Cleveland left little question on its option to Spherical 2 — and completed off essentially the most lopsided sequence in NBA playoff historical past.
Donovan Mitchell scored 22 factors, De’Andre Hunter added 19 and the Cavaliers rolled previous the Miami Heat 138-83 on Monday evening to comb their Japanese Convention first-round sequence in 4 video games.
Ty Jerome had 18 factors, Evan Mobley added 17 and Jarrett Allen had 14 factors, 12 rebounds and 6 steals for the Cavaliers — who led by as many as 60 factors.
Cleveland gained the 4 video games by a mixed 122 factors. The earlier document: a 121-point mixed win by Denver over New Orleans in 2009.
The 55-point margin in Sport 4 was the fourth-biggest playoff win ever. The document for largest playoff win is 58 factors, achieved twice: Minneapolis over St. Louis in 1956 and Denver over New Orleans in 2009. The Los Angeles Lakers beat Golden State by 56 factors in 1973.
The Cavs got here shut. Pelle Larsson saved Miami from that piece of ignominious historical past. He made a 3-pointer to chop Cleveland’s result in 55 with about 38 seconds remaining.
Nikola Jovic led the Warmth with 24 factors. Ban Adebayo scored 13 and Andrew Wiggins added 12 for Miami.
Cleveland will play both Indiana or Milwaukee within the Japanese Convention semifinals. The Pacers lead that sequence 3-1; no matter whether or not the Pacers or Bucks advance, Sport 1 of that sequence could be in Cleveland and never performed till Saturday on the earliest.
That is the third occasion of Miami being swept in a best-of-seven sequence. The others: towards Chicago in 2007 and towards Milwaukee in 2021, each of these within the first spherical and each additionally ending on the Warmth residence ground.
It was over quick. Cleveland — which used a 33-5 early run to blow Sport 3 open — led 43-14 late within the first quarter earlier than Davion Mitchell beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer. The 26-point margin matched the worst quarter in Warmth playoff historical past; it was the second-best margin for any quarter in Cavs playoff historical past.
And the lead solely saved rising.
It regarded 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 match.
Cleveland’s lead was 39 — 72-33 — on the half, the third-largest lead after two quarters in NBA playoff historical past. The one halftime leads greater than that: Cleveland by 41 over Boston on Could 19, 2017 and Detroit by 40 over Washington on April 26, 1987.
Reporting by The Related Press.
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