How Andrew Wiggins’ game-winner against the Cavs was 4 years in the making

ByNBAUSA


MIAMI – Like The Miami Heat pulled off a stunning overtime performance against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night, 140-138, was thrown away with an explosive dunk by Andrew Wiggins. With The Heat get revenge on the Cavs after moving up in the NBA playoffs last season, the team got a quality win, as the staff involved talked about how the winning play was put together.

The game appeared to be going into double overtime, as Donovan Mitchell hit a tough 3-pointer in the previous game, but Miami had other plans. 0.4 seconds left, Nikola Jovic would throw a perfect pass over the rim and Donovan Mitchell set a screen and Norman Powell faking Cleveland to get Wiggins free for the key bin.

Erik Spoelstra he would discover that the game had been in his cards for four yearscalled “CK,” named after assistant coach Chris Quinn, who put together a game for the team before the players came out.

“When it got to that point, (Quinn) said, ‘Hey, we should run it. And I said, ‘You know what? There’s no better person to diagram it than the person who came up with the damn thing.’ It worked beautifully, I thought (Powell) sold it really well. And then (Wiggins) made a great cut on it, and then (Jovic) just put it on the edge of the rim, couldn’t have made a better pass.”

“It was a classic game, fun to be a part of. It’s better when you win, and it was just play after play. I felt like we made a ton of plays, but they were scoring, making plays or getting offensive rebounds and knocking down big shots, but we showed some grit.”

The Heat is Andrew Wiggins in a game-winning game

Miami Heat forward Andrew Wiggins (22) reacts after winning the game with his teammates against the Cleveland Cavaliers during overtime at the Casey Center
Rhona Vise-Imagn Images

Doc fans react to wild ending to Heat’s win over Cavaliersmarks another winning game at the Kaseia Center, as the team is 5-0 at home this season. It also solidifies another quality win for Miami, even though they are without Bam Adebayo and Tyler Hero, with Norman Powell keeping the ship afloat with 33 points.

However, the Heat are getting contributions from a lot of players, such as Jaime Jaquez Jr., who scored 22 points, grabbed a record 13 rebounds and dished out seven assists. In addition, Kel’el Ware would also have a career high with an incredible 20 rebounds to go along with 14 points.

But it’s Wiggins who is the star of the show, with a total of 23 points on Monday night he would thank everyone involved conducting the show, saying it was because he was so open “focused on catching the ball and putting it in.”

“The coaches made a great play. And (Jovic) made me an unbelievable pass, a perfect pass, and (Mitchell) got me open with a great screen, and I was there to finish the job,” Mitchell said. “I’m happy we were able to get this win, it was a hard-fought win, and hopefully we can do the same thing when we play them in a few days… I knew I was so open. I was just so focused on getting the ball and putting it in.”

The Heat’s Nikola Jovic goes through the events before the buzzer

After Jovic had a career game for the Heat on Saturday, the momentum would continue in a lesser capacity with eight points, eight rebounds and four assists, but one assist proved to be a consequence. Jovic went through what it was like in a huddle until he was on the floor, scrutinizing matches because he was the person who threw in the pass.

He would talk about surprise that Quinn took control of the game and saw Evan Mobley initially put on him to defend the pass and then switch to Mitchell.

“When we got to the huddle, I kind of expected them to make me throw a pass,” Jovic said. “I was confused at first, because Coach Spo just gave the board to (Quinn) … We came out of the huddle and I went to the side, and they didn’t know who was going to guard who. They put Mobley on me first.”

“And I thought that was a good idea for them, because the pass would have been pretty hard to throw, and then as soon as they changed, I said, ‘Okay, well, I’ve got Donovan on me, the little guy can throw a pass over him.’ And as soon as I saw they put Mobley on Jaime. “I looked at (Wiggins) and knew he would succeed,” continued Jovic. “So as soon as they reviewed it, I knew I had to throw it perfectly on the rim so he had plenty of time to put it on.”

The Heat are now 7-4 and look to make it four straight and six straight at home on Wednesday as the team faces the Cavaliers once again.





2025-11-11 06:20:00

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