Record moment for Duncan Robinson as Heat maul Cavs 124-107

One lesson from Saturday night was that even bad, shorthanded teams have good players. Another was that there is no time left for slip-ups for the Miami Heat.

So even with Kevin Love and Collin Sexton having big nights, and even with the Cleveland Cavaliers moving to an early 11-point lead, the Heat restored order by halftime on the way to a 124-107 victory at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.

With the victory, the Heat matched the 34-30 record of the Boston Celtics, who stand No. 6 in the Eastern Conference, as they moved on to Sunday night’s game against the No. 8 Charlotte Hornets. It ties the most games above .500 the Heat have stood this season.

With Kendrick Nunn scoring 22, Duncan Robinson 20, Trevor Ariza 18 and Max Strus 17, the Heat did not need to push their leading men, with Jimmy Butler closing with 15 points and Bam Adebayo with 13.

Love and Sexton each scored 25 for the injury-ravaged Cavaliers, with the 25 a season high for Love.

Five Degrees of Heat from Saturday’s game:

1. Milestone moment: When Robinson improved to 4 of 4 on 3-pointers with his conversion with 8:24 left in the third period to put the Heat up 13, it was the 500th of his career, in his 152nd regular-season game.

That gave him the record for fastest player to 500, eclipsing the mark of Luka Doncic, who did it in his first 187 games. The only other player to do it in fewer than 200 games was Damian Lillard, in 199.

Robinson also converted his fifth consecutive 3-pointer, before his first miss, eventually closing 6 of 9 from behind the arc.

2. Nunn sense: Nunn continued his late season emergence, making his first three 3-pointers and kept going from there.

It was the fourth time in five appearances that Nunn has scored at least 18.

3. Gradual aggression: Butler was 0 for 4 from the field with five points in the first.

He then shot 4 of 6 for 10 points in the third period, when the Heat went up 18 and then took a 13-point lead into the fourth quarter.

That single burst proved all that was needed, with Butler able to sit out the fourth quarter and rest up for Sunday’s game.

4. Adebayo, too: Like Butler, Adebayo was limited with his early contribution, with four first-half points on 2-of-5 shooting.

He then came around to complete his double-double, with 10 rebounds, and extend his career-best streak to 49th consecutive games scoring in double figures.

With his ninth point, Adebayo passed Brian Grant for 17th place on the Heat’s all-time scoring list.

5. Early action: With Tyler Herro (foot) and Victor Oladipo (knee) not making the trip, Strus got early minutes, as the Heat’s second guard off the bench, after Goran Dragic.

Strus made his first two shots upon entering, and five of his first seven, fueling an 11-0 second-quarter run and playing ahead of Gabe Vincent.

Strus secured his seventh double-figure scoring game by the midpoint of the second period, with 14 points in 14 first-half minutes.