Cleveland ends Heat season with humiliating 138-83 drubbing. Cavs sweep, win 4 games by 122
The worst Heat season in more than a decade ended in humiliating fashion on Monday, delivering a sad and sobering message to a proud franchise that played in the NBA Finals two years ago and has witnessed a rapid regression since.
The top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers jumped to 38-10 lead, led 72-33 at halftime and 111-63 after three and drubbed the Heat, 138-83, at Kaseya Center to sweep the first-round series, ending a mess of a season that featured the Jimmy Butler-created chaos, three Butler suspensions and subsequent trade; a 10-game losing streak; and an embarrassing first round playoff exit.
And so Miami’s season ends with a record of 39-49, factoring in the play-in wins against Chicago and Atlanta and Cleveland’s four-game sweep. Miami closed 19-24 at home.
For the third time in four games in this series, the Heat wasn’t competitive. Miami lost the opener by 37, Game 2 by 9, Game 3 by 21 and Game 4 by 55, making Monday the fourth most lopsided game in NBA playoff history.
Cleveland won the four games by 122, making it the most lopsided playoff series in NBA history. This wasn’t the most lopsided loss in Heat history; Miami lost 148-80 in Cleveland in December 1991.
“It was a fun experience,” Erik Spoelstra said of the season. “I became better from it. But damn it was humbling, this series. These last two games were embarrassing. We were irrational as we usually are, thinking we could win this series. We showed we weren’t ready for that. This is embarrassing but there are going to be a lot of teams out like us that have big aspirations.
“As an organization, we will look at this and say this is unacceptable. What I loved about this group is how badly they wanted to get in this dance. And that’s something.”
Monday started inauspiciously when Davion Mitchell threw a bad pass to Kel’el Ware; Cleveland’s Jarrett Allen intercepted and dunked in transition. It went downhill from there.
Mitchell turned it over twice more in the next two minutes, and everything quickly unraveled.
The Cavs overwhelmed the Heat with two massive first-quarter runs - one 18-2 and another 15-0 avalanche that pushed the lead to 38-10.
Cleveland’s 39-point halftime advantage was the third largest in NBA history, two short of the record.
Spoelstra said “there’s no way I could have predicted” these lopsided losses based on how the team prepared for Games 3 and 4.
While Donovan Mitchell scored 13 in the first quarter, the Heat’s starts were AWOL.
Bam Adebayo didn’t attempt a shot for the first nine minutes, then barely grazed iron on his first shot in a two-point, two-rebound first quarter. He was lethargic early, then picked up the energy to finish with 13 points and 12 rebounds in 32 minutes.
“It’s not even about how they defended us,” Adebayo said. “We weren’t patient enough to see what they were doing. Especially first quarter, just quick shots, playing random basketball. In the playoffs, it can get ugly.”
Tyler Herro, a focus of the Cavs’ suffocating defense, had a dismal four-point night, shooting 1 for 10, including 1 for 9 on threes in 31 minutes.
“To play like that, as leader of the team, it’s not acceptable,” Herro said. “We didn’t expect this. This was embarrassing, very humbling. Back to the drawing board and we’ll figure out things.”
On Saturday, Herro told The Athletic: “Obviously I know I need Jimmy to win. If we had Jimmy right now, I feel like it’d be a completely different situation.”
Andrew Wiggins, coming off consecutive 3 for 10 shooting games, opened 0 for 5, didn’t score until early in the second half (it was 74-36 at that point), and finished with 12 points (5 for 12 shooting) in 22 minutes, again making no impact on winning.
Wiggins, Adebayo and Davion Mitchell each committed three turnovers.
Erik Spoelstra benched his rookie center, Ware, 3:47 into the game, replacing him with Haywood Highsmith with the Heat down 12-3. Ware didn’t play again until late in the third quarter, when the Cavs led by 46; Nikola Jovic started the second half in his place.
Duncan Robinson didn’t play until late in the third quarter, and the Heat must decide whether to pay him $19.8 million to remain on the team, or $9.8 million to go away, a decision due by July 7.
Jovic, in his third game back from February’s hand injury, scored 24 on 8 for 15 shooting.
The Heat closed at 36 percent from the field and 10 for 49 on threes, and had 19 turnovers compared with 17 assists.
The Cavs, who shot 55 percent from the field and 22 for 47 on threes, got 22 points from Mitchell, 19 from De’Andre Hunter, 18 from Ty Jerome and 17 from Evan Mobley.
Monday was the franchise’s nadir this decade, and it felt like it throughout.
After 21 minutes, it was 70-23, and boos descended from the Kaseya Center rafters. By that point, the Heat was shooting 10 for 36 overall and 2 for 21 on threes, while Cleveland was shooting 23 for 44 overall and 11 for 23 on threes.
“I try not to ever use the word quit or choke; this is quitting at its finest,” Charles Barkley lamented at halftime on TNT. Colleague Kenny Smith called the Heat’s performance “embarrassing.”
The Heat’s effort remained delinquent to start the second half, with Cleveland opening the half on a 12-5 run and scoring with minimal resistance.
The Heat’s effort wasn’t acceptable for any game, let alone an opponent’s close out game. Cleveland had too many open threes and several uncontested dunks and layups.
Cleveland - which led 43-17 after one quarter - outscored the Heat 39-30 in the third quarter, as the lead grew to 48.
The Heat will enter the offseason well above the salary cap and about $11 million below the luxury tax line, without factoring in any allocations for restricted free agent Mitchell and unrestricted free agent Alec Burks.
Adebayo, referring to Heat president Pat Riley said: “There are going to be a lot of changes this summer, knowing how the guy with the silver hair works. Be prepared for that.
“This has got to fuel a lot of us heading into the offseason,” Adebayo adding, noting the team “could have quit” during the 10-game losing streak but didn’t. “We were obsessed trying to dig ourselves out of the hole.”
He said emerging with a playoff berth was something of a moral victory.
Cleveland, meanwhile, will go on to play the winner of the Indiana-Milwaukee series, which the Pacers lead 3-1.
This story was originally published April 28, 2025 at 9:54 PM.
