Despite early foul trouble, Darius Garland scored 18 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Miami Heat 111-99 on Friday night. Donovan Mitchell finished with 27 points and 13 rebounds.

In his first away game against his previous squad, Max Strus added 11 points and Georges Niang scored 13. With their current 7-3 road record this season, the Cavaliers are tied for the best record in the NBA with Oklahoma City and Minnesota.

“We frequently discuss the same topic,” Cleveland coach J.B. Bickerstaff remarked. “We have the ability to decide each night if we are the better team on the court. Are we the most rivals? Are we the most giving people? And the players get more talented when they do that.

When holding opponents to fewer than 120 points, Cleveland is 13-3 this season. When a club scores at least 120, the Cavs are 0-6.

Kyle Lowry and Josh Richardson both scored 17 points to lead the Heat, who have dropped five of their previous seven games. For Miami, Jimmy Butler scored 16, Caleb Martin added 15, and former Cavaliers player Kevin Love finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds in addition to 12 points from Jaime Jaquez Jr.

The Cavaliers led 2-1 in 15-0 runs and outrebounded Miami 51-37.

Early in the game, Miami scored 15 points in a row to take a 16-point lead. Later in the game, the Cavaliers had two 15-0 runs.

The Cavaliers scored the first 13 points of the third quarter, with Mitchell accounting for 11 of those points to put his side ahead for good. Mitchell had the final basket of the first half to give Cleveland a 53-52 lead at the intermission.

According to Mitchell, “the third quarter kind of set that tone.” “We must continue in this manner.”

This season, Miami has dropped four games after taking a 16-point or larger lead. It was the largest deficit Cleveland had overcame thus far this year.

Erik Spoelstra, the head coach of the Heat, stated, “I thought there was some decent things defensively throughout the game.” “They play good defense, but it won’t matter if we don’t even score 100 points to win.”

Miami was once more missing Tyler Herro (ankle), Haywood Highsmith (back), and Bam Adebayo (hip). Herro has missed 14 straight games due to a sprain, Adebayo has missed five of Miami’s previous eight games, and Highwood has essentially missed three straight games—he missed the final two games of Miami’s Monday loss to Indiana as well as the final 45 minutes of that game.

Evan Mobley, who was sidelined due to left knee discomfort, did not play for Cleveland. Mobley has missed just four games in Cleveland’s past 111 games—including playoff contests—and his first this season.

After Garland was called for three fouls in the first 5:21 of the game, the Heat took advantage of his need to sit on the bench. Miami led 23–12 after the first 15-0 run of the evening; the advantage eventually grew to 39–23. That span was quickly followed by Cleveland’s first 15-0 run.

Miami fell to 0-5 while not scoring at least 100 points this season, even though they came within nine in the fourth.