Heat routs Cleveland behind big night from Lowry. Takeaways and details

Five takeaways from the Heat’s 129-96 win against the Cavaliers on Wednesday in Cleveland:

▪ Led by Kyle Lowry’s 28 points, the Heat (10-5) controlled the game throughout - shooting 52.9 percent from the field and posting its most lopsided win of the season. But injuries continue to mount.

Already without Tyler Herro for at least another several days because of an ankle injury, the Heat scratched Bam Adebayo before tipoff because of a hip contusion, an injury that sidelined him for a game earlier this season.

Then reserve point guard Dru Smith injured his right knee when he fell awkwardly on the sideline, slipping in an area with a dangerous dropoff from the elevated area for fans sitting courtside. He needed to be helped to the locker room.

Smith will accompany the team to New York City and get a scan on the injured knee.

“It is a dangerous floor,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It’s an accident waiting to happen. You close out and all of a sudden you’re going off a cliff. If the court was normal, there wouldn’t have been any kind of incident.”

If Smith is sidelined for a long period, the Heat might need to add another point guard as insurance, either with the open 15th roster spot or with a two-way contract. The Heat appears committed to two-way players Jamal Cain and Cole Swider, but two-way guard R.J. Hampton - out indefinitely with a knee injury - could be replaced if Miami feels a need to add healthy point guard depth.

As for Adebayo, the hip injury is “not a lingering thing,” Spoelstra said. “He’s padded. He just took a hard fall in the Chicago game in the exact same spot [as earlier this season]. He could do some things in shootaround but could not jump. Last time, he was able to heal pretty quickly. He was able to do everything today except kind of jump. He was doing treatment around the clock today, will tomorrow” on Thanksgiving.

Smith’s injury - combined with the absences of Herro, Adebayo, Kevin Love (personal reason) and Nikola Jovic (G-League assignment) - left the Heat with just nine available players for the second half.

But that was plenty on a night that the Heat sprinted to a 16-2 lead and led by 28 early in the fourth quarter.

Miami led by as many as 17 in the first half, went up 69-55 at the half and never allowed Cleveland to make any sort of run in the second half.

Much of the early damage was done by Lowry, who hit his first five three-pointers in the first quarter en route to finishing with 28.

Rookie Jaime Jaquez scored 22 – the highest point total of his rookie year so far.

Jimmy Butler shot just 3 for 12 on a 10-point night but had nine assists, four rebounds, two steals and two blocks.

Miami got 14 points from Josh Richardson, 14 from Caleb Martin and a combined 24 points and 15 rebounds from fill-in centers Thomas Bryant and Orlando Robinson.

Miami shot 20 for 35 on threes (57.1 percent) and played brilliantly, setting a season high point total, even without two of its top three scorers in Adebayo and Herro, and even with Butler’s poor shooting night.

The Heat’s 20 made threes were one short of a franchise record.

The Cavaliers, playing without injured All Star guard Donovan Mitchell, shot 47 percent but were torpedoed by 19 turnovers. Miami had a 28-13 edge in points off turnovers.

The Heat has now won nine of its last 10 and six of its last seven on the road. Miami never trailed in either of its past two games -- Wednesday in Cleveland or during Monday night’s win in Chicago.

Unlike some past games this season, the Heat never squandered most of a big lead.

“It was keeping up the intensity for the entire game, not taking our foot off the gas, pushing those leads to greater and greater each time,” Jaquez said. “Those were some of the things we talked about, making a 10-point lead 15 and a 15- [point lead] 20. We did a great job of that.”

Next up for Miami: an In Season Tournament game at the Knicks on Friday (7:30 p.m., ESPN, Bally Sports Sun).

▪ Lowry set the tone early with a sizzling start on his way to easily his best offensive night of the season.

Lowry has been a reluctant shooter much of this season; he entered averaging 5.8 field goal attempts per game (down from 11.0 career average).

He surpassed that field goal attempt average even before he went to the bench for his first breather of the night.

By the time Lowry hit his third three-pointer, Miami was up 16-2. He opened 5 for 5 on threes before his sixth attempt spun out.

Lowry scored 17 in the first half, then hit another three to stretch the Heat’s lead to 83-62 midway through the third quarter. He followed that with a beautiful pull-up jumper and then another three, giving him 26 points at that juncture.

Lowry finished the night 9 for 13 from the field and 7 for 9 on threes, with three assists and no turnovers in 29 minutes.

“Kyle was terrific with his pace,” Spoelstra said. “Never let the defense get set. Got us into early actions. We need him to be as aggressive and assertive as often as he can.”

How unusual was this offensive outburst for Lowry? He entered having scored in double figures only twice all season – 17 twice and 13 once. He had scored a total of 19 points in his previous four games.

Though Lowry hasn’t made a ton of threes this season, he’s shooting them effectively. He entered at 42.6 percent on threes (23-for-54).

Per Stathead, Lowry joined LeBron James and Wayne Ellington as the only Heat players in history with five three-pointers in a first quarter.

▪ Without Adebayo and Love, the Heat needed good nights from centers Thomas Bryant and Orlando Robinson. And both delivered eight-point, four-rebound first halves and solid work in the second half.

“Both of them played great minutes for us tonight,” Spoelstra said of Bryant and Robinson. “Thomas’ energy, motor, extra effort and touch and feel inside the paint is great for this center position. He plays off Jimmy really well.

“Orlando understands our system very well. He continues to get better.”

Bryant, who lost his rotation spot to Love a couple of weeks ago, started the game, giving Miami its ninth starting lineup in 15 games.

Bryant scored his 10 points in a variety of ways, including a nifty jump hook. His defense, which sometimes has been a shortcoming during his career, wasn’t an issue Wednesday, and he had seven rebounds, a steal and a block.

“I’ve been encouraged by a lot of things,” Spoelstra said of Bryant before the game. “His size, his motor, the efforts are definitely there and he’s ready for the opportunity and so is Orlando. We’ll need both of them tonight and that’s why you have your depth.”

Robinson, making his first appearance since Oct. 30, does an excellent job positioning himself for offensive rebounds. That led to put-backs of misses by Duncan Robinson and Jaquez in the first half.

He also hit his second career three pointer and flashed some of the polished offensive moves that he displayed during Las Vegas Summer League. He closed with 14 points, 8 rebounds, two blocks and a steal.

“He’s really worked on his body,” Spoelstra said. “He’s really worked on his team defense. And offensively, he just continues to get a lot better. That part is probably the more obvious to everybody else on the outside. But it shouldn’t be because when you see him behind the scenes how hard he works and what he’s done in the last two summer league, you see the improvement.”

▪ This was a prime example of why Spoelstra is content playing a defensively-skilled wing player at power forward, even with a sizable heigh deficit. The Heat’s skilled switchable wings (Butler, Haywood Highsmith, Martin, Richardson, Jaquez) totalled a combined 13 steals/blocks.

The 6-11 Evan Mobley had a six-inch height advantage over Heat starting power forward Highsmith, who drew the initial defensive assignment.

That hardly mattered, because the Heat’s frisky wings created havoc, forcing many of Cleveland’s turnovers.

Jaquez continued his sublime rookie season with his highest point total on a pro, achieved on 7 for 10 shooting (including 4 for 4 on threes). He chipped in seven rebounds, an assist and a steal.

“I go in with the mentality that you can miss 10 shots, then make the next 10 shots and you’re still 50 percent,” Jaquez said. “You’ve got to stay confident when you get shots and knock them down.”

Highsmith had two blocks and a steal, to go with 10 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists.

Martin, who entered shooting 7 for 27 since returning from a knee injury, worked off the rust with 5 for 12 shooting and had three steals.

Richardson, who entered shooting 26.7 percent on threes and 39 percent overall, hit five of his nine shots and had two steals.

And Duncan Robinson, who went scoreless on 0 for 2 shooting in the first half, chipped in seven points after halftime.

The Heat once again forced turnovers without fouling excessively. Miami is averaging 17 fouls per game, fewest in the league. Miami was whistled for 19 on Wednesday.

▪ Max Strus had an unremarkable first game against the Heat after departing as a free agent in July.

Strus, who left the Heat for a four-year, $63 million deal with Cleveland, opened 0 for 3 against his former team and finished with six points, on 2 for 6 shooting, and two turnovers in 25 minutes. Strus entered the night 12th in the league in three-point makes; his only two baskets on Wednesday were threes.

“We built that man from the ground up,” Adebayo said, affectionately. “We made him grow the hair on his chest. The Strus is Loose started with us. What else can I claim from him? His athleticism, he had that since birth. But he’s a competitor. That’s what we always liked about him. He’s a competitor.”