Cleveland Cavaliers vs Miami Heat Match Player Stats On Apr 10, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Apr 10, 2017

MIAMI -- The Miami Heat kept their slim playoff hopes alive, defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers 124-121 in overtime on Monday night at AmericanAirlines Arena.

The Heat (40-41) will need to win their regular-season finale on Wednesday against the visiting Washington Wizards to have any hope of making the playoffs. Even with a victory, the Heat would still need a loss by the Indiana Pacers (41-40) or the Chicago Bulls (40-41) to reach the postseason.

Cleveland (51-30), locked into a battle with the Boston Celtics for the top seed in the Eastern Conference, rested LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. With the loss, the Cavaliers fell one game behind Boston (52-29) for first place in the conference.

Cleveland would only finish No. 1 if it beats the visiting Toronto Raptors on Wednesday and Boston loses to the visiting Milwaukee Bucks.

The Cavaliers are 0-7 without James this season and have lost 13 consecutive games in Miami.

Tyler Johnson had 24 points and Hassan Whiteside added 23 points and 18 rebounds to help Miami snap a three-game home losing streak. Johnson had seven points in overtime.

Point guard Deron Williams, starting in place of Irving, scored 35 points to lead Cleveland. Kevin Love added 25 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out with 34 seconds left in overtime.

Cleveland, by shooting 71.4 percent from the floor, raced to a 37-24 first-quarter lead. The Cavs made 4 of 6 3-pointers and 3 of 3 free throws and held Miami to 43.5 percent from the field.

Miami won the second quarter, cutting its deficit to 60-56 at halftime. But Cleveland got hot again in the third, shooting 57.1 percent from the floor, including 5 of 10 on 3-pointers, to take a 91-80 lead into the fourth.

Cleveland blew all of its lead in the fourth quarter and Miami seemingly took a 110-108 lead with 11.7 seconds left. But Miami's James Johnson was called for an offensive foul, pushing off Kyle Korver. The quarter then ended with a Cleveland turnover and Miami running out of time to score on the other end.

NOTES: Three Heat players are close to returning from injury but are not quite there yet -- SG Dion Waiters (left ankle), SF Luke Babbitt (right hip) and PF Josh McRoberts (left foot). ... Heat SG Josh Richardson has made 12 straight starts since Waiters got hurt and Miami is 6-6 during that span. ... If you remove the Boston Celtics from the equation, the Heat are 6-4 against four of the top five teams in the league. And if you remove the Brooklyn Nets, the Heat are 6-9 vs. five of the worst six teams in the league. ... Cleveland PF Tristan Thompson (right thumb) missed his fourth straight game but could return to action on Wednesday.