Miami Heat @ Cleveland Cavaliers
Sunday, April 20, 2025 at 7:00 PM ET
Rocket Arena, Cleveland, OH | Game ID: 42400101
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
CLE 31 31 25 34 121MIA 24 30 25 21 100
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Mitchell, Jerome help Cavaliers rout Heat 121-100 in Game 1 of 1st-round series
CLEVELAND -- — Donovan Mitchell quickly put any doubts to rest about whether his left ankle was 100% going into the playoffs for the Cleveland Cavaliers .
Mitchell scored 30 points and tied a playoff career high with four steals and the Cavaliers beat the Miami Heat 121-100 on Sunday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference first-round series.
“He can get in the lane and finish and he's a great shooter. Such a complete player,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “Whatever we ask him to do, he'll do it. He never shies away when we ask him to do the dirty work.”
It was the seventh straight series where Mitchell has scored at least 30 points in Game 1, tying Michael Jordan, who had two streaks of seven games.
“Just setting the tone. I have to be aggressive and see how the defense reacts to me,” Mitchell said.
Ty Jerome had 16 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter for the top-seeded Cavaliers, who host Game 2 Wednesday night.
Darius Garland added 27. Garland and Jerome each had five 3-pointers and the Cavaliers were 18 of 43 from beyond the arc.
Bam Adebayo had 24 points and Tyler Herro added 21 for the Heat. They are the first No. 10 seed to advance to the playoffs out of the Play-In Tournament.
Cleveland had a 16-point lead midway through the second quarter, but Miami steadily cut it down and got to 98-90 with 7:26 remaining in the fourth. Cleveland put it out reach though with a 13-4 run that included 10 straight points by Jerome, who was taking part in his first playoff game.
Jerome was 6 of 7 from the field, and made all three of his 3-point attempts in the fourth quarter.
“He turned the game for us. He did it all tonight,” Atkinson said.
It is the most points the Cavaliers have scored in a playoff game since they had 128 in Game 4 of the 2018 Eastern Conference semifinals against Toronto.
“We played super hard and competitive. We made some unforced errors, just some decision making that was not elite but they (Miami) had something to do with that. Our decision making has to be on point,” Atkinson said.
It was tied at 22 with three minutes remaining in the first quarter before Cleveland went on a 9-2 run to go up by seven after 12 minutes, a lead it would not relinquish.
“They were a lot more physical than us and that obviously set the tone. We’ve got to clean that up. It’s not going to be any easier," Herro said.
MIA KarmaHide StintsShow StintsHide PMShow PMHide KarmaShow KarmaHide ScoresShow Scores
Who
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
CLECP C. Porter Jr.
DG D. Garland
DH D. Hunter
DM D. Mitchell
DW D. Wade
EM E. Mobley
IO I. Okoro
JA J. Allen
JG J. Green
JT J. Tyson
MS M. Strus
SM S. Merrill
TJ T. Jerome
MIAAB A. Burks
AW A. Wiggins
BA B. Adebayo
DR D. Robinson
HH H. Highsmith
JJ J. Jaquez Jr.
KA K. Anderson
KW K. Ware
NJ N. Jović
TH T. Herro
CLE/MIA the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur