The Miami Heat’s 2024-25 season ended in embarrassing fashion, as the Cleveland Cavaliers blew them out 138-83 in Game 4 at Kaseya Center on Monday. Facing elimination, the Heat were down 72-33 after two quarters, and Charles Barkley ripped the players on Inside the NBA at halftime.
“Ernie [Johnson], I try not to ever use the word ‘quit’ or ‘choke,'” Barkley said. “… This is quitting at its finest right here. I bet if we went to their house, all their stuff is already packed… If you lose by 37 and then come back and lose by 40, you can’t stay in town.”
Even Ernie Johnson said out loud that this was probably the worst game he’s watched, which lets you know how bad it was. The Heat had lost Game 3 124-87 at home, and you’d hoped to see them put up a fight in Game 4 to avoid getting swept. That certainly didn’t happen.
The Cavaliers were up 43-17 at the end of the first quarter and led by as many as 60 points on the night. They would end up winning by 55 points and came extremely close to tying the record for the biggest margin of victory in a playoff game.
The record is 58 points, and that was the difference between the two teams before Pelle Larson hit a three-pointer with 38 seconds remaining to cut the Cavaliers’ lead to 55. This is the fourth-biggest playoff win ever, and the Heat should be embarrassed by that. While the entire team deserves criticism, the two stars are the ones who deserve a big chunk of it.
Tyler Herro put in a horrific performance, recording four points (1-10 FG), one rebound, and one assist on the night. Bam Adebayo at least fared better, putting up 13 points (6-13 FG), 12 rebounds, four assists, and one steal. Adebayo only had two points in that first quarter as the Heat were getting rolled over, though. He failed to step up when the team desperately needed him to.
The Cavaliers’ margin of victory over the course of these four games was 122 points, a new NBA record. The Denver Nuggets held the previous record of 121 against the New Orleans Hornets in 2009.
Erik Spoelstra Kept It Real After The Heat Were Swept
Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra is one of the best in the business, and this series defeat is one of the lowest points of his career. Spoelstra kept it real postgame when addressing his team’s embarrassing exit.
“Damn it was humbling,” Spoelstra said. “This series was humbling. These last two games were embarrassing, but Cleveland is also a very good team. We won whatever we won. They won 65. We’re as irrational as we usually are, thinking that we have a chance to win this series, and they showed us why we weren’t ready for that.”
The Heat were massive underdogs coming into this series. They had finished the regular season with a 37-45 record and were the first 10-seed ever to make the playoffs via the Play-In Tournament.
The Cavaliers, meanwhile, went 64-18 and secured the top seed in the East with three games remaining. You expected them to win this series relatively comfortably, but not by this big of a margin. While it speaks to how good the Cavaliers are, they were certainly helped by the Heat’s dismal play.
