1 week Ago
MIAMI — Donovan Mitchell didn't have a great shooting day. Darius Garland was in street clothes, out with an injury. And Cleveland rolled anyway, moving to the brink of Round 2.
Jarrett Allen scored 22 points, De’Andre Hunter added 21 and the Cavaliers — bullying Miami around all day — handed the Heat their worst playoff loss with a 124-87 win Saturday to take a 3-0 lead in their Eastern Conference first-round series. The Cavs took control with a 33-5 run early, outrebounded Miami 46-29 and outscored the Heat 60-30 in the paint. “Our guys knew that was the key, rebounding and winning the rebounding battle,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said.
“We really executed defensively.” Evan Mobley scored 19 points and Max Strus added 18 for Cleveland. Ty Jerome had 13 points and 11 assists in 22 minutes — he was plus-33 — and Mitchell scored 13 on 4-for-14 shooting.
They didn't need more from him and didn't need anything from Garland, their All-Star guard who was out with a sprained toe. “Look, our guys really want this and it probably looks like our guys don't," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “But I know what our last six weeks have been like, just to fight and scratch and claw to get into this.
” Bam Adebayo scored 22 and Davion Mitchell added 16 for Miami. The worst Heat playoff loss before Saturday was a 36-point defeat in Game 3 of the 2013 NBA Finals at San Antonio. That Heat team won an NBA title.
This Heat team is on the brink of being swept. It's the 11th time that a Cavaliers team has taken a 3-0 lead in a best-of-seven series — the other 10 were all in the LeBron James eras in Cleveland, and they all ended in 4-0 sweeps. These Cavs will try to finish off a sweep of their own in Game 4 at Miami on Monday.
It's the 159th time in NBA history that a team has taken a 3-0 series lead; all of the previous 158 have gone on to win those series, with Oklahoma City — which finished off a sweep of Memphis on Saturday — the latest entry on that list. It was all Miami for the first 5 1/2 minutes. After that, it was all Cleveland, the Cavaliers taking full control of the game over the next eight minutes with their 33-5 run.
Cleveland shot 13 for 17 during the spurt, scoring on its first eight possessions of the run. And it ended with five consecutive makes from 3-point range, those coming in a span of just over 2 minutes. Just like that, 15-6 Miami became 39-20 Cleveland.
“We took the first punch,” Mobley said. “And from there we just took the game over.” It was 62-42 at halftime, and Cleveland missed its first eight shots of the second half.
But Miami scored only four points during that span, wasting a chance. Cleveland led 88-64 going into the fourth and that was it. “Clearly, a very disappointing day,” Spoelstra said.
THUNDER 117, GRIZZLIES 115 MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 38 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder advanced to the Western Conference semifinals by beating the Memphis Grizzlies 117-115 on Saturday to complete a four-game sweep. Jalen Williams added 23 points for the top-seeded Thunder, who led the NBA with a 68-14 record this season and became the first team to reach the second round.
They will await the fourth-seeded Denver Nuggets or No. 5 Los Angeles Clippers in the next round. The Grizzlies played without star guard Ja Morant, who bruised his left hip in a hard fall in Game 3.
The Thunder erased a 29-point deficit after he left, the second-biggest comeback in a postseason game since detailed play-by-play began being kept in 1996-97. Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein and Isaiah Joe had 11 points apiece for the Thunder, with Hartenstein adding 12 rebounds. Scotty Pippen Jr.
matched his career high with 30 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Desmond Bane and Santi Aldama had 23 points apiece. The game was close through three quarters with neither team building a significant advantage.
Oklahoma City led 88-85 entering the fourth. At that point, the Thunder were 4 of 29 from 3-point range. Williams' 3-pointer with 5:41 left in the game gave the Thunder a 102-92 lead, the first time either team reached a double-digit advantage.
Memphis rallied and a 3-pointer from Bane with 7.1 seconds left cut it to 116-114. Williams split a pair of free throws with 6 seconds left and the Thunder fouled Bane intentionally.
He made the first but Memphis could not rebound his intentional miss of the second. After six lead changes and five ties in the half, Oklahoma City led 60-59 at the break.
