NBA

Miami Heat at Cleveland Cavaliers

· National Basketball Association
29-32, 14-20 Away
Final
107 - 112

52-10, 29-4 Home

Cavaliers hold off Heat 112-107 to extend winning streak to 12 and clinch playoff spot

Cavs clinch playoff spot after Duncan Robinson's tying 3 called off

With the win, the Cavs became the first team to clinch a playoff berth.

It wasn't easy as the Heat, who were missing several rotational players, led 107-106 with 2:55 left. But Miami didn't score again and Duncan Robinson's apparent tying 3-pointer with 17.4 seconds left was waved off because he stepped out of bounds.

Bam Adebayo scored a season-high 34 points for Miami, which was without leading scorer Tyler Herro.

The Heat were already missing Jaime Jaquez Jr. (ankle sprain), Nikola Jovic (broken hand), Kel’el Ware (knee sprain) and Andrew Wiggins (ankle sprain) before Herro came down with a head cold in the past 24 hours.

Evan Mobley and De'Andre Hunter added 16 points apiece for Cleveland.

Takeaways Heat: Herro's absence forced Miami to operate differently on offense and limited coach Erik Spoelstra's depth. However, he still had Adebayo and the three-time All-Star made all nine free throws and added 12 rebounds in 38 minutes.

Cavaliers: Cleveland's execution was poor down the stretch. Mitchell had two turnovers in the final two minutes.

Key moment Miami's Kevin Love played his first game in Cleveland since signing with the Heat two years ago. The 36-year-old Love received a rousing ovation from Cavs fans, who'll never forget his major role in helping the team win the 2016 NBA title. Love was saluted with a video tribute during a timeout in the first quarter.

Key stat Cleveland is one of just seven teams to have three double-digit winning streaks in the same season.

Up next The Heat host Minnesota on Friday, the first of five straight home games. The Cavaliers are in Charlotte on Friday.

Regular Season Series

CLE wins series 2-1

Matchup Prediction

Cavaliers: 89.3%
Heat: 10.7%
*According to ESPN's Basketball Power Index

Recent Plays

4th 0.0 End of Game 107 - 112
4th 0.0 End of the 4th Quarter 107 - 112
4th 2.1 Donovan Mitchell defensive rebound 107 - 112
4th 5.1 Duncan Robinson misses 25-foot three point pullup jump shot 107 - 112
4th 12.1 Darius Garland makes free throw 2 of 2 107 - 112

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nba/500/mia.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originMIA https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nba/500/cle.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originCLE
36-83 FG 41-87
43.4 Field Goal % 47.1
13-36 3PT 14-40
36.1 Three Point % 35.0
22-25 FT 16-22
88.0 Free Throw % 72.7
42 Rebounds 47
9 Offensive Rebounds 10
33 Defensive Rebounds 37
29 Assists 26
7 Steals 7
2 Blocks 4
13 Turnovers 13
1 Team Turnovers 0
14 Total Turnovers 13
0 Technical Fouls 0
0 Total Technical Fouls 0
0 Flagrant Fouls 0
20 Points Conceded Off Turnovers 16
13 Fast Break Points 18
40 Points in Paint 54
19 Fouls 19
7 Largest Lead 17

Game Information

Rocket Arena

Location: Cleveland, OH
Attendance: 19,432 · Capacity:

2024-25 Southeast Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
Miami 29 32 .475 - L1
Orlando 29 34 .460 1 L4
Atlanta 28 34 .452 1.5 L1
Charlotte 14 47 .230 15 L8
Washington 12 49 .197 17 W1

2024-25 Central Standings

TEAM W L PCT GB STRK
Cleveland 52 10 .839 - W12
Milwaukee 36 25 .590 15.5 W4
Indiana 35 25 .583 16 W2
Detroit 35 28 .556 17.5 L1
Chicago 24 38 .387 28 L2
Full Standings

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