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The Miami Heat threw their best early punch in Game 3, but the Cleveland Cavaliers barely flinched. What started as a promising burst from Miami quickly dissolved into another nightmare at Kaseya Center. The Cavs, unfazed by a slow start, unleashed a tidal wave of scoring and smothering defense, rolling to a 124-87 dismantling that pushed them to a commanding 3-0 lead in the playoff series and was able to pull it off without the lethal one-two punch from their superstar backcourt.
With Darius Garland sidelined and Donovan Mitchell struggling to find his shot, Cleveland’s depth and discipline took over. What unfolded was more than just a win; it showed that Cavalanches can travel to wherever Cleveland plays.
The Cavs showed off their strength in numbers against the Heat
After an early timeout to stop Miami’s brief momentum, Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson turned to his second unit. After receiving the call, the Cavs' reserves delivered overwhelmingly. Ty Jerome, stepping into the spotlight, engineered an 18-0 run that flipped the game on its head. His 11 assists, the most ever by a Cavs reserve in the playoffs, kept Cleveland’s offense humming and buried any hope Miami had of recovering.
Jerome wasn’t alone in the uprising. De’Andre Hunter attacked relentlessly, racking up 21 points while punishing mismatches. Max Strus, once a fan favorite in Miami, turned in a brutal revenge game, splashing four threes, grabbing nine rebounds, and locking down Tyler Herro on the perimeter. Strus’s fingerprints were everywhere, from second-chance rebounds to smart ball movement to stonewalling drives at the rim.
“He does all the dirty work,” Atkinson said of Strus. “When you have superstars, like we got, kind of four stars. Who’s gonna set the screens? Who’s gonna attack the offense boards? He’s that ultimate role player that you need around great players.”
Meanwhile, Cleveland’s twin towers, Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley, completely erased Miami’s interior offense. Allen, in particular, set the tone with thunderous finishes at the rim, pacing the Cavs with 22 points on hyper-efficient shooting. Mobley, fresh off winning the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year, looked every bit the part: swallowing up drives, switching onto guards, even stretching the floor with a pair of three-pointers.
Together, they devastated Miami inside, helping Cleveland double the Heat’s points in the paint, 60-30.
“We laid an egg today,” Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said. “A big part of it was Cleveland. Once we jumped on them at the start of the game, then they just took control of it from there, and it became an avalanche going the other direction.”
Miami had no answers for Cleveland in Game 3
Miami had no answers. The turnovers snowballed. The crowd, restless after seven straight playoff home losses, never found its voice. The Cavs made Kasaya Center their homecourt, or, with how quiet things were, their personal practice facility.
Even with Mitchell misfiring, he finished 4-of-14 from the field but did knock down three triples, the Cavs’ machine kept churning. Mitchell stayed active defensively, moving the ball instead of forcing shots, knowing his teammates were more than ready to take the reins.
This wasn’t about star heroics. This was about the system and execution. About a team showing it could thrive even when its biggest names weren’t at their sharpest.
Sam Merrill, starting in place of Garland, didn’t light up the scoreboard but held his own defensively. Dean Wade’s versatility on switches helped jam up Miami’s half-court sets. Even Isaac Okoro, buried on the bench most of the night, made the most of his minutes with energy and tight defense once the game was firmly in Cleveland’s grasp.
Simply put, everyone who stepped on the floor for Cleveland contributed. Everyone understood the assignment.
Miami, on the other hand, looked broken. Herro labored through a 13-point night on 5-of-13 shooting. Bam Adebayo battled but got little help. And the Heat’s early flurry felt like a distant memory by halftime, when the Cavs were already pulling away.
The dominance was so complete that by the fourth quarter, it felt like Miami was simply playing out the string.
The Cavs, once doubted for their postseason toughness, have answered every question in this series and then some. No Garland? No problem. Mitchell off his game? Still a blowout. Miami’s last stand? Flattened by a group effort too deep, too connected, and too relentless to let the Heat breathe.
Cleveland now sits one win away from a second-round trip and a sweep that would send Miami crashing into an offseason of hard questions. With Game 4 now carrying higher stakes, the Heat will try to land another punch. However, with how Cleveland responded to Miami in Game 3, the Cavs could be ready to handle the fight.
