Cavs lose Darius Garland and a gut-punch OT finish in Miami

It felt like the Cavaliers had pulled off the impossible.

Miami led 138-135 in overtime on Monday at Kaseya Center, and Donovan Mitchell — off balance in the corner — buried a fadeaway three with 0.4 seconds left to tie it.

The Cavs’ bench erupted. It looked like this would be another one of those nights where Cleveland found a way.

But the Heat had one play left, and man, they made it count.

Nikola Jovic lofted a perfectly timed alley-oop to Andrew Wiggins, who cut behind a misaligned Cavaliers defense and flushed it at the buzzer, lifting the Heat to a 140-138 win.

Several Cavs defenders were near midcourt as the play unfolded. The film, it is safe to say, will not be pleasant viewing.

And that wasn’t even the most concerning moment of the night.

Darius Garland limped off again. Three games into his season following left toe surgery — against the same opponent he hurt it against in April — Garland came up in obvious pain midway through the third quarter.

He immediately fouled to stop the clock, went straight to the locker room, and was ruled out. Cleveland will evaluate him further.

The Cavs had controlled the opening stretch. They jumped ahead 7-0, led by double digits inside six minutes and never trailed in the first quarter.

Miami took control in the second behind Jaime Jaquez Jr., ripping off a 22-4 run. Kenny Atkinson used four timeouts in that period — two within 61 seconds — but the Heat carried a nine-point edge into halftime.

Even without Garland — and without Atkinson later, after a second technical sent him to the locker room — Cleveland rallied.

Sam Merrill, who missed his first seven shots, drilled four straight threes early in the fourth to tie it at 106. Mitchell reclaimed the lead at the line with 8:46 left.

From there, regulation was a tug-of-war — nine lead changes, eight ties, and a final defensive stop by Miami to force OT.

Mitchell finished with 28 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists. Evan Mobley had 21 and 11. De’Andre Hunter scored 23. Garland had 11 before exiting. Miami’s Norman Powell scored a game-high 33.

The Cavaliers stay in Miami for the rematch Wednesday. But they’ll go back to the film first.