Recap: Cavs 105, Heat 94 (Ice thaws. Love warms. Homeostasis.)

The weather was clear and the temperature an unusually lovely 62 degrees in Elizabeth, New Jersey on the night that Ray and Becky Gatling welcomed their son Chris into our world. It was September 3rd, 1967. Once can imagine the Gatlings stood a 50 percent chance of predicting the sex of their new child since prenatal ultrasounds were still a gimmicky offering of the technology’s inventor in Glasgow, Scotland. The moon was deep into waning crescent that night, and would have slid across the clear night sky as a thin shimmering sliver. Had the Gatlings looked up they could have seen the moon, on it’s 8 millionth consecutive orbit around earth still unsullied by the feet of mere mortals, perhaps gloating, not knowing its relatively eminent fate.

Chris Gatling would prove a special child and, indeed, a special adult. An early phenom at the art of basketball, Gatling would clean house over a four year college career spent mostly at Old Dominion University. The Golden State Warriors drafted him 16th overall in the 1991 NBA draft. A journeyman power forward with unusual shooting accuracy, he would play for seven teams before landing with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first year of the 21st century. Shortly before Christmas of 2000 his Cavaliers sat at 5 games over .500, a record that several Lebron James teams would eclipse yet stood without Lebron’s involvement until this very night, when the Cavs beat the Heat to extend their record to 17-12 and secured the fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

1st Quarter

The game commenced with a halting start as an inbound foul and a shot clock violation contributed to the rare score of one to nothing several minutes of real time into the Quarter. Perhaps the strange, slow start worked against the Cavs as they began feeling out a Heat team seemingly bent on revenge from a loss to Cavs earlier in the young season. The Heat played with intensity, guarded up close on defense, dropping defenders against the pick and roll, and spraying from distance on the offensive end. An early run of Okoro, Markannen, and Garland three pointers established an early lead. The undertall but relentless Heat squad led by Kyle Lowry and P. J. Tucker (who put up a a career night with 23 pts, five assists, and nine rebounds) pulled the score to a tie at 23. Lowry hit Lauri with a step back trey that sent the Finn to the floor. That move would’ve ended a more self aware man’s career. Tyler Herro, an impactful player off the bench for the heat, hit a fade away late to bring the Heat into the lead, 25-23, as the whistle sounded.

2nd Quarter

It became apparent to the observer within a few minutes of the second quarter that we had, as they say, ourselves a ballgame. Put simply, this was a game between likely playoff teams played with playoff intensity. As soon as this author scribbled “trading 3s with the Heat may not be a winning strategy,” the shots started falling, and a clever insertion of Lamar Stevens into the lineup seemed to shore up some of the Cav’s defensive woes. Garland found Allen for several easy points with a surging Okoro capping off a Cavs run with a cutting Dunk assisted by Allen to pull the lead to 50-38 with six minutes left in the half. The Heat would never recover. Okoro (4/7 from the field in the first half; 18 pts off 58% shooting, 75 TS%) looked like an NBA wing for the third game in a row. Allen (12/5/2 in the half and 4-4 from the field) continued to pass the eye test against a backdrop of stats nerds calling him a top ten player in the NBA.

Okoro does the exact correct thing as a player with size against a box and 1 defence- let the chaser clear and attack the middle of the zone https://t.co/ROBK7jq5zg

— Immanentizing the Evschaton (@leavelander) December 14, 2021

3rd Quarter

True to climate, The Heat came out of the half hot, the Cavs came out cold, and the game oscillated before finding homeostasis once again. Sloppy play led to Cavalier turnovers throughout the quarter as Allen had a difficult time finding passes to shooters that weren’t moving to the cracks in the Heat defense. With six minutes left in the quarter Garland broke a six nothing Heat streak with a step back jump shot from the right elbow.

Enter Kevin Love. Love hit two timely threes in the back stretch of the quarter before drawing a three point foul and making all of them (Love is making a career-best 96% of his free throws.) Love’s style of old-man ball led to him receiving some timely medical treatment for a cut finger before returning to the court like a man scorned. the Cavs finished the quarter up 78-73, having been outscored by six points in spite of matching the Heat’s intensity throughout the quarter. It was pick and pop for Kev when the Heat trapped or showed on the P/R and it was “dump it to the mismatch” when Miami switched. Kevin Misney made em pay with 23 second half points.

4th Quarter

Allen and Mobley continued to alter shots at the rim, Kevin Love continued to hit from distance and get to the line. Okoro continued his early season renaissance to extend the Cav’s lead over the Heat through the first several minutes of the 4th Quarter. Miami played hard on defense, and their shots were still falling, but Cleveland played Cavalier basketball – a phrase that has new and perhaps novel meaning this season. The Cavs had five turnovers in the quarter but never led by less than five points,  and closed out the game finishing 18-19 from charity. Let’s see a Chris Gatling team do that.

The rotation put in heavy minutes as the game required adult, professional attention down to the final whistle, but with two minutes left the Cavs received a standing ovation from the crowd as Rubio dribbled away clock and intrepid beat reporters dove into stats sheets. The Cavs played keep-away to avoid an ugly foul-fest and Allen made the final shot, a convincing slam dunk, to cement the score at 105-94.