Cleveland, Ohio – In front of the match 1 of Sunday between the most seeded riders and 8 seeded Miami Heat, I was thinking of a quote from Darius Garland.
“By just trying to go out at the start of the right start, to set the tone with our physique, our defense and resulting only in their storm,” said Garland after Saturday’s practice.
It is explained exactly how Garland considered it for the Cavs, who did an excellent job to give this tone at the start of their 121-100 victory, against a scrappy Miami team which was not even supposed to be here.
Yes, giving the tone can be a cliché in the world of professional sports. But pictures always have the truth for them, right?
And being the best team in the East, winning 64 regular season games, the Cavs know that they have a target on their backs. The teams come for them. Starting strong in the playoffs, and in each match below, will be their best defense.
The Heat won two game tournament games, becoming the first seeded to claim the 8 seeds to make the playoffs.
Given the championship culture which was instilled in Miami during the decade and more, the Cavs knew that this Heat team was more dangerous than its initial sowing and 37 victories in the regular season suggested.
And Cleveland played like that.
The Cavs took an advance of 14-5 in the first three and a half minutes, forcing Miami to burn for a first step.
Cleveland made five of his first six shooting attempts – the perfect start against a team that wants to play the area against you.
But as Garland predicted it on Saturday, the Heat responded with a sequence of 10-2.
But Cleveland resisted the storm.
The Cavs led for every 35 seconds of the match except 35 years old and showed that they were ready to be the intimidators.
Jarrett Allen, whose courage in the playoffs has been questioned in each of the last three years, went to the locker room with nine rebounds in the first mid-shifts and a bad dunk out of the file against the star of Heat Bam Adebayo to go with eight points.
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Donovan Mitchell was the clear leader of CAVs offensively, even when he struggled with Beyond 3. He always attacked the basket and obtained everything he wanted inside. But its impact exceeded its shots of 11 out of 19 and 30 points.
No, what I think about the place is the moments when he is waiting at the scorer table to register, pointing and directing his teammates in defensive actions. Or when he gives Duncan Robinson a quick push to the chest after the heat forward makes a hard choice on Sam Merrill.
Or the pieces like the one that Mitchell made in the second quarter, where after having sank a basic float to give Cleveland an advance of 62-48, he sprinted to the defensive end of the soil. The Cavs stars guard then collided in Adebayo and picked up his pocket, forcing a jump ball that Darius Garland has improbable.
And speaking of Garland: he was there alongside Mitchell, finishing with 27 points and five assists.
And then there were the key minutes of the bench.
Kenny Atkinson remained faithful to his word and took 10 years in this match.
The first three of the bench were from’Andre Hunter, Merrill and Ty Jerome, who all arrived halfway from the first quarter for their first minutes. Isaac Okoro lying at the start of the second quarter, and Dean Wade was 8:44.
Jérôme, playing in his first eliminatory career match and who, earlier in the day, was appointed finalist for the sixth man of the year, was everywhere early, at some point, trapping Robinson in the area and forcing him to throw the ball into the first row of the crowd, bending his muscles and letting out a cry of guttural in the afternoon.
He also reached three of his first five shots, obtained eight points in the first half, and with Merrill, finished with the highest note in first half more at seven years old. He finished with 28 points, after leaving the fourth quarter with 16 of these points.
For most of the evening, it’s just felt As the Cavs were everywhere at both ends.
Four players scored two figures. Each starter had at least nine points.
Defensively, they obtained the stops that counted – the length of Allen and Mobley alone at this heat offense, and the addition of Hunter (including his third trimester, a block of back panels against Davion Mitchell) sometimes seemed unjust for this thermal offense.
The Cavs began the strong game and, in turn, started the Strong series.
However, it can be cliché.
