CLEVELAND, Ohio — In the high-pressure crucible of playoff basketball, where careers are defined and legacies cemented, Ty Jerome just authored one of the most improbable chapters in Cavs history — a 28-point explosion in his playoff debut that left teammates, coaches, and even the Miami Heat utterly stunned. The statistics tell one remarkable story: Jerome became just the third player in Cavaliers history to score 28 or more points in his playoff debut, joining the elite company of LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. He’s also just the fourth NBA player since 1970-71 to score 28 or more points off the bench in a playoff debut. But the numbers barely scratch the surface of what made Jerome’s performance so extraordinary. “This guy felt like his career was slipping through his fingers,” Jimmy Watkins explained on the Wine and Gold Talk podcast. “And so that starting point to begin with makes him a very easy figure to root for. The audaciousness with which he plays makes it feel like he’s flexing on people.” That journey — from NBA journeyman to playoff hero — makes Jerome’s performance all the more remarkable. This is a player who appeared in just two games last season and entered the year fighting for his NBA future. What’s even more fascinating is that Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson wasn’t even sure how much Jerome could contribute in the playoffs. “There were points throughout the course of this regular season that members of the coaching staff, including Kenny Atkinson, were honestly wondering to themselves, how much could I play Ty in the playoffs?” Chris Fedor revealed. “How much of what we’re seeing here in this regular season is real, and how much can we actually play him in the playoffs?” The answer came emphatically in Game 1, as Jerome not only played but dominated — to the point where he essentially became the focal point of Cleveland’s offense down the stretch. “He basically closed the game with him because he couldn’t take him off the floor,” Fedor explained. “And that’s Ty. Ty is the kind of guy who can go on these flammable runs where he just makes it really, really difficult to go away from him.” Jerome’s impact was so profound that the Cavaliers kept him on the court even as Miami deployed various defensive strategies to slow him down, including the rare sight of a blitz defense typically reserved for star players. “When’s the last time you think Ty Jerome saw a blitz from the defense?” Fedor asked. “They put two on the ball, and he just calmly snapped the pass like he was supposed to do, but they had no answers for him, that they blitzed him as if he was Jalen Brunson or Donovan Mitchell.” The most striking aspect of Jerome’s performance wasn’t just the points total but how he controlled the entire flow of the game, particularly in the decisive fourth quarter. “This dude was like legit controlling the pace of a playoff game in that fourth quarter,” Watkins emphasized. “Like, like the game was revolving around Ty Jerome.” Jerome’s confidence has become legendary among teammates. Earlier in the season, he was “talking smack to Darius Garland to the point where he was like, whoa, whoa, whoa there, buddy. You might want to pump the brakes,” podcast host Ethan Sands recalled. That swagger was on full display Sunday, as Jerome launched a logo 3-point attempt after making just one shot early in the game. “This guy made one shot to start the game and he was like, yeah, you know what? Logo, heat check. Let me throw this guy up there,” Watkins recalled with amazement. While nobody expects Jerome to score 28 points every playoff game, his emergence as a reliable playoff performer dramatically changes the calculation for Cleveland’s championship aspirations. The Cavaliers suddenly have another dynamic playmaker who can create his own shot and navigate playoff-level defense — exactly the kind of player championship teams need when primary options are contained. As Sands summed it up, Jerome’s playoff readiness wasn’t just talk: “And Max Strus after the game said Ty Jerome is built for games like this, built for the moment. So it’s not just talk, it’s walking it and backing it up.” For a player who once wondered if his NBA career was slipping away, Ty Jerome just firmly grabbed hold of his basketball destiny — and potentially changed the course of the Cavaliers’ playoff journey and his summer contract discussions in the process. Here’s the podcast for this week: If the player above doesn’t work, you can listen to this week’s podcast here. Note: Artificial intelligence was used to help generate this story from the Cleveland Wine and Gold Talk Podcast by cleveland.com. Visitors to cleveland.com have asked for more text stories based on website podcast discussions.