nine games with a left ankle injury suffered against the Celtics back on March 5. And he was the only Cavalier to notch double-figure scoring on the night – finishing with 15 points, going 4-of-6 from the floor, including 2-of-2 from deep and 5-of-6 from the stripe.
*** Mobley also tied for the team lead with four rebounds as the Cavaliers grabbed just 30 total boards on the night. Bam Adebayo grabbed 16 rebounds, one more than Cleveland’s combined starting five. Miami outran the Wine and Gold on the break, 24-2, and converted 17 turnovers in 35 points.
*** The 3rd-year man from USC lamented Sunday’s loss. “I feel like we just couldn't find a flow tonight. There wasn't one part of the game that felt like we had a flow going. We started off slow, and it went from there. Sometimes that happens, and we got another one tomorrow – so we got to focus on that now and keep just getting better and figure out what we did wrong and fix that.”
*** Jarrett Allen and Darius Garland followed up Mobley’s effort among the starters with nine points apiece. Sam Merrill took the collar on six three-point attempts, but still led Cleveland with six assists in 31 minutes of work off the bench.
*** After starting the previous nine games, Georges Niang moved back to a reserve role on Sunday – finishing with six points and four boards. “We've been grinding it out, obviously, whether it's with injuries or whatever, but that's no excuse. I mean, I think these games happen where you just get knocked out in the first half and you never can really get up and start swinging. And those games happen in the NBA. But I think the biggest thing for us is we have Charlotte at home tomorrow, and we have to get back on track. Nobody's going to feel bad for us.”
*** J.B. Bickerstaff went with his reserves almost exclusively in the fourth quarter – and they responded well on the offensive end. Emoni Bates and Damian Jones finished with nine points apiece, with Bates going 3-of-4 from long-range and Jones connecting on all three field goal attempts and all three free throws on the night.
*** The Wine and Gold will try to get back in the win column on Monday night, welcoming the Hornets to town in the first half of a home-and-home set – traveling to Charlotte for the rematch on Wednesday. The Cavaliers come home, but again just for one game, welcoming the Sixers on Friday night before departing on a five-game West Coast trip to complete the travel schedule.