Sometimes, series that end in four games can be closer and more competitive than the word “sweep” suggests. This was not one of those series.
Cleveland entered Monday’s Game 4 having outscored Miami by 24.9 points per 100 possessions in the first three games of the series. It had stomped the Heat in Game 3 on Saturday, leading by as many as 40 points in a 124-87 rout. And it proceeded to crush them even more viciously on Monday.
The final margin of victory was 55 points, but you should know that Cleveland had a 70-25 lead late in the second quarter. You should know that it led by as many as 60 points in the fourth.
Game 4 was the fourth-most lopsided game in NBA playoff history and the most lopsided series-clinching game ever. It was also the most lopsided playoff victory in Cavaliers history, eclipsing their 44-point win against the Boston Celtics in Game 2 of the 2017 Eastern Conference Finals, and the most lopsided playoff loss in Heat history, eclipsing their 37-point loss to the Cavs two days ago.
Donovan Mitchell finished with 22 points (8-12 FG, 4-8 3PT, 2-2 FT) and five assists in 25 minutes. Evan Mobley finished with 17 points (6-9 FG, 2-4 3PT, 3-4 FT), seven rebounds, two blocks and a steal in 23 minutes. Jarrett Allen finished with 14 points (5-5 FG, 4-4 FT), 12 rebounds, two assists and six steals in 25 minutes. Ty Jerome and De’Andre Hunter scored a combined 37 points off the bench.
Tyler Herro was minus-44 in 31 minutes. This is the worst plus-minus any player has recorded in a home playoff game in the play-by-play era. Herro finished with four points (1-10 FG, 1-9 3PT, 1-2 FT) and one assist.
Cleveland outscored Miami by a cumulative 67 points in Games 1 through 3. With this blowout, it increased that point differential to a whopping 122 points. This is the largest cumulative point differential in any series in NBA history — in 2009, the Denver Nuggets outscored the team then known as the New Orleans Hornets by a total of 121 points in a five-game first-round series.
I wish I could tell you that the Miami went on a massive third-quarter run to make things interesting. That is definitively not what happened. Heading into the final frame, it’s gotten even worse for the Heat: They’re down by 48 points after Ty Jerome hit a deep 3 off a Eurostep just inside of halfcourt at the buzzer.
It would have been natural for Cleveland to relax a little bit after leading by as many as 45 points in the first half. Instead, it refused to give Miami any life. The scoring margin was 39 at halftime, and it grew as large as 49 in the third quarter.
In 25 minutes, Donovan Mitchell has scored 22 points (8-12 FG, 4-8 3PT, 2-2 FT) and dished five assists. I imagine he’s done for the night.
In 23 minutes, Evan Mobley has scored 17 points (6-9 FG, 2-4 3PT, 3-4 FT), grabbed seven rebounds and recorded two blocks and a steal. I imagine he’s done for the night, too.
Mercifully, only 12 minutes remain in this series. It has been a bloodbath.
Cleveland will head into the second quarter with a 39-point lead. The Cavs have led by as many as 45 points. This is a truly brutal beatdown. It’s also the third-largest halftime lead in NBA playoff history, and the largest in a potential clincher.
Four Cavs are in double figures. De’Andre Hunter has a game-high 18 points (6-9 FG, 3-3 3PT, 3-3 FT) in 15 minutes off the bench. Cleveland is shooting 11 for 24 from deep collectively.
Jarrett Allen’s halftime stat line is absurd: 12 points (4-4 FG, 4-4 FT), 11 rebounds (three offensive), one assist, six (!) steals. He’s plus-33 in 17 minutes.
Miami, meanwhile, is having a miserable time. Tyler Herro and Andrew Wiggins are shooting a combined 1 for 13, and the entire team is shooting a collective 13 for 43 (including 4 for 25 from deep). The Heat have almost as many turnovers (12) as they do made field goals (13).
The Cavs are 24 minutes away from a sweep.
The Cavs are up 55-21 with 7:05 left in the first half. This feels cruel.
Here’s a neat little microcosm of the game:
Miami is now shooting 8 for 29 (27.6%) from the field and 2 for 17 (11.8%) from deep. It has eight turnovers, seven of the live-ball variety.
TNT’s Candace Parker was just raving about a closeout that Dean Wade’s made against Bam Adebayo. After that, Wade hit a 3 in transition. I wrote about him earlier this season.
Yes, that’s the real score. The Cavs are being extremely mean tonight.
Cleveland started the game on a 38-10 run. There was a 15-0 run in there, too.
In 10 first-quarter minutes, Donovan Mitchell scored 13 points on 5-for-10 shooting and made three 3s. De’Andre Hunter added 11 points on 3-for-3 shooting (all from deep) off the bench.
Miami’s Davion Mitchell hit a heave from about halfcourt at the buzzer. The Heat are now 2 for 12 from deep. Yippee.
If it wasn’t clear by the way they dominated Game 3, the Cavs are not messing around. With 3:17 left in the first quarter, they’ve already built a 30-8 lead.
Miami is shooting 3 for 14 from the field and has missed eight of its nine 3-point attempts. Jarrett Allen now has four steals, and he’s also outscored the Heat by himself — he has 10 points (3-3 FG, 4-4 FT).
Here’s a driving dunk from Evan Mobley:
And here’s Allen throwing down an alley-oop from Donovan Mitchell:
The Cavaliers are trying to put Miami away without one of its star guards. Darius Garland is sidelined for Game 4 on Monday due to a sprained left big toe. Cleveland started sharpshooter Sam Merrill in Garland’s place.
Less than three minutes into the game, everything is going swimmingly for the Cavs. They are up 12-3, and Miami has only attempted four field goals.
Jarrett Allen already has three steals. On the game’s first possession, Allen jumped a passing lane and went coast to coast for a dunk:
Cleveland made the trip down to South Beach and put Game 3 out of reach by the first quarter. Jarrett Allen finished with a team-high 22 points and nine rebounds as he paced six Cavalier players scoring in double figures. Cleveland opens up a 3-0 series lead as it was also the Cavaliers’ fifth straight win over Miami. It was also the Heat’s worst playoff loss in franchise history.
De’Andre Hunter and Evan Mobley combined for 40 points for the Cavaliers, who closed the first quarter on a 27-5 scoring run and never looked back. The Heat, which dropped its sixth straight playoff game at home, were paced by Bam Adebayo with 22 points and nine rebounds. Game 4 is back in Miami on Monday.
The Cavaliers are not wasting any time. De’Andre Hunter and Jarrett Allen have 16 points each as Cleveland closed the first quarter on a 27-5 scoring run. The Heat haven’t helped themselves, committing 10 turnovers in the first half. If Donovan Mitchell keeps having his way, the Cavaliers could be well on their way to a 3-0 series lead.
Everyone who was looking forward to the Tyler Herro vs. Darius Garland showdown today, following their war of words the past few days, will have to wait until Game 4. Garland is out for Game 3 with a toe injury.
Darius Garland acknowledged that the Cavaliers were picking on Tyler Herro after going up 2-0 in the series. Asked if it’s appropriate for a player to talk about attacking a weak link, Herro responded.
The Cavs narrowly avoided disaster thanks to a phenomenal closing stretch by Donovan Mitchell, who scored 17 fourth-quarter points to help create distance after the Heat had cut the deficit from 19 to two. The alpha guard, who was just 4 for 13 from the field after the third quarter, finished with 30 points, six assists and six rebounds while going 7 of 10 from 3-point range.
Had the Heat managed to pull out the victory, it would have been the largest playoff comeback in the NBA play-by-play era (since 1996-97), but they couldn’t quite finish the job.
It was a surprising turn of events as Cleveland appeared to be cruising while building a near 20-point lead late in the third quarter. But the Heat, led by spark plug guard Davion Mitchell, mounted a fast and furious comeback to get the game within two points with just under four-and-a-half minutes left.
Miami’s Mitchell finished with 18 points and six assists on 7-for-9 shooting, while Tyler Herro’s 33 points on 14-for-24 shooting led the way for the Heat.
Cleveland now takes a 2-0 lead into Saturday’s Game 3 in Miami, and they have to feel fortunate that they were able to escape Game 2 with the win. At the same time, Miami surely gained confidence from the comeback, as they had been significantly outplayed for the first seven quarters of the series.
The Heat led by as many as nine points in the early going of Game 2, sending a bit of a shock to the Cavaliers’ system. Rest assured, the message was received.
From that point, the Cavs went on an all-out assault, outscoring Miami 61-35 from the six-minute mark of the first quarter to take a double-digit lead into the locker room. They finished the first half at a blistering 14-of-23 clip from 3-point range.
“We took the first hit. We responded,” Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said to his team during an in-game huddle. “Now we just do it for longer.”
Cleveland’s offensive attack was multifaceted, with seven players scoring at least five points in the first half. Game 1 hero Ty Jerome was once again a spark off the bench, while De’Andre Hunter and Sam Merrill added punch to the reserve unit. Meanwhile, the Cavs’ starters, one of the NBA’s best five-man units during the regular season, continued to dominate behind Donovan Mitchell’s creation, Evan Mobley’s versatility and Max Strus’ sharpshooting.
Tyler Herro was the lone bright spot for the Heat in the first half, scoring 17 points on 7-for-10 shooting. They have their work cut out for them if they’re going to avoid going back to Miami down 0-2.
Miami held strong for three quarters, but just like we all suspected, Ty Jerome pulled Cleveland ahead for good with a dominant fourth-quarter scoring performance. Over one stretch, Jerome scored 20 of 28 points for Cleveland and finished the game with 28 points in total. That gave Cleveland the victory and put the Cavaliers up 1-0 in this first-round series.
The scary thing about Jerome’s outing? He wasn’t even Cleveland’s leading scorer. Donovan Mitchell gave the Cavs 30, and Darius Garland was right behind with 27. Cleveland just had the second-best offensive regular season in NBA history, and the Cavaliers did not disappoint in their playoff opener.
Miami, meanwhile, looked overmatched against a true playoff team. The Heat beat up play-in opponents in Chicago and Atlanta during the week, but the Cavaliers are another beast altogether. Tyler Herro, who scored 68 points in those two play-in games, was held to 21 on 7-of-18 shooting by Cleveland’s strong defense.
The Heat got another hot scoring game out of defensive ace Davion Mitchell (18 points), and Bam Adebayo held his own against Cleveland’s dominant front-court (24). But otherwise, Miami looked every bit the No. 10 seed it is as the Cavaliers pulled away late. Game 2 will be played on Wednesday.
Remember when LeBron James scored 29 of Cleveland’s last 30 points to win Game 5 of the 2007 Eastern Conference finals? Well… we’re getting the junior varsity version of that night now. Ty Jerome, in his playoff debut, has 20 of Cleveland’s last 28 points and has 28 points in total for the game. What was once competitive in the fourth quarter is now a walkover thanks to Cleveland’s Sixth Man of the Year candidate. This is a bench performance for the ages by Jerome.
Something to keep in mind as the Heat stay competitive through three quarters: they have been a terrible fourth-quarter team all season. They ranked 24th in fourth-quarter net rating, 28th in clutch net rating and dead last in clutch net rating after the Jimmy Butler trade. Recent history suggests Cleveland is about to pull away, but Erik Spoelstra’s playoff history makes that a scary bet. So, can Cleveland finish this one out up eight headed into the fourth quarter? Or can Miami reverse its season-long late-game struggles long enough to pull a Game 1 upset?
To those who expected another top-seed blowout after Oklahoma City’s drubbing of Memphis earlier Sunday, the second No. 1 seed to take the floor on Sunday hasn’t been quite as dominant. It’s 62-54 in favor of Cleveland thus far, but predictably, the scrappy Miami Heat, who have been swept only once in Erik Spoelstra’s lengthy tenure as head coach, are right in this thing.
The stars are shining for both sides through two quarters. Tyler Herro leads all scorers with 17 after scoring 68 total in Miami’s two play-in games. As well as Cleveland has defended all year, its guards are its weak point on that end of the floor. Herro, a first-time All-Star this season, has taken advantage with three triples.
Of course, Herro has to play defense on the other end of the floor, and he’s never done that especially well. Cleveland’s Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell have 27 combined through two quarters, with Garland hunting Herro quite a bit in the first half.
Miami’s tendency all season, especially after the Jimmy Butler trade, has been to collapse in the second half. If they do so against Cleveland, this could get ugly fast. But Spoelstra is one of the best playoff coaches of all time. If there’s a weakness for him to exploit when play resumes, he’ll find it.
