It was all downhill for the Cleveland Cavaliers after the 1st quarter in a 17-point loss to the Miami Heat.
The Cleveland Cavaliers came out firing Saturday night against the Miami Heat, scoring 36 points and holding a seven-point lead. Unfortunately that was the high point for the Cavs as they were outscored 95-71 over the next three quarters in what was a 124-107 final score.
The outcome is really not that surprising. Anyone who has watched the Cavaliers this season know that as the game progresses their performance declines. More often than not the 3rd quarter is where everything falls apart, but the Heat were ahead of scheduled Saturday. Miami took the lead at the half thanks to outscoring Cleveland by 14 in the 2nd quarter. The Heat later extended their lead in the second half as they kept piling on, outscoring Cleveland by 10 in the final two quarters.
Kevin Love and Collin Sexton led the Cavaliers scoring attack with 25 points each. This was a much different outing for Love as he declined to take a shot in their loss the night before. Sexton had usual shooting performance with 12 misses (8-20 overall). Dean Wade came through with 16 points off the bench thanks to a 6-10 shooting performance from deep.
At this point in the season it is just about getting through the final games without anyone getting seriously hurt. After that the Cavaliers need to make some business decisions about their roster construction and who they want to build around going forward.
