Miami Heat

Heat Check: Miami no match for hot Cavs, with or without Wade

Published Apr. 2, 2015 11:02 p.m. ET

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In what quickly shifted into a scenario far more serious than just a tough road loss, the Miami Heat fell behind early to the hot-shooting Cleveland Cavaliers in a 114-88 blowout loss Thursday. 

But the loss of Dwyane Wade to injury was far more important for a team desperate to stay as healthy as possible in the final stretch of the season.

Wade was already a game-time decision because he was under the weather and played 13 minutes before limping to the locker room in the second quarter with a left knee bruise. He suffered the injury after slipping and falling down awkwardly as the Cavaliers were taking control of the game.

Cleveland capably spread the floor all night long to open plenty of room for J.R. Smith (12 points) and Matthew Dellavedova (14 points) out on the perimeter while LeBron James (23 points, eight rebounds, seven assists), Kyrie Irving (23 points, five assists, four steals) and Iman Shumpert (17 points, four steals) were able to consistently score by cutting to the rim. The Heat had no answers for their offense as the Cavaliers' lead continued to swell.

Unable to keep up with the offensive onslaught, Miami failed to make enough defensive stops but they also turned the ball over with sloppy passing and execution to fall behind by double-digits early into the second quarter. In Wade's absence, Miami re-committed to the defensive end and were able to cut what had been Cleveland's largest lead of 19 down to 11 with a 9-2 run to close the first half.

After Wade was officially ruled out for the rest of the game at halftime, the Heat wouldn't go away easily and were within a possession of cutting it to single digits on three separate occasions. Each time the Cavs would respond as Irving and James orchestrated the offense.

The Heat were led by Luol Deng with 17 points and eight rebounds and an encouraging performance from Hassan Whiteside, who also contributed 17 points and eight rebounds despite still being limited with his heavily bandaged hand.

A 16-4 run early into the fourth quarter by the Cavaliers boosted their lead over 20 points to ice the game. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra emptied his bench shortly afterwards with an eye towards staying as healthy as possible with their upcoming weekend back-to-back set.

The loss drops the Heat down to the eighth and final playoff spot behind the idle Brooklyn Nets.

THE TURNING POINT

Cleveland's 16-4 run to start the second quarter built the foundation for the comfortable victory.

THE DIFFERENCE MAKER

Shumpert's offensive repertoire was in full effect during his 27 minutes of game time to provide the perfect compliment to his All-Star teammates.. 

STAT OF THE GAME

Cleveland won their 17th straight game at the Quicken Loans Arena.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Heat take on the Detroit Pistons on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

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