Many people wrote the Heat off in their first playoff round tie with table-topping Cavs. I mean, a #10 seed going against the Conference champions? It leaves little room for interpretation. They might be down 2-0 after last night’s 121-112 loss. But the numbers don’t tell the whole game. And Miami came out swinging. Why wouldn’t they? They have nothing to lose. They already created history becoming the first #10-seeded team to qualify for the playoffs through the play-ins. And Cleveland didn’t expect that.

Seeing Thunder blow the Grizzlies in their first game, the Cavs came into this game with a point to prove. They need to show why they should be the favourites for the NBA championship. The Miami’s scrappy, physical, high-energy game caught them off guard. With the game 25-24 in the first half, coach Kenny Atkinson sought to wake the squad up, and rise to the occasion.

“I told the guys after first quarter, I said, that’s it. We took the punch, right? They hit us, they’re coming at us hard, they were super physical, super high energy, and we just supporting that first quarter. And I thought we kinda held our ground. I said, we just gotta do it longer than them now. I think that’s with our deep bench and I felt like 48 minutes we were gonna we were gonna get them, but it was important to withstand that first blow for them in the first quarter,” said the Cavs HC.

Cleveland is a young, energetic team. But don’t let that fool you- they have a wealth of leaders in the squad. In particular, Evan Mobley. That “punch” that Miami landed? It shook them hard. But what woke them up even more was Atkinson’s quarter-break war cry. And in the second quarter, we saw exactly what effect that had, when they went into HT with a 68-51 lead, after blitzing through the second quarter 43-27.

This is what Mobley had to say about Atkinson’s impact: “Yeah, I mean, that changed the momentum of the game. I feel like that block by him and the finish just got us really going. We definitely weathered their first punch and came back. And I think the fans as well helped a lot as well on that block, that play. The fans got real loud and just changed the whole momentum of the game.”

But for all their lauds for yesterday’s game, the Heat weren’t up to the mark. After seeing the scoreline, you’d think their offense was the sole cause. But after Mobley’s confessions, they just failed to execute their defensive strategies, too.

Evan Mobley afforded too much room by the Heat’s defense

Mobley managed an impressive 20/6/1 performance last night. But what’s concerning from a Miami perspective is his success in shooting. 7-of-10 field goals made and 3-of-6 3PMs means only one thing- they afforded him too much room while shooting. By comparison, his season average of 55% in FGMs was trumped by 70% last night, and it was the same for his 3 PM average of 37%, while last night it was 50%. Mobley confessed as much in his post-game presser.

“Yeah, I feel like they left me a little more open this game on the perimeter. But I didn’t really feel like they guarded me too much different. I just feel like the ball movement just happened to go to me and I knocked my shots down. And that’s just how the game goes sometimes. Sometimes they find you, sometimes it doesn’t. I play the right way every time.”

He was relatively quiet in the first game, only managing 9 points, 7 boards, and 1 assist. In contrast, his shooting was also very off, only amassing about 40% from the field and 33.3% from the 3P line. Mobley might chalk it down to “knocking his shots” down in his game, but their guarding in the third game will be interesting to see.

Regardless of Heat’s high-energy performance, they still lost. And it speaks volumes about the stark difference in quality between the teams. Miami will need a Hail Mary to even try to get a tangible result out of the tie. But if game 2 was anything to go by, Evan Mobley and the Cavaliers can’t hold out on complacency.