Giannis and Bam score 37 each as Heat beat Cavaliers 133-121 in NBA Cup

The Miami Heat did not need one star to carry them on Friday night. They had two, scoring in perfect unison, and the result was a piece of franchise history.

Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo each scored 37 points as Miami beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 133-121 in an NBA Cup game at Kaseya Center, taking sole control of East Group B and extending the Heat's winning run to three games. It was only the second time in Heat history that two players had each scored at least 37 points in the same game. The first pair to do it were LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, in 2013.

The symmetry was striking. Antetokounmpo finished with 37 points and nine rebounds on 15-of-20 shooting in 31 minutes. Adebayo matched him with 37 points and 14 rebounds on 13-of-19 shooting, adding three assists in 38 minutes. Between them, they needed only 39 field-goal attempts for 74 points.

A fourth quarter owned by Adebayo

For three quarters, this was a genuine contest. Cleveland edged the second quarter 30-25 to take a narrow lead into half-time, Miami answered with a 38-34 third quarter, and the game stood at 92-91 to the Heat going into the final 12 minutes.

Then Adebayo took it over. He scored Miami's first 10 points of the fourth quarter and finished the period with 18, breaking open a game that had been balanced on a knife edge. Miami outscored Cleveland 41-30 in the fourth, scoring 79 points after half-time, and the Cavaliers had no answer once the Heat's frontcourt pair found their rhythm together.

Antetokounmpo had done much of the early damage, keeping Miami in contention while the rest of the team found its footing. Adebayo then supplied the finish, attacking the basket and getting to the free-throw line, where he made nine of 10 attempts.

Mitchell ran the show

The stars were not working alone. Davion Mitchell produced one of the finest all-round games of his career, finishing with 22 points and a career-high-tying 17 assists, with just one turnover in almost 39 minutes. The Heat finished the night with 37 assists to Cleveland's 28.

Ryan Conwell added 20 points off the bench, giving Miami a fourth scorer in double figures. With the win, Miami moved to 6-6 overall and 2-0 in NBA Cup group play, alone at the top of East Group B.

Donovan Mitchell led the Cavaliers with 25 points and seven assists, while Tyrese Proctor came off the bench for a season-best 22 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including five three-pointers. James Harden added 20 points and eight assists, Jaylon Tyson scored 16, and Meleek Thomas contributed 12. Scoring 121 points on the road is usually enough to give a team a chance. On this night, against two players combining for 74, it was not.

Cleveland felt Mobley's absence

The Cavaliers were without Evan Mobley for the first time this season, the forward sitting out with a sprained left big toe. His absence was felt most keenly in the paint, where Antetokounmpo and Adebayo operated with unusual freedom, and on the glass, where Adebayo's 14 rebounds helped Miami control second chances.

There was, at least, encouraging news on Mobley's injury. Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said the MRI had come back clean. "The MRI came back clean. Sprained, definitely sore, but we don't expect it to be a long-term thing at all," Atkinson said. Cleveland will hope that assessment holds: the Cavaliers fell to 6-7 overall and 1-1 in Cup play, and their margin for error in the group is now thin.

Miami, too, was short-handed. The Heat were without Klay Thompson, who has a sprained ankle, and Pelle Larsson, who was ill.

What the Cup race looks like now

The result leaves Miami in control of its own path to the NBA Cup knockout stage. The Heat's remaining group games are both on the road, against Philadelphia and New York, and winning both would send them into the quarter-finals. Even a 1-1 split in those two games would leave Miami with a solid shot at a wild-card berth.

Cleveland's position is much more precarious. The Cavaliers will almost certainly need to win both of their remaining games — at home against Indiana, then at New York — to have a realistic chance of advancing. No team in NBA Cup history has reached the knockout stage with less than a 3-1 record in group play, so the Cavaliers can no longer afford a slip.

A partnership with room to grow

The most encouraging sign for Miami may be how complementary the two 37-point performances were. Antetokounmpo was at his most efficient, shooting 75 percent from the field in 31 minutes. Adebayo was the closer, dominant in the fourth quarter and faultless at the line when Cleveland tried to slow the game down. Neither needed to dominate the ball for the full game; they took turns, and the handover happened at exactly the right moment.

If Antetokounmpo and Adebayo can regularly produce nights like this, the Heat become a very different proposition from the team that has hovered around .500. For Cleveland, the lesson is harsher: a team can score 121 points and still lose by 12 when the opposition has two players producing at a historic level on the same night.