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Jan 28, 2025 6:42 pm

Amid absence of Jimmy Butler, Heat try to catch Cavaliers off guard again

tyler herro

The Heat handed the Cleveland Cavaliers their fourth loss of the season when the teams met in Miami last month.

On Wednesday, the short-handed Heat will look to hand the Cavaliers their fourth loss in the last five games when the teams reconvene in Florida.

On Dec. 8, Tyler Herro scored 34 points, Duncan Robinson had 23 and Jimmy Butler added 18 as Miami recorded a 122-113 victory over Cleveland.

Butler, however, will not suit up for this game and potentially ever again for the Heat after being suspended by the club for the third time in a month — all for conduct detrimental to the team. His indefinite ban is expected to span past the NBA’s trade deadline of Feb. 6.

“It kind of feels normal now, at this point,” Heat guard Tyler Herro said of the team’s turmoil, per the Miami Herald. “It’s kind of just what it is. Nothing is guaranteed, so we just got to be ready to roll with whatever cards we’re dealt. We just got to be ready to go.”

Herro has played the hero in back-to-back games for the Heat. He collected 25 points and eight assists in a 106-97 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday and 30 and a season-high 12, respectively, in a 125-119 win in double overtime against the Orlando Magic on Monday.

Bam Adebayo made 10 of 15 shots on Monday before falling one assist shy of a triple double. He contributed 26 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists versus the Magic.

“We’ve been in a lot of situations this past year — well, this year — so, I mean, it shows through all the noise and chaos, we can still win,” Adebayo said. “We can still come together and be a great team and believe in one another and still compete because, at the end of the day, like I’ve said before, the game still gotta get played no matter what’s going on in the organization. We’ve still gotta play games, and they still expect us to win.”

The Cavaliers have done more than their fair share of winning this season, emerging victorious in 33 of their first 37 games. They dropped five of their ensuing eight — including a season-high three in a row — before posting a 110-91 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Monday.

Darius Garland scored 22 points and Donovan Mitchell added 21 for Cleveland, which stepped up defensively to improve to 22-3 at home on the season. The Cavaliers held the Pistons to a season-low 91 points on 38.5 percent shooting from the floor and 27.8 percent from 3-point range.

“I think we made a statement defensively,” Max Strus said, per Cleveland.com. “When things don’t go well, this group kind of takes things personal and has the resiliency to bounce back. I’m proud of the way we responded in our effort (Monday night) on that end of the floor. Obviously, we weren’t even that good offensively, but don’t need to when we guard that well.”

Mitchell, who averages a team-best 23.7 points per game, will look to atone for a 5-for-16 shooting display in the previous encounter versus the Heat.

–Field Level Media

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