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HEAT Defeat Feisty Cavs

Thanks to great ball movement and stout defense, the HEAT defeated the Cavaliers 108-97 Thursday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Let’s see how it all went down.

1. Nunn Does It All

After balling out in the second half of Tuesday’s game against the Pistons, Kendrick Nunn carried over his sharp play to Cleveland.

Actually, he did more than that, as he attacked the basket, set up his teammates with good feeds, drilled mid-range jumpers and hit some of his usual threes.

In other words, he did it all.

As a result, he recorded 14 points and six assists before the break, including this crafty spin and hook shot against Tristan Thompson in the second quarter:

Oh yeah, this rocket pass to Jimmy Butler wasn’t too shabby, either:

Whoa.

Nunn then followed up his impressive first half with a nine-point third quarter where he utilized screens well and continued to get the job done.

Of course, the 24-year-old rookie also competed hard defensively against both Collin Sexton and Darius Garland for most of the night.

When it was all said and done, Nunn tallied a game-high 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting, a game and career-high eight assists, five boards, two steals and a plus-21 rating.

2. Butler Stays Strong Defensively

With the Cavs threatening to make a comeback late in the third quarter, Butler calmed things down for Miami and fared well on both ends of the floor.

In addition to finishing plays inside and distributing the ball to his teammates, he also came through with a bevy of deflections and steals.

I mean, just look at these great defensive sequences in the second half:

That’s Miami HEAT basketball.

In all, Butler had 14 points on 7-of-11 shooting, six assists, a team-high three steals, a game-high two blocks and a plus-17 rating.

3. Herro Mixes It Up

In his first game back since spraining his left ankle, Tyler Herro wasted little time to get going.

How so?

Well, he moved off the ball effectively for treys and got to the free-throw line en route to a 12-point second quarter.

Then again, we can’t forget about this block from behind on Sexton:

Herro finished with 16 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field and a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe, one rebound, one assist and that block above.

Other Takeaways:

-With a tough frontcourt on the other side, Bam Adebayo answered the challenge and emptied the tank time and time again.

And while the 22-year-old did his usual damage offensively with buckets in the paint and handoffs along the perimeter, his biggest contribution came defensively against Kevin Love.

In total, Adebayo racked up 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting, a game and season-high 15 rebounds, five assists, a block and a game-high plus-25 rating.

-Goran Dragić made some key plays in the fourth and continued to make good decisions with the ball in his hands. The Slovenian ended up with nine points, seven assists, three rebounds and two steals.

Game Notes:

-Derrick Jones Jr. (Left Hip Strain) was an active scratch.

-Justise Winslow (Concussion), KZ Okpala (Left Achilles Strain) and Dion Waiters (Team Suspension) did not travel and were inactive.

Looking Ahead:

-The HEAT will head home to take on the Pelicans on Saturday at 8PM. Tickets for that game at AmericanAirlines Arena can be found here.