Cavs' Ty Jerome wows in playoff debut

CLEVELAND — Ty Jerome made a first impression nobody in Cleveland will forget. Jerome finished with 28 points in his NBA playoff debut, including 16 in the fourth quarter as Cleveland's key reserve helped it close out Miami 121-100 in Game 1 of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal at Rocket Arena on Sunday evening. The Cavs will host Game 2 on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. "There was a lot of excitement," Jerome said. "The crowd was awesome. But once I ran up and down three, four times at the end of the day you shoot the ball the same way. The same people are guarding you and it's the same people who you're trying to stop. It's still a basketball game at the end of the day, but the crowd was phenomenal so you have that extra excitement." The big night was extra special for Jerome after he missed the 2023-24 season with an ankle injury sustained after two appearances, but that didn't stop him from going into the summer with confidence. And now he's putting together his best year since entering the league as the No. 24 overall pick of the 2019 NBA Draft. "You get time to reflect on where you're going to take the next step," Jerome said. "Going into the offseason, your back is against the wall, I didn't play any games and I don't have a huge body of work in the NBA. You kind of have one last shot to make it right. It gave me time to think about what I needed to improve on." Jerome averaged a career-high 12.5 points per game along with 1.11 steals, while shooting 51.6 percent from the field, 43.9 from 3-point range, also career bests. He was the only player to average more than 12 points per game in less than 20 minutes per game. The league took notice as he was named one of three finalists for its Sixth Man of the Year award. "This is who he's been," said Cavs guard Donovan Mitchell, who grew up playing with Jerome and scored 30 points in Game 1. "This isn't a shocker. I don't think any of us are surprised at what he's doing on a nightly basis. He's done this at every level for us this season. It is full circle to come back from being 8 years old, my first basketball teammate, to here we are. It's pretty wild, but this is who Ty is. Everybody is going to react like this is a shock, but he's been doing this for us all year." Jerome already had a strong evening entering the fourth quarter with 12 points, but he saved his best for last as he immediately pushed Cleveland's lead to 89-79 on a runner. While the Heat never seriously threatened the Cavs lead, they kept pushing. And had it not been for Jerome hitting a pair of threes, the final 10 minutes would have been significantly more tense for the sold-out Cleveland contingent. Both of his 3-pointers pushed the Cavs lead back to 10 points. He then split a pair of free throws and found fellow reserve Sam Merrill on the wing for a wide-open three, giving the Cavs a 102-90 lead with 6:31 left. Jerome ultimately accounted for the Cavs first 24 points of the quarter, scoring 16 and dishing out three assists that led to eight more. "He's got that swagger," Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. "And then he's got a super high IQ. Everyone is going to talk about the scoring, but the play I remember was when he made that lefty pocket pass to (Jarrett Allen) for the layup. They went zone and I think he kind of shot them out of the zone. He did it all tonight. And defensively he's smart, he's in the right position. He turned the game for us." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on Twitter.