NBA playoffs takeaways: Warriors take 3-1 series lead against Rockets, Cavs sweep Heat

In a tense Monday-night matchup in San Francisco, the Golden State Warriors held off the Houston Rockets 109-106 to take a 3-1 lead of their Western Convention first-round collection.

The groups swapped the lead 11 occasions all through a bodily recreation that concerned a number of skirmishes, technical fouls and in addition Draymond Inexperienced touchdown on the bench for greater than 1 / 4. In fact, none of that’s new for this collection.

Monday’s recreation additionally noticed the return of Jimmy Butler, who exited throughout the first quarter of Recreation 2 after a tough fall on his tailbone. Butler had a quiet first half Monday however in the end scored 27 factors, greater than half of which coming within the fourth quarter.

The ambiance in Miami couldn’t have been extra completely different. On Saturday, the Miami Warmth skilled their worst-ever loss within the postseason, dropping Recreation 3 to the Cleveland Cavaliers by 37 factors. It solely took two days to beat that file. The Warmth misplaced 138-83 to the Cavaliers on Monday.

Cleveland accomplished the sweep to advance to the Jap Convention semifinals. The 55-point margin was three factors shy of an NBA playoff file shared by two groups. The Minneapolis Lakers beat the St. Louis Hawks 133-75 in 1956, and the Denver Nuggets beat the New Orleans Hornets 121-63 in 2009.

Cleveland took maintain of the sport from the outset and by no means let go, main Miami 72-33 at halftime. The Cavaliers, who as soon as led by 60, shot 54.7 % from the sphere, in comparison with the Warmth’s 36 %.

Miami performed Monday’s recreation with out Kevin Love, whose father, former NBA participant Stan Love, died this week at 76.

Cleveland will subsequent face the winner of the collection between the Indiana Pacers and the Milwaukee Bucks. The Pacers lead the collection 3-1 and can attempt to earn the gentleman’s sweep Tuesday evening at residence.

Warriors 109, Rockets 106

(Warriors lead collection 3-1)

Inexperienced, Butler come via within the ultimate minute

Alperen Şengün spent a lot of the second half barbecuing a Warriors’ protection that didn’t have Inexperienced, who was compelled to the bench due to 5 fouls and almost out of the sport due to a technical and flagrant foul mixture.

However Inexperienced was again in crunch time, which squared him up with Şengün within the recreation’s deciding sequence. Houston’s younger middle had 31 factors when he attacked Inexperienced with lower than 10 seconds in isolation. Inexperienced, nevertheless, stood his floor and compelled a spinning, contested, errant hook shot. The ailing Butler got here flying in from the baseline nook for the rebound of the evening and hit two free throws on the opposite finish, and the Warriors firmed up a commanding 3-1 lead on this first-round collection over the Rockets.

Right here’s the late Draymond Inexperienced cease on Alperen Sengun, the flying Jimmy Butler rebound from the baseline and Inexperienced’s ensuing celebration.

Warriors lead the collection 3-1 over the Rockets pic.twitter.com/zRdIYAZCLn

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) April 29, 2025

The deciding whistle in a recreation loaded with officiating interruptions got here with 58 seconds left. Trapped within the left nook, Butler was compelled to heave a 3 with the shot clock ticking away. As he rose, Dillon Brooks slid below him and dedicated a foul that gifted Butler three free throws. He made all three makes an attempt, and the Warriors protected that lead within the closing minute, completed off by Inexperienced’s defensive play.

The Warriors now journey to Houston with the primary of what’s going to be three cracks at a closeout recreation over the Rockets. Of their final title run, they struggled on this precise spot — Recreation 5 on the highway with the prospect to eradicate a determined opponent. — Anthony Slater, senior author

Golden State shuts down Jalen Inexperienced

Recreation 4 was marred by a myriad of skirmishes, which detracted from the precise basketball to a point, however the Warriors’ strain on Jalen Inexperienced — and the way the Rockets responded — will in the end decide how the remainder of this collection performs out.

By the primary 4 video games of this matchup, Golden State has made it clear that they don’t need Inexperienced discovering a rhythm below any circumstances. From the opening tip, Buddy Hield pressured Inexperienced virtually 90 ft from the basket, forcing two early turnovers. When Gary Payton II checked in, he adopted the identical orders. Within the moments the place a Warrior wasn’t draped throughout him, Inexperienced noticed traps, doubles and laborious blitzes, forcing him to surrender the ball and belief his teammates to make performs.

Coach Ime Udoka bemoaned the Rockets’ incapability to reap the benefits of four-on-three conditions within the half court docket and challenged them to course appropriate. On Monday, they doubled down on their struggles. Inexperienced was successfully schemed out of the sport, forcing Udoka to sit down him sooner than regular, lacking the ultimate 9 minutes of the third quarter. When Inexperienced was introduced again within the fourth, Golden State held him with out a subject aim till being subbed for the ultimate 5 minutes.

Equally to Recreation 3, Fred VanVleet took the reins and compelled the difficulty, and Şengün and Amen Thompson discovered success attacking the center, however that wasn’t sufficient to beat a feisty Warriors workforce, a number of scoring runs or one other abysmal free-throw capturing evening.

Everyone knows the story about 3-1 leads. Now, the Rockets discover themselves with their backs in opposition to the ropes as they head residence for an elimination recreation, uncharted territory for a No. 2 seed within the first spherical. — Kelly Iko, workers author

Cavaliers 138, Warmth 83

(Cavaliers win collection 4-0)

Cleveland dominates with out Darius Garland

At one level, this recreation was 70-25. So, yeah, what would you actually wish to know?

Previous to the beginning of this collection, Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson was adamant that Miami could be such a tough first-round opponent that Cleveland would study invaluable classes and emerge as a greater workforce. Was the lesson that they’re a greater workforce when Darius Garland is out? (CALM DOWN. That’s a joke and unfaithful.)

It’s true, nevertheless, that Garland didn’t play Video games 3 or 4 of this collection due to left huge toe sprain, and the Cavs gained these two video games by a mixed 411 factors (additionally a joke). However the Cavs performed brilliantly on offense within the first two video games of this collection, with Garland scoring 24 factors per recreation, and we now have to chalk up fairly a little bit of what occurred to the large expertise and chemistry benefits Cleveland had.

But additionally, simply considering out loud, if the Pacers (assuming they advance previous Milwaukee) efficiently hunt Garland on protection subsequent spherical, and assuming the Boston Celtics do it within the convention finals, the Cavs confirmed they’ve the depth and the fortitude to win with Garland taking part in fewer minutes. In Video games 1 and a couple of, Atkinson performed Donovan Mitchell extra minutes than Garland, utilizing lineups with Mitchell, Evan Mobley and a mix of reserves greater than pairing Garland and Jarrett Allen with those self same reserves.

Talking of Allen … my goodness. He had 12 factors, 11 boards and 6 steals — IN THE FIRST HALF. He additionally tied the Cavs’ franchise file for steals in a playoff recreation with these six swipes.

Cleveland led by 39 at halftime for his or her second-largest halftime lead in a playoff recreation, and the workforce was forward by 48 after three quarters — despite the fact that Atkinson began pulling starters halfway via the third. Late within the fourth quarter, the Cavs have been briefly forward by 60, which might have been an NBA file for victory margin in a playoff recreation had it held.

I may proceed, however … 70-25, bruh. Let’s transfer on to the second spherical. — Joe Vardon, senior author

Miami’s offense falters 

The Warmth made a powerful run late within the season to achieve the playoffs, however this was a surprising end. Miami adopted up its greatest playoff loss with a good larger one, dominated by the East’s prime seed from the opening tip.

Tyler Herro had 4 factors on 1-for-10 capturing, the worst recreation of his profession, and Miami’s offense regarded fully damaged. After coming back from Cleveland, it appeared as if Miami had figured issues out on offense and had an opportunity to get again on this collection. The Cavs’ protection, nevertheless, stifled them in Recreation 3 after which fully erased them from this collection in Recreation 4.

There was no competing with Cleveland’s size on protection, which took away nearly each passing outlet the Warmth tried to create. It was uncommon to see Miami even swing the ball across the arc on this collection, as there was typically confusion about their spacing, and passes have been off-target. There was an uncommon variety of fumbled catches on kick-out passes, taking away the benefit Miami may create with its ball motion. It was laborious to imagine this was an Erik Spoelstra-led workforce, contemplating how poor the execution was.

However the Warmth had a serious expertise deficit on this collection and easily didn’t have the ballhandlers or capturing obligatory to hold with the league’s greatest offense. Bam Adebayo couldn’t get into the handoff actions which have been his specialty over the previous few seasons. Herro couldn’t get a lot room to function, and the Warmth’s spacing round him made it laborious to seek out any open shooters.

Davion Mitchell was the intense spot on this collection, displaying his capability to run level and get to the paint when no person else may, however the Cavs have been prepared to let him assault if it meant holding Miami off the 3-point line. With Andrew Wiggins clearly restricted by decrease physique accidents, Nikola Jović struggling to shoot coming back from a hand damage and rookie middle Kel’el Ware merely not able to compete at this excessive of a degree, Miami simply couldn’t come shut ultimately. — Jared Weiss, workers author

What’s subsequent for the Warmth?

Any power the Warmth used to encourage their late-season postseason push was fully drained by the tip of Recreation 4. Though the Cavaliers rightly entered this collection as the favourite, the Warmth had a promising-enough displaying in Recreation 2 to imagine returning to Miami may assist breathe life into their efforts.

That didn’t occur on this collection’ ultimate two matchups, as evidenced by the Warmth turning into the primary workforce in NBA historical past to lose consecutive residence playoff video games by a minimum of 35 factors. The 2017 Celtics are the one different workforce to take action whereas shedding by a minimum of 30 factors.

Scattered boos turned commonplace all through Recreation 4, largely as a result of the Warmth didn’t start the competition with any aggressive power. A stolen tip-off by and rating by Allen set the tone for a morbid finish to the season.

The Warmth will start their offseason assessing who to maintain and what to do to start overhauling the roster after Jimmy Butler’s February departure through commerce shifted Miami’s path midseason. Protection typically is the catalyst behind something the Warmth do, however upgrades on offense have to be a excessive precedence for a workforce that has completed with a top-10 offense solely as soon as within the final 11 seasons (seventh in 2019-20). — James Jackson, workers author

(Photograph: Kelley L. Cox / Imagn Pictures)