Cleveland, Ohio – About an hour before Tipoff, a small group of Cavs players was seated inside the locker room by scrolling through their phones – a usual pre -match occurrence – when one of them went up the final score of the opening of the series of Oklahoma City -Memphis (131-80).
“They set the tone. They sent a message,” he said. “We have to do the same thing tonight. Show them why we are the seed n ° 1. ”
Cleveland did it, beating Miami, eighth seeded, 121-100, when the first round series was opened on Sunday evening in Rocket Arena. The Cavs lead the best of seven, 1-0.
“I think we played super hard and competitive,” said Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson after victory. “But one thing about the heat, they make you play for 48. I know it’s a cliché, but many teams do not. You can’t relax. I know that the score was 20 or other, but it was a six or seven points there.”
Rally towels are agitating furiously. A raw closed window crowds was mainly dressed in white. This is the time of year that the riders – and the fans – were waiting. This has been 12 months since an release in the playoffs at the hands of the possible champion Boston Celtics. It is their chance to show how far they have arrived and why this race in the playoffs will be different – perhaps even in June.
The cavs of 64 victories, which obtained the seeded with the second best regular season in the history of the franchise, made the first basket of the night – a right pointer Max Strus 3 which roared an already booty building. They led by nine less than three minutes after the start of the match and dragged for only 35 seconds in the first quarter – the only Stretch Miami was ahead all night.
Near the Domination by wire to wire – a postponement of the regular season.
“We are a very good team when everyone connects to all cylinders,” said the leader of the stars Darius Garland. “Everyone touches the ball, feeling it, the ball moves, attacks them close, gets the fence, throwing the lob, sprayer. This is the basketball of the riders. This is what we did tonight. We have to continue doing this for the rest of this series and the rest of the season just to be where we want to be.”
The MVP candidate, Donovan Mitchell, finished with a summit of 30 points to go with five rebounds and four assists in 33 minutes. It is the seventh consecutive match 1 where Mitchell collected at least 30 points, equaling the great Michael Jordan for the longest sequence of all time. Jordan did it twice (1991-1993, 97-98).
“By just giving the tone, just trying to be aggressive, which means that the defense must react to me, almost my mindset every time I go out,” said Mitchell when he asked him about his approach to game 1. “I just take what the game gives me.”
While Mitchell went out with just over a minute to play, he was serenade of cheers while waving the crowd.
Then came a song.
Cavs in 4! Cavs in 4! Cavs in 4!
Regular reserve Ty Jerome, one of the finalists of the sixth man of the year who missed all the matches except two last season due to an injury that sent him to a mentally dark place, shone in his beginnings in the playoffs.
Jerome spent 28 points, the third in his career, out of 10 out of 15 on the field and 5 out of 8 on a 3 -point beach. Jerome collected 16 of these points during a fourth sparkling quarter, causing songs of “Ty J-Rome, Ty Je-Rome” which resulted in the arena.
Garland added 27 points and five assists.
According to Elias Sports Bureau, this is the first time in the history of the franchise, a trio of players marked 27 points or more in the same eliminatory match.
“Solid,” said Jerome when he assess his beginnings. “In the end, you must be who you are – within the team of course. Finally, when you know yourself very well and you have a way to hear yourself with your teammates, your team is starting to allow you to be your full self. When you are your full self, it’s when you can reach your full potential.”
The Cavs looked at the part of the most classified offensive in the league, pulling 51.1% in total and 41.9% beyond the arc.
The heat was led by Bam Adebayo who finished with 24 points. Tyler Herro had 21.
In the days preceding the opening of the Sunday series, Cleveland spoke several times to play with physicity, to play with a goal, to launch the first punch and to remain faithful to the team they were all season.
The Cavs led by a summit of 21 at a given time. The heat only got closer to six in the second period. The margin was seven to 7:46 am from the fourth quarter – then Cleveland dominated Miami 26-12 to finish the match, letting Atkinson empty his bench with a little over a minute.
It was not an OKC level rout. No 50 -point margin. But it was quite close – what exactly is expected from the best team in the East.
The tone they wanted to fix.
The next
The Cavs welcome the Heat of the match 2 Wednesday evening. Tipoff is set at 7:30 p.m.
