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Cavs sweep Heat in most lopsided series in NBA playoff history; GSW takes 3-1 lead

Published Apr 29, 2025 05:42 am

At A Glance

  • 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, April 28, to sweep their Eastern Conference first-round series in four games.

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, April 28, to sweep their Eastern Conference first-round series in four games.

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Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) shoots around Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo (13) during the second half in Game 4 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series, Monday, April 28, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rhona Wise)

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.

 Meanwhile, Jimmy Butler converted three free throws with 58.7 seconds left, grabbed the game-clinching rebound with 4 seconds to go and then made two more free throws on the way to 27 points in his return from a pelvic injury, sending the Golden State Warriors past the Houston Rockets, 109-106, in a heated Game 4 to take a 3-1 lead in the first-round playoff series.

Fred VanVleet missed a 3-pointer under pressure at the buzzer.

The teams return to Houston for Game 5 in the best-of-seven series on Wednesday night as seventh-seeded Golden State tries to close out the No. 2 seed Rockets on their home floor.

Brandin Podziemski scored 26 points, Stephen Curry finished with 17 in the frantic finish and Buddy Hield hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 3:32 left and scored 15 after joining the starting lineup.

Alperen Sengun scored with 40 seconds left for Houston to make it a one-point game. He had 31 points and 10 rebounds, while VanVleet hit a tying 3-pointer with 1:20 to play and scored 25 points.

Butler was back after sitting out Game 3 with a pelvic contusion and deep gluteal muscle bruise suffered on a hard fall when he was fouled by Amen Thompson early in Game 2.

Related Tags

Donovan Mitchell Miami Heat Cleveland Cavaliers
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