Cavs win by 55 points to sweep Heat
and finish off most lopsided series in NBA playoff history
[April 29, 2025]
By TIM REYNOLDS
MIAMI (AP) — 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. 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 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 would
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 of those in the first round and both also ending on the
Heat home floor.
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Cleveland Cavaliers forward Isaac Okoro shoots over Miami Heat
forward Haywood Highsmith (24) during the first half in Game 3 of an
NBA basketball first-round playoff series, Saturday, April 26, 2025,
in Miami. (AP Photo/Michael Laughlin)
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.
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