Andrew Wiggins scored on a lob-pass dunk at the buzzer, leading host the Miami Heat to a 140-138 overtime win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday .
Miami’s Nikola Jovic inbounded the ball with 0.4 seconds left. Wiggins came off a screen and lost his defender, De’Andre Hunter, for the wide-open slam.
Just prior to that, Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell had seemingly forced double overtime by hitting a 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left. Mitchell made that shot while fading away, nearly stepping out of bounds, and lofting the ball just over the fingertips of 7-footer Kel’el Ware.
Norman Powell led Miami with a game-high 33 points, and Ware grabbed a career-high 20 rebounds. Wiggins finished with 23 points, and Jaime Jaquez Jr. added 22 points to go along with 13 rebounds.
The Heat improved to 5-0 at home in a battle between two of the seven highest-scoring offenses in the NBA.
Mitchell led Cleveland with 28 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists. Hunter had 23 points, and Evan Mobley added 21 points and 10 rebounds.
Cleveland had 26 offensive rebounds to just 12 for Miami. But the Cavaliers missed some key free throws, including one by Mobley in overtime.
Cavaliers starting point guard Darius Garland returned from a toe injury and scored 11 points in 19 minutes. However, he re-injured his surgically-repaired toe in the third quarter and did not return.
Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson picked up his second technical in the third quarter, resulting in an automatic ejection.
Cavaliers guard Sam Merrill missed his first seven shots but then made four straight 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. Merrill did that on four Cleveland possessions in a span of 88 seconds, and he finished with just those 12 points.
Miami played without injured All-Stars Bam Adebayo (toe) and Tyler Herro (foot/ankle).
Early on, Cleveland led 30-25 after one quarter, but Miami held a 62-53 advantage at halftime. Powell led all first-half scorers with 18 points, including 10 in the second quarter.
The teams played to a standstill in the third quarter, giving Miami a 101-92 lead entering the fourth.
In the fourth, Cleveland tied the score 106-106 on the fourth make of Merrill’s 3-point barrage.
Then, with 34 seconds left in regulation, Mobley made a go-ahead 3-pointer and followed that with a blocked shot on Powell.
But when Cleveland’s Jaylon Tyson converted only 1 of 2 free throws, Jaquez scored on a spin move/jump hook in the lane with 7.1 seconds left, tying the score, 128-128.
Mitchell then missed a hurried shot, sending the game to overtime.
–Field Level Media
