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 earlier than beating the Miami Heat 138-83 on Monday night time to sweep their Eastern Conference first-round series in 4 video 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 received the series by a mixed 122 points, another than the earlier document 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. Ban 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 stated. “But Cleveland’s also a very good team. … They showed us why we weren’t ready for that.”
Cleveland will play both Indiana or Milwaukee in the Eastern Conference semifinals. The Pacers lead that series 3-1; no matter whether or not the Pacers or Bucks advance, Game 1 of that series can be in Cleveland and not performed till Saturday on the earliest.
“I’m always a big fan of rest,” Mitchell stated.
This is the third occasion of Miami being swept in a best-of-seven series. The others: towards Chicago in 2007 and towards Milwaukee in 2021, each of these in the primary spherical and each additionally ending on the Heat dwelling ground.
It was over quick. Cleveland — which used a 33-5 early run to blow Game 3 open — led 43-14 late in the primary quarter earlier than 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 solely saved rising.
It seemed each bit like a 64-win staff that led the East wire-to-wire going up towards a Tenth-place finisher that wanted to win two play-in video games simply to get into the event.
“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 stated. “We don’t seem to have letdowns. That’s rare.”
Cleveland’s lead was 39 — 72-33 — on the half, the third-largest lead after two quarters in NBA playoff history. The solely halftime leads greater than that: Cleveland by 41 over Boston on May 19, 2017 and Detroit by 40 over Washington on April 26, 1987.
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