The top-ranked Cleveland Cavaliers’ first challenge in the NBA playoffs is to douse a Miami Heat squad riding Play-In Tournament momentum.
Cleveland rocks and has done so all season. The time has come to keep that momentum alive in the NBA Playoffs. Then there’s the Heat, the first No. 10 seed to advance out of the Play-In Tournament and into the NBA playoffs.
The Cleveland Cavaliers enter the postseason atop the Eastern Conference, keeping a perch they’ve held from the get-go. A journey to the second championship in franchise history begins in earnest against the Miami Heat, who stole the eighth seed as the winners of the East’s Play-In portions.
Eager to generate momentum in the Donovan Mitchell era (which, to date, has produced one playoff series win in its first two seasons), Cleveland enjoyed sterling steps forward from its pre-Mitchell homegrown talents. Darius Garland set a career-high in games played and scoring while Evan Mobley did so in scoring. The Cavs (64-18) also discovered new depth stars in Ty Jerome and Max Strus (a former South Floridian) while acquiring De’Andre Hunter from the Atlanta Hawks at the trade deadline. To cap off this historic season, Cleveland is looking to reach its first conference final without the help of LeBron James since 1992.
The Heat Are The First No.10 Seed To Advance Past The Play-In Tournament
Placing 10th on the final Eastern leaderboard, Miami (37-45) somewhat salvaged a rollercoaster season headlined by the trade of Jimmy Butler to the Golden State Warriors. Butler’s departure at least allowed Tyler Herro to shine in the spotlight, as the lasting South Beach veteran earned All-Star honors and the Three-Point Contest champion for the first time. Herro had a combined 68 points in the Heat’s Play-In triumphs, which saw them take down the Chicago Bulls 109-90 in the opener before surviving an overtime thriller in Atlanta. To date, Miami is the only Play-In competitor to reach the NBA Finals, pulling off the feat in 2023.
This will be the first-ever playoff meeting between Miami and Cleveland, who extended their postseason streaks to six and three years respectively. The Cavs took two-of-three in the regular season series, including the March 5 rubber match by a 112-107 final.
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Who: (1) Cleveland Cavaliers vs. (8) Miami Heat
What: NBA Playoffs, Eastern Conference, First Round
Where: Rocket Arena, Cleveland, OH/Kaseya Center, Miami, FL
Winners: CLE won season series 2-1
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Cavalier to Watch: Evan Mobley
Provided they don’t get caught looking too far ahead, the Cavs can use this as de facto training grounds to work out any issues. The first two seasons of the Mitchell era have been done in by rebounding woes: Cleveland was outboarded by an average of eight in their 2023 loss to the New York Knicks (bested by over 11 percent in the offensive rebound battle) and those numbers remained dangerous static when defending champion Boston made quick work of them in last year’s conference semifinals (outrebounded by nearly nine a game and nearly 10 percent more).
The pressure is on Mobley, one of Cleveland’s homemade building blocks, to help right the ship. He’s had the strong conventional postseason numbers but he’ll have to step it up if the Cavs want to strike up any form of postseason residency. At least four battles with Bam Adebayo and Kel’el Ware should provide a sterling warm-up.
South Floridian to Watch: Davion Mitchell
Impressive as he’s been all season, Herro can’t do it alone, especially against Cleveland’s absolutely torrid offense. If the Heat have any hope of pulling off a major upset, secondary scoring will need to show up. Under better circumstances, Mitchell would be next in line as South Beach’s unexpected postseason hero and he offered hints of accepting such a challenge during the Play-In stanzas. Acquired from Golden State in the Butler deal, it’ll probably be the best chance that the No. 9 overall pick of the 2019 draft has of reclaiming the narrative of his professional career.
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What They’re Saying
“The one thing everybody talks about — and I’ve heard it for so many years — everybody talks about sacrifice. Everybody says you’ve got to sacrifice until it’s your turn, you know what I mean? Are you willing to do that for the greater good of the group? Statistically, this is a down year if you want to call it that. It helps we’re winning, so clearly I’m doing something right. This has been the best season as a group for me and that’s really what matters — is winning.”-Donovan Mitchell (h/t Joe Vardon, The Athletic)
“We did it the hard way. We fought through a lot of things this season. It’s prepared us for these types of moments. We’re the first 10th seed to make the playoffs with two road victories. So we’re battle-tested. We can go anywhere and beat anybody.”-Haywood Highsmith (h/t Anthony Chang, Miami Herald)
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Prediction
No one has made a living out of post-Play-In Tournament surprises better than Miami but combating Cleveland’s team of destiny seems like far too tall a task, especially in the post-Butler era. For whatever reason, the Cavaliers have had trouble convincing the broader basketball public that their sterling championship chase and they’ll likely look to make a statement against a South Beach squad that didn’t play like a 10th-place team for two.
The Heat are probably poised to make noise this spring—such volume, however, is more likely to come from the transactional ledger rather than the playoff bracket.
Cavaliers in 4
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Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
