Ty Jerome scores 28 points in playoff debut to lead Cavaliers to Game 1 victory

Ty Jerome had to wait five years to play in his first NBA playoff game.

On Sunday night, he made the most of the opportunity.

Jerome scored 16 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter, and the Cleveland Cavaliers rolled to a 121-100 victory over the Miami Heat in the first game of the Eastern Conference first-round series.

“Solid. Solid Game 1,” Jerome said.

Jerome had the third-most points in a Cavaliers playoff debut, behind LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.

Coach Kenny Atkinson didn’t expect Jerome to have this type of debut,

“I should (of expected it) because he’s kind of done it all year,” Atkinson said.

Jerome also was the fourth player in franchise history to score at least 28 points coming off the bench.

The game Sunday continued what has been a breakthrough season for Jerome. The 6-foot-5 guard — who helped lead the University of Virginia to an NCAA championship in 2019 — is in his sixth NBA season but played in only two games last season due to a right ankle injury.

Jerome played in a career-best 70 games during the regular season and averaged 12.5 points, also a career high. Before the Cavaliers took the floor, Jerome was named one of the finalists for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award.

“Your back’s kind of against the wall. I didn’t really have a huge body of work in the NBA add you kind of have one last shot in a way to make it right,” Jerome said about his mentality going into the season. “I had all that time off to reflect and do mental work and see what was needed to improve on. Confidence and aggression was a thing for me as well, especially.”

Jerome is known as one of the more vocal bench players on the Cavaliers. But on Sunday it was his shooting that did the talking.

He was 10 of 15 from the field, going 5 of 8 on 3-pointers, and had five rebounds and three assists in 28 minutes.

While Jerome’s fourth-quarter shooting — he was 6 of 7 from the field and made all three of his 3-point attempts — was the talk of social media, his teammates were not surprised.

“I mean, this is who he’s been,” said Donovan Mitchell, who has known Jerome since they were both 8 in New York. “It is full circle to come back from being eight years old to my first basketball teammate to now here we are. I know everybody’s gonna react like this is a shock, but he’s been doing this for us all year.”

Atkinson’s favorite play made by Jerome wasn’t a basket. Instead, it was a drive and pass to Jarrett Allen for a layup with 5:47 remaining that gave the Cavaliers a 104-90 lead.

“He got downhill and made that lefty pocket pass to (Allen) for the layup,” Atkinson said. “They went zone and he kind of shot them out of the zone, hitting two 3-pointers. He did it all tonight, and then defensively smart in the right position. He turned the game for us.”

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