Heat flail to the finish, swept out of playoffs in record 138-83 rout by Cavaliers

MIAMI — In the end, cold, hard realities caught up to the Miami Heat, their season ending with Monday night’s 138-83 thrashing at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers at Kaseya Center.

The reality of a 37-45 team attempting to win a playoff series against a team that finished 27 games ahead of the standings.

The reality of postseason life in the void of Jimmy Butler, who, despite his Heat shenanigans, finds himself in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race with the Golden State Warriors.

The reality that a team led by Tyler Herro and Bam Adebayo can only go so far with a marginal supporting cast.

And, now, the reality of the largest playoff loss in franchise history for the second consecutive game, the fourth-largest in NBA playoff history.

In the end, it was the most lopsided playoff series in NBA history, the Heat outscored by 122 points over the four games. The Heat also became the first team to lose consecutive playoff games by 30 or more.

So for the second time in five years, swept out of the first round of the playoffs, the euphoria of those road play-in victories over the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks leading to the reality that a 10th-place team comes with an expiration date prior to May when facing a No. 1 seed.

It is the second consecutive season Erik Spoelstra’s team has lost in the first round, after falling 4-1 to the Boston Celtics last year.

It was just the second time the Heat have been swept in a best-of-seven series, also swept 4-0 by the Chicago Bulls in 2007, a year after winning the franchise’s first championship.

And, with that, the Heat found themselves the only East team swept 4-0 in the first round, just as Memphis Grizzlies were swept out in the West by the No. 1 Oklahoma City Thunder.

By the numbers, it was as bad as the score indicated for the Heat, on a night they gave up the most points in their playoff history, Herro closing with four points on 1-of-10 shooting, Adebayo with 13 points and 12 rebounds of little heft, and Nikola Jovic with 24 points only because someone on the Heat had to score.

Five Degrees of Heat from Monday night’s game:

— 1. Over at the start: It was hideous from the outset, a Davion Mitchell turnover on the Heat’s first possession leading to a steal-and-score from center Jarrett Allen that put the Cavaliers ahead for good at 2-0.

Two timeouts later, the Heat were down 30-8, after opening 1 of 10 on 3-pointers, with Allen at one point in the first quarter with as many rebounds as the Heat, both with six.

Even with Cavaliers All-Star guard Darius Garland sidelined by a toe issue for the second consecutive game, the carnage remained almost effortless for Cleveland.

All the while, Spoelstra tried anything and everything, with early minutes for Pelle Larsson and even Kyle Anderson, who missed the morning shootaround due to illness and had not played in the previous two games.

The first period ended with the Cavaliers ahead 43-17, with the Heat that close only with Davion Mitchell converting a 40-foot 3-pointer just before the first-period buzzer.

The 43 were the most in a playoff first quarter for the Cavaliers since the 2017 NBA Finals against the Warriors, when LeBron James was their featured attraction. It was the first time the Cavaliers outscored an opponent by 26 in a period since 2017.

Those opening 12 minutes made the remainder of the game moot.

Cleveland then moved to a 72-33 halftime lead, third largest in NBA playoff history and largest-ever Heat halftime deficit, playoffs or regular season.

— 2. The Herro angle: Cleveland again came out with Max Strus face-guarding Herro defensively to remove Herro’s 3-point threat.

Herro fought through it to get shots up from beyond the arc, but was 1 of 5 on 3-pointers in the first quarter, a period he was limited to four points.

The Heat’s attempts to unlock Herro contributed to their six first-quarter turnovers, miscues Cleveland turned into 11 points.

Even with the lopsided score, Herro was afforded a rest at the start of the second period, almost a white-flag concession at that point.

In his 30 minutes, Herro had only one rebound and one assist.

— 3. Short leash: Spoelstra spoke before the game of the benefits of 7-foot first-round pick Kel’el Ware getting playoff experience as a rookie.

Ware then appeared lost at the start, pulled 2:43 into the game in favor of Haywood Highsmith.

That, in turn, exposed the reality of an undersized Heat roster, with 6-foot-5 Highsmith unable to compete with the size of Allen and Evan Mobley.

From there, Jovic started the second half in place of Ware.

Ware did not enter in the second half until Adebayo exited with 35.7 seconds to play.

— 4. Where’s Wiggins?: The disappearance of Wiggins, the key component acquired in the Butler trade with the Warriors, continued, this time with a scoreless first period and then quick hook less than three minutes into the second period, when he stood scoreless on 0-for-5 shooting.

Wiggins in the previous three games of the series had scored 14, 10 and 10 points.

Wiggins’ first points did not come until he converted a layup one minute into the second half. He closed with 12 points and five rebounds.

— 5. What’s next: Next up for the Heat will be a deeper dive into the scouting process for June’s NBA draft, with the draft combine in Chicago from May 11-18.

The Heat hold the No. 20 pick in the June 25 first-round, a pick acquired from the Warriors in the Butler trade. The Heat’s own selection, No. 15, belongs to the Oklahoma City Thunder to complete a previous trade.