Baron Davis and his swagger are a great storyline and a Heat killer. The cathartic feeling for Cavaliers fans makes headlines and the legions of Heat haters happy.
Heat fans will rightfully counter this is one relatively meaningless game. And they’re right, this one game doesn’t matter.
Rather, what should worry Heat fans is how Cleveland’s front line — primarily Ryan Hollins and J.J. Hickson — dominated the Heat inside. The Cavs were longer, more athletic, controlled the paint and with it the game. And this is Cleveland, not Boston or Orlando or other potential playoff matchups the Heat have in their future.
It was the length and quality play up front that earned the Cavaliers a 102-90 win, one which will be their signature victory of the season (even more than wins over the Celtics and Lakers).
Long-standing concerns about Miami’s interior play had been alleviated for the past several weeks when Chris Bosh played well, but Tuesday night he was atrocious and played down to the worst of his reputation. He was soft and passive. Frankly, it’s a reputation that is not really fair but gets reinforced by nights like this on a big stage, when he shot 5-for-14 with just four rebounds, was fumbling the ball in traffic, played almost no defense and finished a -24. The Heat would have been better with Joel Anthony playing big minutes.
Hollins’ key plays against Bosh came when the score was tied 83-83 in the fourth quarter. He blocked a Bosh shot, had a monster dunk off a Davis assist (Davis seemed to have his hand on all the key plays) and also drew several fouls getting to the line. He and Anthony Parker made up a 12-0 run that gave Cleveland a lead it never relinquished.
Hickson was just too athletic for Miami’s front line, and he finished with 21 points and 12 boards.
Cleveland’s big men were moving well without the ball and that exposed the terrible defensive rotations of the Heat this night, which was their other big flaw. Penetration by Davis got the help, but all night long nobody on Miami helped the helper. That left big men cutting (or Parker at the arc) open and the result was good look buckets for the Cavaliers.
But it was also one of those nights for Cleveland where even the bad looks fell. That’s where Davis and his swagger come in. He hit a three to start the game, he hit a ridiculous one before the half on a broken play with a hand in his face. He made spectacular passes and hit layups all night long.
Davis brings good and bad to the table, but when he is confident it rubs off on teammates and it did this night. It is the best of Davis, and he can still bring it some nights.
The last time Miami Heat lost to a sub .500 team was Jan. 12 to the Clippers (as Tom Haberstroh of ESPN reminded us), when Davis dropped 20 points and nine assists before he was traded to Cleveland. Tuesday night was Davis’ first start as a Cavalier and seemed to be in on every key play.
It means little in the grand scheme. LeBron is still in Miami, Cleveland still has the worst record in the NBA and the Cavaliers still have major rebuilding in front of them while the Heat are contenders. The only thing it did was put the Heat three losses behind the Bulls (meaning ‘kiss that top seed goodbye’) and one behind the struggling Celtics in the loss column. But we’re talking about home court in the playoffs, and that’s what Cleveland used to talk about, not potential draft picks.
But for one night, one game, that didn’t matter and Cavs fans soaked it up.
