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CNN
29-04-2025
- Sport
- CNN
Cavaliers complete historically one-sided playoff sweep over Heat, Bucks' Damian Lillard suffers torn Achilles tendon
The Cleveland Cavaliers completed their first-round sweep of the Miami Heat on Monday in impressive fashion, dominating on the road to earn a 138-83 Game 4 road win. The Cavs rounded out the 4-0 series win with a huge 55-point victory, as six Cleveland players hit double figures on the night. Cleveland's winning margin over the four games was 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 New Orleans 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 twice: 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 Cavs would have tied the all-time record if it wasn't for a three-pointer from Miami's Pelle Larsson with 38 seconds remaining to cut the lead to 55. '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. '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 the mark early in Game 4, leading 43-14 in the first quarter, despite playing without guard Darius Garland for the second straight game. Cleveland would enter halftime up 72-33 at Miami's Kaseya Center, the third-largest lead after two quarters in NBA playoff history. The visitors were able to rest their starters for the majority of the fourth quarter with a dominant victory assured, continuing their excellent regular season form which saw them clinch the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed with 64 wins. It's the third time the Heat have been swept in a best-of-seven series and it's the team's worst playoff loss in franchise history. Afterwards, Miami 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. Trailing 3-1 in their first-round series to the Pacers, the Bucks' chances of reaching the next round look even tougher after the team announced on Monday that star guard Damian Lillard had suffered a torn left Achilles tendon on Sunday. Lillard was helped off the court in the first quarter of Milwaukee's Game 4 loss after stretching for a ball and falling to floor while clutching his lower leg. When he got to his feet, he was unable to put any weight on his left leg and required assistance to make his way to the locker room. The Bucks said on Monday that the nine-time All-Star had undergone an MRI which revealed the torn Achilles tendon and that he would undergo surgery, as well as missing the remainder of the season. Lillard posted on social media shortly after the injury was confirmed, 'Appreciate all the prayers and well wishes. This one really hurt… HIS way not MY way. To Be Continued…' The injury could also put his participation in doubt for next season too; Kevin Durant missed the entire 2019-20 NBA campaign after tearing his Achilles tendon in the previous season's NBA Finals. Lillard suffered the injury in his third game back since returning from deep vein thrombosis in his right calf. 'This is a tough one, honestly,' Bucks coach Doc Rivers said after Sunday's game. 'Blood clot, followed by this. It's just tough. That's why you have teammates and family around him. He's just such a great freaking dude, on a basketball level, but more importantly as a teammate and a father and all that stuff.' 'I have so much respect for him,' Milwaukee superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo said. 'A lot of people don't see what Dame had to deal with, but we're around him every single day, and it's hard. It's hard being in his position. He's one of the toughest, mentally toughest guys I've ever been around. That's why he is who he is.' Antetokounmpo added: 'I believe he's going to overcome every obstacle that's put in front of him. Everybody's going to be there for him. No matter what the obstacle is for him, he's going to overcome and we're going to help him overcome it.' Game 5 between the Pacers and the Bucks is set for Tuesday in Indianapolis.
Miami Herald
12-04-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
Takeaways: Heat sets franchise record in rout of Pelicans, but still locked into 10th place in East
Five takeaways from the Miami Heat's 153-104 the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night at Smoothie King Center to close its final trip of the regular season — a two-game stretch away from home — at 1-1. The Heat now returns to Miami to close the regular season on Sunday against the Washington Wizards: In the end, Friday's Heat blowout win in New Orleans didn't matter. It's set: The Heat will face the Chicago Bulls at United Center on Wednesday in an elimination play-in tournament game. With the Atlanta Hawks defeating the 76ers and the Bulls beating the Washington Wizards on Friday, the Eastern Conference's play-in seeding is locked at No. 7 Orlando Magic, No. 8 Hawks, No. 9 Bulls and No. 10 Heat. As the East's 10th-place team, the Heat will need to win two consecutive road play-in games to qualify for the playoffs as the conference's No. 8 seed and clinch a first-round matchup against the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers. Here's how it will work ... The East's play-in game between the No. 7 Magic and No. 8 Hawks will be played on Tuesday in Orlando at a time still to be determined and aired on TNT. The winner of this matchup earns the conference's seventh playoff seed and will face the second-seeded Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. The East's play-in game between the No. 9 Bulls and No. 10 Heat will be played on Wednesday in Chicago at a time still to be determined and aired on ESPN. The loser of this matchup is eliminated from playoff contention. Then the East's play-in game between the loser of the Magic-Hawks matchup and the winner of the Bulls-Heat game will be played on Friday in either Orlando or Atlanta and aired on TNT. The winner of this matchup earns the conference's eighth playoff seed and will take on the top-seeded Cavaliers in the first round of the playoffs. The Heat will try to make play-in history, as no 10th-place team in either conference has ever advanced past the play-in tournament since this current format was first instituted for the 2020-21 season. The Heat escaped each of its first two trips to the NBA's play-in tournament with the East's No. 8 playoff seed, making an improbable run that ended with a loss to the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Finals in 2023 and then being eliminated by the top-seeded Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs last season. But the Heat entered the 2023 play-in tournament as the East's seventh-place team and the 2024 play-in tournament as the East's eighth-place team. While the Heat was essentially locked into 10th place in the East entering Friday's game, the Heat still played its regulars since it began the night with a slim chance to move up the standings ... and put together a historic performance. The only Heat players unavailable on Friday were Nikola Jovic (broken right hand), Pelle Larsson (sprained right ankle), Kevin Love (personal reasons), Isaiah Stevens (right foot discomfort) and Dru Smith (left Achilles surgery). Meanwhile, the depleted Pelicans were missing most of their roster. New Orleans, which has been among the NBA's worst teams this season and has long been eliminated from playoff contention, was without 11 players on Friday (Brandon Boston, Bruce Brown, Jordan Hawkins, Herbert Jones, Karlo Matkovic, CJ McCollum, Yves Missi, Trey Murphy, Dejounte Murray, Kelly Olynyk and Zion Williamson). With the Heat still playing its best players and the Pelicans missing their best players, the game reflected that. The Heat never trailed Friday, pulling ahead by as many as 52 points on its way to the 49-point victory. It's the second-most lopsided victory in Heat history behind only last season's 60-point win over the Portland Trail Blazers last season. In addition, the Heat's 153 points set a new franchise record for the most points scored in a single game. As usual, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro led the way for the Heat. The duo combined for 45 points while sitting out the entire fourth quarter of the lopsided victory. Adebayo finished with 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field, 4-of-6 shooting on threes and 3-of-4 shooting from the foul line, 12 rebounds, four assists and two steals in 22 minutes. Herro closed with 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field, 2-of-3 shooting on threes and 6-of-6 shooting from the foul line, four rebounds, four assists and one steal in 21 minutes. Duncan Robinson added 21 points on 6-of-12 shooting from behind the arc in 19 minutes off the Heat's bench. By the end of the rout, the Heat emptied its bench and ended up playing each of its 13 available players Friday. Even seldom-used Heat players like Josh Christopher and Keshad Johnson played late in the contest. There was one concerning Heat thing in Friday's blowout win: Andrew Wiggins struggled. In his second game back from a right hamstring injury, Wiggins closed the Heat's victory over the Pelicans with just 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting from the field and 0-of-4 shooting on threes to go with five rebounds and three assists in 24 minutes. Wiggins totaled just four points on 1-of-8 shooting from the field and 0-of-3 shooting on threes in Friday's first half. Wiggins missed six straight games because of right hamstring tendinopathy before returning to play in the Heat's last two games. He has totaled 24 points on 9-of-23 (39.1 percent) shooting from the field 3-of-10 (30 percent) shooting on threes in his first two games back from the injury. When asked how he was feeling physically after his return on Wednesday, Wiggins downplayed his hamstring issue: 'I felt solid. If you're out there on the court, then no complaints. You got to be 100 percent, so I felt good.' Wiggins has dealt with a few injuries since he was traded to the Heat on Feb. 6 as part of the Jimmy Butler deal. Wiggins has missed 14 games because of injury or illness since being traded to the Heat on Feb. 6 as part of the Jimmy Butler trade. Wiggins missed one game due to a stomach illness, five games due to a sprained right ankle, two games due to a left lower leg contusion and six straight games due to a hamstring issue. The Heat needs a healthy and more effective version of Wiggins in next week's play-in tournament, as it faces the uphill battle of needing to win two consecutive road games to make the playoffs. Adebayo continues to take and make threes at an eye-opening rate. With Adebayo shooting 4 of 6 from deep in Friday's victory over the Pelicans, he's now shooting an ultra-efficient 50 of 115 (43.5 percent) from behind the arc in his last 34 games. He has also made at least one three-pointer in a career-best 12 straight games. This is an encouraging trend, considering Adebayo shot just 29 of 106 (27.4 percent) on threes in his first 44 appearances of the season prior to this hot stretch. Adebayo has already set new career highs in three-point makes (79) and three-point attempts (221) this season. He has shattered his previous career-high marks of 15 three-point makes and 42 three-point attempts, which were both set last season. Adebayo has shot 79 of 221 (35.7 percent) from three-point range this season. Up next for the Heat — a relatively meaningless regular-season finale. With the Heat already locked into 10th place in the East and the Wizards already clinching one of the worst three records in the NBA for the best chance at the top pick in this year's draft, there's little to be gained for either team on Sunday. The expectation is the Heat will likely sit some of its regulars and use the final game of the regular season to give developmental players like Christopher, Johnson and Stevens (if healthy) an opportunity to play extended minutes. But there is one thing to monitor Sunday, as the Heat's draft position could be affected by the result of the regular-season finale. The Heat, which only keeps its first round pick if it misses the playoffs, entered Friday's game with the NBA's 11th-worst record, which would give Miami a 2 percent chance of landing the top pick and a 9.4 percent chance of snagging a top-four pick during next month's NBA Draft Lottery.
Miami Herald
11-04-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
Heat's Larsson calls sprained ankle ‘freak accident.' Also, what's Heat's approach vs. Pelicans?
Wednesday night didn't go well for the Miami Heat at United Center. Aside from a costly loss to the Chicago Bulls that essentially locked the Heat into 10th place in the Eastern Conference, the Heat also lost rookie guard Pelle Larsson to what he calls a 'freak accident.' Larsson sprained his right ankle while going through his usual pregame weightlifting session on Wednesday and couldn't play against the Bulls. 'I was lifting and just stepped and got my foot caught in something,' said Larsson, who will also miss Friday's matchup against the Pelicans in New Orleans because of the ankle injury. 'So I just stepped on a twisted ankle, and it doesn't feel great.' Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said he heard the commotion stemming from the pregame incident. 'I was right next door, so I heard it,' Spoelstra said. 'It's just one of those things, it was a freakish unfortunate deal. But that's part of his normal routine. And we'll continue to treat him and see how he responds.' Larsson said he hurt his ankle while doing 'some step downs from the bench.' 'It's more frustrating than anything, especially when it happens off the court,' Larsson added. 'It feels like you don't have as much control. So it's frustrating.' After Friday's game in New Orleans, the Heat closes the regular season on Sunday against the Washington Wizards at Kaseya Center. The Heat then begins the play-in tournament on either Tuesday or Wednesday in hopes of qualifying for the playoffs. Larsson, 24, isn't sure whether he will be ready to return from his sprained ankle for the next week's play-in tourney. He underwent an X-ray and MRI on the ankle 'to be safe and everything looks good.' 'Right now just going day by day, working with trainers and seeing how every movement feels one day after another,' said Larsson, who was selected by the Heat with the 44th overall pick in the second round of last year's draft Prior to being sidelined by the ankle injury, Larsson was in the middle of his best stretch of the season as a high-effort player who was establishing himself as one of the Heat's top perimeter defenders. While starting six straight games in place of the then-injured Andrew Wiggins, Larsson averaged 10.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.2 steals per game during the six games leading up to Wednesday's sprained ankle. 'I learned so much,' Larsson said of his rookie season. 'I had no idea what to expect going in and we've been through a lot as a team, as an organization, everything for just one season. So I'm really grateful to experience all of that and get to know all these guys.' Larsson also missed four games in December because of a sprained right ankle. He tweaked his ankle during practice that time. 'It's the same ankle, so that's similar,' Larsson said, comparing the two sprains. 'But that was a little different. That was when we were playing and it probably was a little bit worse. But always got to be cautious with repeating stuff like that. Just making sure everything is looking good and 100%.' THE HEAT'S APPROACH Despite essentially being locked into 10th place in the East, the Heat is expected to play its regulars in Friday's game against the Pelicans. 'We're going to treat it the same in terms of our rotation,' Spoelstra said after the team's morning shootaround Friday at Smoothie King Center. 'I won't scoreboard watch. We're just focused on tonight and our business.' The only Heat players ruled out for Friday's contest in New Orleans are Nikola Jovic (broken right hand), Larsson (sprained right ankle), Kevin Love (personal reasons) and Dru Smith (left Achilles surgery). While the Heat can still finish anywhere between eighth place and 10th place in the East, it's going to need a lot of help to move out of 10th place in the final days of the regular season. With the Bulls (37-43) having one fewer loss than the Heat (36-44) and also holding the head-to-head tiebreaker over Miami after sweeping the three-game regular-season series, the Heat needs to win its final two regular-season games (at Pelicans on Friday and vs. Wizards on Sunday) and also have the Bulls lose their final two regular-season games (vs. Wizards on Friday and at Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday) to pass Chicago in the standings. With the Hawks (38-42) having two fewer losses than the Heat but Miami holding the head-to-head tiebreaker over Atlanta by virtue of a better division record, the Heat needs to win its final two regular-season games and also have the Hawks lose their final two regular-season games (at 76ers on Friday and vs. Orlando Magic on Sunday) to pass Atlanta in the standings. If the Heat, Bulls and Hawks all finish with 44 losses, the Heat would still enter the play-in tournament in 10th place in the East because it holds the worst head-to-head record among the three teams at 2-5. In this scenario, the Bulls would close in seventh place and the Hawks would come in eighth place. The Heat could be locked into 10th place in the East on Friday night regardless of the result of its game against the Pelicans. If the Bulls defeat the Wizards and the Hawks also beat the 76ers on Friday, the East's play-in seeding will be locked in at No. 7 Magic, No. 8 Hawks, No. 9 Bulls and No. 10 Heat. In this scenario, the Heat would face the Bulls in an elimination play-in tournament game in Chicago on Wednesday. The winner of that contest would advance to take on the loser of the Magic-Hawks game in either Orlando or Atlanta on Friday for the right to the East's No. 8 playoff seed. 'Play hard, play your minutes hard, try to win the game,' Heat guard Tyler Herro said of the team's approach entering Friday's game in New Orleans. 'That's what we're trying to do, ultimately.' Whether the Heat changes its approach to sit some of its regulars for Sunday's regular-season finale in Miami will likely depend on if moving up in the East standings remains a possibility. 'We're still trying to play our style of basketball consistently, so I think these last two games can help us prepare for the play-in,' Herro said. 'Obviously wanting to be healthy is important, I think just as important is to keep playing and pretty much keep rhythm and keep guys on the floor so we stay fresh.'
