Cavaliers win ninth straight with 108-97 win over Miami; LeBron ejected in 3rd quarter
BY STONE LEXINGTON
CAVALIERS BEAT WRITER
The The Cleveland Cavaliers hosted a scrappy Miami Heat team Tuesday night that usually performs well against the better teams in the NBA. Cavs power forward Kevin Love personally made sure the Heat wouldn’t contend with Cleveland Tuesday, as the Cavs pounded Miami 108-97 in Quicken Loans Arena for their ninth straight victory.
“He just came out being aggressive, taking his shots in rhythm,” Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue said. “I just like he was aggressive. When they put smalls on him, he posted up, got to the free throw line. When they had the 5’s on him, he was able to stretch out, make shots on the perimeter.”
Sparked by Love’s early brilliance, Cleveland jumped out to a 14-4 first-quarter lead. Love had 10 of the Cavs’ first 14 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field, including two three-pointers. Miami immediately called timeout, attempting to cool him off. It didn’t work. When Love drained another three-pointer with 5:18 remaining in the quarter, he had reached 19 points to help the Cavs secure a 24-12 lead and force another Miami timeout. Cleveland led 35-24 when the first quarter ended, largely produced by Love’s 22 first-quarter points. He was only getting started.
“I think the aggressiveness from the whole team was great from the jump,” Love said. “It wasn’t just myself, but I thought guys were shooting their shots, getting to the free throw line and playing good basketball.”
Miami began the second quarter with an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to a 38-32 margin, but the Cavs demolished the Heat from that point forward. Cleveland immediately put together a 26-7 run, capped by a Love hook shot that gave the Cavs a 64-39 lead. Love’s hook pushed his total to 30 points at that point, and the Cavs took a staggering 75-49 lead into halftime.
“Some games I’m not going to shoot too much, some games I’m going to shoot a lot like tonight,” Love said. “It’s just whatever this team needs me to do to win. I know each and every person here is sacrificing for the better of the team.”
Love, who didn’t play in the fourth quarter, finished with 38 points and nine rebounds. He was certainly the star of the night, but another intriguing development happened late in the third quarter, as LeBron James was ejected from a game for the first time in his career.
With two minutes remaining in the third quarter, James drove to the bucket and thought he was fouled in the process. He missed the shot attempt and immediately began barking at a referee. The referee then tossed James from the game for something he didn’t think should come out of James’ mouth. The King finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds in 28 minutes.
“I got fouled and showed my frustration to the ref and he sent me to the locker room,” James said while also noting that he had said something similar to a referee in the past and wasn’t tossed.
Former Cavalier Dion Waiters led Miami with 21 points and seven assists, while Josh Richardson chipped-in 15 points. Bam Adebayo also added 15 points to the Heat cause.
Cleveland was once again without Isaiah Thomas, Derrick Rose, Tristan Thompson and Iman Shumpert due to injuries. Their offense hasn’t suffered, though, as the Cavs entered the game third in the league in scoring, averaging 110.9 points per game. Tuesday night against Miami, the Cavs drained 11 three-pointers, the 10th straight game they’ve made at least 10 three-pointers.
“Koby and Dan and those guys have done a good job of giving us all of the talent that we need,” Lue said. “It’s been tough without a point guard, that’s been the toughest thing, is just trying to figure out how to play without a point guard. But Jose has stepped in and done a great job of doing that.”
He added, “I think guys have figured it out. I think the rotations are better. Guys know when they’re going to play, when they’re going to go into the game. So right now, we just got a good thing going.”
Lue intimated that Thomas has yet to begin practicing with his teammates, and the Cavs head coach wouldn’t confirm if Thomas would be able to return before the team’s initial January target date.
“Just trying to get him on the floor to practice, that’s the next step,” Lue said prior to Tuesday’s game. “2-on-2’s, 3-on-3’s and things like that, but we don’t have a timetable yet.”
As the Cavs continue to win, one can’t help but wonder what the team will look like when Thomas ultimately returns. If Love continues playing like he did Tuesday night, Thomas won’t have to rush back..
POSTED 11/28/2017 22:32
Lake County Sentinel
Photo by Greg Goth
Photo by Greg Goth