Cavs sweep Heat and finish off most lopsided series in playoff history

MIAMI — Cleveland moved into Round 2 with the most lopsided series win in NBA playoff history.

Donovan Mitchell scored 22 points, De'Andre Hunter added 19, and the Cavaliers led by as many as 60 points before beating the Miami Heat 138-83 on Monday night to sweep their Eastern Conference first-round series in four games.

Ty Jerome had 18 points, Evan Mobley added 17 and Jarrett Allen had 14 points, 12 rebounds and six steals for the Cavaliers. Cleveland won the series by a combined 122 points, one more than the previous record for series margin set by Denver over New Orleans in 2009.

"We came out here with a goal in mind," Mitchell said.

The 55-point margin in Game 4 was the fourth-biggest playoff win ever. The record is 58 points, done twice: Minneapolis over St Louis in 1956 and Denver over New Orleans in 2009. The Los Angeles Lakers beat Golden State by 56 points in 1973.

Nikola Jovic led the Heat with 24 points. Bam Adebayo scored 13, while Pelle Larsson and Andrew Wiggins each added 12 for Miami.

"Damn, it was humbling. This series was humbling. These last two games were embarrassing," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "But Cleveland's also a very good team. They showed us why we weren't ready for that."

Cleveland will play either Indiana or Milwaukee in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Pacers lead that series 3-1; regardless of whether the Pacers or Bucks advance, Game 1 of that series will be in Cleveland and not played until Saturday at the earliest.

"I'm always a big fan of rest," Mitchell said.

This is the third instance of Miami being swept in a best-of-seven series. The others: against Chicago in 2007 and against Milwaukee in 2021, both in the first round and both also ending on the Heat's home court.

It was over fast. Cleveland — which used a 33-5 early run to blow Game 3 open — led 43-14 late in the first quarter, before Davion Mitchell beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer. The 26-point margin matched the worst quarter in Heat playoff history; it was the second-best margin for any quarter in Cavs playoff history.

And the lead only kept growing.

It looked every bit like a 64-win team that led the East wire-to-wire going up against a 10th-place finisher that needed to win two play-in games just to get into the tournament.

"We came down here with the right mentality, and, again, our maturity, our leadership, all that stuff we've been talking about all year," Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said. "We don't seem to have letdowns. That's rare."

Cleveland's lead was 39 — 72-33 — at the half, the third-largest lead after two quarters in NBA playoff history. The only halftime leads bigger than that: Cleveland by 41 over Boston on May 19, 2017, and Detroit by 40 over Washington on April 26, 1987.

"We definitely didn't expect this," Heat guard Tyler Herro said. "Tough last two games for us. No excuses for it. It's embarrassing. Definitely humbling. There's a lot of work to be put in."

Changes are coming this summer. That is certain. The Heat know they need more to compete, and team captain Adebayo said he's already waiting to see what team president Pat Riley and the front office targets.

"There's going to be a lot of changes this summer," Adebayo said. "Just from my point of view, understanding how the guy with the silver hair works. Just be prepared for that."

Spoelstra lauded Cleveland. It was clearly the better team. He just thought the Heat was capable of more.

"They left us behind these last two games," Spoelstra said.

"I'll be able to separate this, because it's a shame that we'll be remembered for these two home games here and taking a 4-0 sweep. This group showed a lot of character and resilience. It was a fun group to be around, especially those last eight weeks of the season when we were just grinding. Struggling, grinding and then playing our best basketball at the end of the season, when it mattered."

Agencies via Xinhua