MIAMI — — There was a 2-0 break in the third quarter when Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo looked like they couldn’t decide which one was going to win the easy basket.
It was that kind of night for the Miami Heat. Everything went well.
Haywood Highsmith scored 18 points, part of a 59-point effort by Miami’s reserves, and the Heat built what was their largest lead in more than a decade by beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 121-84 Sunday evening to win a hat-trick. slide deck at home.
“Our home fans really deserved this, to be honest with you,” Highsmith said. “We didn’t play our best basketball at home. They deserve our best version of basketball and tonight was really fun for them.
Adebayo had 15 points and 16 rebounds and Butler scored 15 points for the Heat, who led by 45 in the fourth quarter. Their largest lead this season on Sunday was 33, also against Cleveland on November 22, and the 45-point gap was the largest since they led Chicago by 46 in a playoff game on May 8, 2013.
Miami started the day seventh in the Eastern Conference and finished there as well, tied with Philadelphia at 39-32. The 76ers won against the Los Angeles Clippers earlier Sunday, but currently trail the Heat due to the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Miami had just lost 23 points against New Orleans on Friday.
“This group really cares. Even after a night like the other night… when it’s a really lopsided loss and you can wrongly say, ‘They’re a listless team,’ that’s not the case,” said the Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. “This is a team that cares deeply.”
Evan Mobley scored 15 points for Cleveland (43-28), which lost for the seventh time in 10 games but remained No. 3 in the East, with a half-game lead over New York.
Both teams were shorthanded on Sunday. Cleveland got Mobley back after a nine-game absence due to an ankle problem, but was again without Donovan Mitchell, Max Strus and Dean Wade. Miami played without Tyler Herro, Kevin Love, Duncan Robinson and Jaime Jaquez Jr.
“Mentally and physically we are exhausted,” Cavaliers coach JB Bickerstaff said. “It’s up to all of us to find out.” There is no excuse. It doesn’t get any simpler. But I just think tonight was one of those nights where collectively, it settled on us.
It was the first time since January 30, 2008 that Cleveland had only one player in double figures; it was LeBron James that night.
“Just one of those nights,” Bickerstaff said.
Terry Rozier and Thomas Bryant each scored 14 for Miami. It was Miami’s largest margin of victory of the season and Cleveland’s most lopsided loss; the previous entry in both cases was also a Heat-Cavs game, Miami’s 129-96 win in November.
The Heat got a layup from Rozier to end the first quarter with a 30-22 lead. Rozier did the same thing to end the second quarter, with that score pushing Miami’s margin to 60-39.
And in the third, it became a fugue. A 23-2 run in five minutes eventually pushed Miami’s lead to 86-46. Cleveland pulled all five starters just 3 1/2 minutes into the third and four of them — Isaac Okoro, Jarrett Allen, Caris LeVert and Darius Garland — stayed there the rest of the way.
FOLLOWING
Cavaliers: Host Charlotte on Monday.
Heat: Host Golden State on Tuesday.
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