Heat Snuff Out Cavalier Comeback as Dwyane Wade’s Retirement Tour Rolls Through The Land

The Cavaliers’ struggles continued tonight as they lost their sixth straight game. This time, facing the Miami Heat in what will be Dwyane Wade’s last visit in Cleveland. Coming off their loss on Wednesday against Boston,  the Cavs looked to spark some momentum off Cedi Osman’s best game yet as a pro, putting up a stat line of 25-8-2, and shooting 6-7 from 3 point land. For a while it looked like they had.

The game was back and forth, and neither team could gain consistent momentum heading into halftime. The Cavs pulled out a little lead at the end of the second quarter, but it was not to be maintained.

Even with forward Larry Nance JR. back in the rotation, Cleveland had no answer to stop the Heat’s bigs. Miami started to pull away, growing their lead to as much as 18 points, led by Hassan Whiteside and Justice Winslow. Sloppy ball movement and stagnant offense has plagued the Wine and Gold this season, and it seems to what cost them this game early, until two threes made by Colin Sexton and Alec Burks sparked a 13-1 run for the Cavaliers.

The Cavs made it close, but the just could not finish them off. Which seems to be a running theme for this team. The Heat took the win 100-94.

Cedi Osman completed another career high going 29-4-4, Sexton and Burks both contributed 13, and the big man Ante Zizic almost had a double-double dropping 11 points and 9 rebounds. For Miami, they were led by Justice Winslow going 27-7-2. Followed by Hassan Whiteside contributing a double-double having 14 points and 13 rebounds. As for Dwyane Wade’s last ride in the Q, he made it a good one, going 13-6-3, capped off by trading jerseys post-game with Colin Sexton.

Following the loss, head coach Larry Drew was asked about Cedi Osman’s  progress, and what is the team’ next step to finishing out these close games. This is what he had to say:

Video courtesy of Cavs.com

The Cavaliers will be back on the court Sunday against the Bulls at 3:30 as they look to earn their 10th win on the year.