Box Score Breakdown | Cavs @ Heat

By Kyle Soppe

 

The Miami Heat beat the Cleveland Cavs last night by a score of 92-85. Now let’s dig a bit deeper.

Chris Bosh poured in a season high 35 points, the ninth time he has tallied at least 20 points in a game this season. The Heat are 8-1 in those games.

Bosh made all 14 of his free throws, only the third time he has made 7+ free throws in a game this season. Miami is yet to lose when that happens.

Over his two years in South Beach, Bosh has scored at least 30 points six times, as compared to the 11 times he scored 30+ for Toronto in his final season across the boarder. The big difference? The Heat are a perfect 6-0 in such games, while the Raptors only won five of those games.

Miami scored less than 96 points in a winning effort for the first time this season.

In 14 of the Heat’s 17 games, their starting point guard and center (the forgotten two) have taken 15 or fewer combined shots. The Heat have won 10 of those games.

For the Cavs, their are some bright spots. Kyrie Irving scored 17+ points for the ninth time in his 16 game NBA career. It took him just over a month to score 17+ in nearly as many NBA games as games he played at Duke (11).

Anderson Varejao recorded his eighth double double in 16 games. A vast improvement over the  seven he recorded last season, in 31 games. He led Cleveland in out rebounding the Heat.

Let’s compare this box score to a New York Knick 33 point beat down of the Charlotte Bobcats. The Cavs shot the same percentage from the field as the Knicks (50%), shot a better from downtown, and missed less free throws. The Cavs leading scorer was Irving with 17 while the Knicks had Tyson Chandler at 20 points. Really tells how thin the line is between winning and losing, as these statistics would suggest that both teams would have similar results.

For those keeping track at home, the franchise that “will win a title before LeBron” has dropped four of the five match ups since “The Decision”

We’ve got a crowded 13 game NBA slate tonight, stay tuned for another statistical break down tomorrow morning.