Heat climbing: Darius Garland and Tyler Herro tension tension before game 3 before game 3

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Although Herro entered 54 points and put down seven triple in the first two games, the Cavs put it in a nutshell to relentlessly attack him at the end. The strategy is not personal. It is tactical.

The defense of Miami took sixth place in the opponent in the last 15 games of the regular season. In two playoff games, Cleveland committed only a total of 17 sales, a breathtaking number against such a high pressure unit.

Much of this control results from Herro’s exploitation in the pick-and-roll. He was the main defender on the screen in 50 of these actions. The CAVs achieve an average of 1.2 points per property in these pieces – an astonishing number in the playoff basketball.

But basketball is not played on spreadsheets. And words, even if you are supported by data, you don’t always sit well in the other changing room.

“To go to the media to talk about the game plan and this and that, say a lot about him. I don’t worry about Darius Garland,” Herro told reporters after training on Friday. “… someone who does not play a defense shouldn’t talk either. He does not play a defense and we will see it tomorrow. He does not play a D.” He doesn’t play D. “

This is not just an answer. That is a challenge.

Garland prepared itself last year to lose this reputation. He added muscles. He studied a film. He responded to Kenny Atkinson’s demand for his defensive growth. From day one, Cleveland’s new coach made his expectations clear.

“I don’t want to hide it anymore,” said Atkinson at the beginning of this season. “It is a playoff basketball. He has to take on a challenge. In a series with seven games, you will take them into defensive. You have to protect yourself and still do what you do.

While the cavs have leaned into the pressure, the heat tried to relieve them.

In game 2, Erik Spoelstra changed his early defensive matchups and held out Herro for almost the entire first quarter of switching actions. But Garland finally got the switch, got the place and hit three.

Even if the heat has tried to protect Herro, the cavs find him. And they punish the matchup.

But Spoelstra and Miami have their own plans – and their own goals.

“You can’t hide,” said Bam Adebayo on Friday. “This is what I love about the playoffs. Obviously he said what he said. We all take it personally. Not only Tyler, we all take it personally. We have a game early in the morning, sleep something tonight and then we get it in the morning.”

There the series depends: to hide anywhere.

The tension grows, the matchups sharpen and the third act will develop under the hard glare of playoff light.

The matinee could begin early on Saturday, but expect the intensity to reach a boiling point.

If Cleveland can continue to isolate and tackle Herro, you won’t just take a 3-0 smoke in the series.

However, the biggest question could be the reversal: Can Garland handle the fire that he helps with Stoke?

The Playoff fate of the Cavs can rely on which of the two guards, Garland or Herro, can hold on to the defensive end without sacrificing what it does.

Garland has built for this moment since the low season. Now he has to prove that he can be the “soldier” for whom he claims to be when the heat circles and plays the amount of blood.

But in this scenario it is more than that. He tries to rewrite more than the past. He must be both the hunter and the survivor.

Game 3 is waiting. And the temperature rises in South Beach.