It is closing time and maybe the Heat need a new voice.
The Cleveland Cavaliers finished off their first-round sweep and made light work of the Miami Heat on Monday in grand fashion, dominating on the road to earn a 138-83 Game 4 road win.
The Cavaliers rounded out the 4-0 series win with a huge 55-point victory. It was a balanced scoring attack as six Cleveland players scoring at least ten points on the night.
Cleveland made history with the winning margin over the four games being a combined 122 points, the largest advantage in an NBA playoff series ever. The previous record was 121 points from when the Denver Nuggets beat the New Orleans Hornets in 2009.
The 55-point winning margin in Game 4 was the fourth-biggest playoff win ever, with a record 58-point blowout being achieved on two different occasions: in 1956, the then-Minneapolis Lakers beat the then-St. Louis Hawks by that mark as well as the Denver Nuggets when they routed the New Orleans Hornets in 2009. In 1973, the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Golden State Warriors by 56 points.
The Cavaliers would have tied the all-time record if it was not for a three-pointer from the Heats Pelle Larsson with 38 seconds remaining to cut the lead to 55.
Embed from Getty Images“We handled our business, and this is the toughest game of the series, and for us, we really set the tone, that’s something to be proud of,” Cleveland guard Donovan Mitchell, who led the team with 22 points, told reporters afterwards in his postgame press conference.
“We have a bigger goal in mind, understanding that this is special. We’ve been doing special things all year, but we didn’t come to just sweep in the first round and get to the second.”
The Cavaliers got off to a great start early in Game 4 and the game was over before the fans could get comfortable in their seats, leading 43-14 in the first quarter, despite playing without guard Darius Garland for the second straight game with a sprained toe.
Cleveland would enter halftime up by 39, 72-33 at Miami’s Kaseya Center, the third-largest lead after two quarters in NBA playoff history.
The visitors were able to give their starters a much-needed rest for the majority of the fourth quarter with a dominant victory in hand, continuing their excellent regular season form which saw them clinch the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed with a 64-18 record.
It’s the third time the Heat have been swept in a best-of-seven series, and it is the team’s worst playoff loss in franchise history. Afterwards, a frustrated guard Tyler Herro said the team has a lot of work to do to improve for next season.
“Leaving Cleveland, we came back to Miami, we definitely did not expect this, tough last two games for us, both 40-point, 50-point losses, really no excuses for it,” Herro, who finished with four points on 1-of-10 from the field in 31 minutes, told reporters. “It’s embarrassing.
“Definitely humbling, a lot of work to be put in, have a good opportunity to come back next season and try to figure this out.”
The Cavaliers will face either the Indiana Pacers or Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
