Darius Garland and Tyler Herro have had some verbal back-and-forth both on and off the court in this first-round series.

But it was the Eastern Conference’s top-seeded Cavaliers’ stifling defense on Herro that became the story of their dominant 124-87 Game 3 win over the East’s eighth-seeded Heat on Saturday at Kaseya Center to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-7 playoff series.

If it ends Monday, after the slog through the sewage left behind by Jimmy Butler to create this playoff reality, it will not be difficult to put a Miami Heat name to it all: Tyler Herro.