In the first game of the first-round matchup of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat, the result was, largely, as expected. Although the Heat were able to make a multitude of runs throughout the second and third quarters, the Cavaliers ultimately prevailed 121-100.
In the wake of the Cavaliers' convincing win, Sixth Man of the Year candidate Ty Jerome's playoff breakout in his first career postseason game had fans of the Golden State Warriors left in awe.
Ty Jerome proves why the Warriors never should have let him walk
Jerome, 27, has had a breakout year this season with Cleveland, averaging 12.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 3.4 assists through 70 games off the Cavaliers' bench.
He has been vital to Cleveland's excellent season, in which they finished with a 64-18 record and earned the first seed in the Easter Conference.
On top of his superb play throughout the course of the season, Jerome leapt onto the national radar on Sunday night, posting 28 points, three rebounds and five assists in his team's victory.
Jerome was a member of Golden State during the 2022-23 season, in which he averaged 6.9 points, 1.7 rebounds and three assists in just 18.1 minutes a night.
While Jerome was on a two-way contract, and did not play a massive role in the Warriors' success that year, he still showed flashes of the scoring value he could provide, shooting 38.9% from beyond the arc on decent volume.
At the end of that season, however, Golden State opted not to extend Jerome's contract, allowing him to move on to Cleveland. Jerome signed a relatively cheap, 2-year, $5 million contract. However, an ankle injury held him to just 15 minutes played in his first season with the Cavaliers.
Yet, now that Jerome has fully emerged with his new team, the Warriors are certainly regretting this decision, as they have desperately needed reliable bench scoring throughout this season.
While Golden State had the third-highest scoring bench in the NBA, averaging 43.6 points per game this season, they had immense trouble finding a solution at shooting guard for vast stretches of this campaign.
De'Anthony Melton's season-ending injury scrapped the team's original plans, and the failed Dennis Schroder experiment and Brandin Podziemski's prolonged mid-season slump prevented the Warriors from finding traction at this position for much of the season.
Although Jerome's injury may have derailed the team last year, having him on a cheap deal could have proved to be a major boon for the Warriors this season.