Miami Heat: Team needs to win rebound battle on Monday

As the Miami Heat get set to take on the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night, they need to clean up one thing. Rebounds were a huge problem for them in Saturday’s game. Even though Miami won by a 124-105 score, Cleveland significantly beat Miami in the battle for the glass.

Larry Nance Jr. and Cedi Osman each had seven rebounds. Andre Drummond had six. Off the bench, Tristan Thompson had seven and point guard Dante Exum had eight . Cleveland cleaned up the offensive glass particularly well, holding an 11-4 advantage.

For their part, Miami did manage to do a decent job on the glass. Derrick Jones Jr. led all starters in rebounds with four. Off the bench, Udonis Haslem had five rebounds. He didn’t make much of an impact in the scoring department, missing all five field goals he attempted. However, he did a solid job on the glass, especially when you consider that he only played 10 minutes.

Cleveland and Miami are pretty even on the glass. Miami has recorded an average of 44.7 rebounds per contest. Cleveland has recorded an average of 44.4 rebounds per game.

Miami Heat need to watch Andre Drummond

As the Miami Heat get set to take on Cleveland Monday, Miami needs to watch out for Drummond in particular . He has been active on the boards sense he came to Cleveland.

The six rebounds he tallied on Saturday night were actually his fewest so far in four games with the Cavaliers. In his first game with the team on February 9, he recorded 14 rebounds. He followed that up with a 15-rebound performance against the Atlanta Hawks on February 12. Prior to the Miami game, he tallied 12 against Washington on February 21.

Drummond has quickly helped the Cavaliers become more of a force on the boards. Miami will have to be cognizant of that.

The Heat will have to watch out for Cleveland on the glass Monday. If they are able to contain the Cavaliers, then they should be able to come away with the victory on the glass.

After having only three rebounds in 26 minutes of play on Saturday, Bam Adebayo should be in line for a much bigger game. If he can bounce back, the Miami Heat should be able to offset Drummond and others. That matchup in the post is certainly one to watch for on Monday.