The Miami Heat came up short in their opening playoff game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Miami Heat came through the Play-In Tournament as the Eastern Conference’s No. 10 seed, and quickly found out the difficulty of their reward.
The Heat suffered a 121-100 loss against the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers to open up their first-round series on April 20 in Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
Miami couldn’t stop the Cavaliers’ potent offense, with Donovan Mitchell delivering an explosive 30-point showcase.
The night was also notable for Ty Jerome scoring 28 points off the bench with five boards and three assists,enough for Mitchell to label him a ‘Swiss army knife‘.
The experience was a real eye-opener for Kel’el Ware, with the league’s postseason stage presenting a serious test.
The Miami’s coveted promising rookie, who draws intriguing comparison to San Antonio Spurs phenom Victor Wembanyama, Ware got overwhelmed by the matchup he obtained against the Cavs.
Facing Cleveland’s twin towers in Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, Ware was completely outmuscled under the glass, finishing with an awfully passive 2 points on 1-of-2 shooting and 3 boards across 20 minutes of play.
Ware’s inexperience and youthfulness have been clearly evident all night long.
“It was just getting this game under my belt,” Ware said about his poor playoff debut in postgame. “Seeing what the physicality was like.”
“I’m changing for the second game.”
As Ware struggled, Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra elected to favor Haywood Highsmith for most of the game as Bam Adebayo’s frontcourt mate.
Spoelstra is optimistic that the game will play a major role for Ware’s overall development in becoming that next star Miami aspires alongside the rising Davion Mitchell.
“This is the life of a young player, you’re being fed through a firehose,” Spoelstra said. “He’s important to what we do.
“He’ll get to work.”
As Game 2 against the Cavaliers is set on April 23, Ware has a good opportunity to redeem himself to help the Heat tie the series before the seven-game set shifts to South Beach.
