The Cleveland Cavaliers will hit the road to take on the Miami Heat for Game 3 of their first-round series.
They arrived in South Beach with a 2-0 series lead, but it wasn’t easy.
Game 2 saw the Cavs struggle to get to their spots, and they had to lean heavily on Donovan Mitchell to take care of business.
That’s why Evin Gualberto of Cleveland.com believes the Cavs will need to go back to basics and play their usual brand of offense if they want to leave South Beach with a win on Saturday:
“The key to the success of the Cavs all season has been ball movement and man movement while getting RA (restricted area) touches to collapse the defense. They went away from that formula some in Game 2 but were able to hold off the Heat with the heroics of one Donovan Mitchell,” Gualberto wrote. “Cavs fans are hoping Kenny Atkinson can get his players to rediscover what made them great as they make the trip to South Beach for Saturday afternoon’s Game 3.”
Mitchell scored 17 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter in Game 2.
He was the only Cavs player to score a field goal in the final 12 minutes aside from a Darius Garland tip-in.
Garland is reportedly dealing with a left toe injury and will be a game-time decision on Saturday, meaning he might be limited if he actually suits up and plays.
The Cavs excelled at picking up the slack for their injured or resting players all season long because of their free-flowing offense.
The playoffs are an entirely different animal, and obviously, star players have to take a bigger workload to lead their teams to the top.
Then again, this team has more than enough resources to keep the Miami Heat’s defense guessing.
Everybody needs to get their touches, and iso-heavy offenses aren’t the way to go against a savvy team like Miami.
The Cavs should be in control, but they can’t overlook Erik Spoelstra’s team, much less on the road.
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