The NBA playoffs continued Saturday with four first-round matchups, three in the Western Conference. In the East, the Cleveland Cavaliers took a 3-0 series lead over the Miami Heat.
In Saturday’s two Game 4s, the Oklahoma City Thunder closed out a sweep over the Memphis Grizzlies, while the Los Angeles Clippers could take a decisive 3-1 series lead over the Denver Nuggets.
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The day’s playoff slate closes with the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets looking to take a 2-1 series lead.
Check out Yahoo Sports’ predictions for each first-round series, in addition to Kevin O’Connor’s ranking of the top 40 players in the NBA postseason.
Here are the results and key takeaways from Saturday’s games:
Thunder 117, Grizzlies 115
The Thunder finished off the Grizzlies with a win in Game 4 on Saturday, and it didn’t take a 29-point comeback this time.
With Memphis missing star point guard Ja Morant, out with a hip injury from Game 3, Oklahoma City was in control for most of the game behind 38 points from Shai Gilgeous Alexander. Despite Morant missing the game and Zach Edey and Scotty Pippen Jr. fouling out, the Grizzlies stayed within striking range until the final possession.
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All things considered, the Grizzlies can at least say this loss was the least embarrassing of the series.
OKC will advance to face the winner of the Nuggets-Clippers series in the Western Conference semifinals. They were 4-0 against the Clippers in the regular season and 2-2 agains the Nuggets.
Cavaliers 124, Heat 87
The Heat needed a win Saturday to avoid falling behind 3-0. They also arguably had their best opportunity to get a victory with the Cavaliers missing second-leading scorer Darius Garland.
However, Miami didn’t play anything like a team whose season was at stake, getting blown out at home. It was the worst playoff loss in the Heat’s history and the third-biggest playoff margin of victory for the Cavaliers.
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Cleveland had a 20-point lead and boosted the margin to 22 points after three quarters. With five minutes remaining in the game, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra emptied his bench and decided to move on to Game 4, where Miami will hope to avoid a series sweep.
De’Andre Hunter made up for Garland’s absence
Sam Merrill took Garland’s place in Cleveland’s starting lineup and didn’t provide much. But De’Andre Hunter filled the missing point production with his best scoring performance of the playoffs. The sixth-year veteran tallied 21 points off the bench, shooting 3 of 5 on 3-pointers.
Plenty of the postseason remains to be played, but Hunter provided exactly the kind of boost the Cavaliers were hoping for when they acquired him at the trade deadline from the Atlanta Hawks. Cleveland now has the kind of depth that can help in a long playoff series against teams like the Indiana Pacers and Boston Celtics.
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Tyler Herro was ‘f***ing around’
Tyler Herro didn’t like being singled out by Garland as a weak defender who could be “picked on” by the Cavaliers, saying he wasn’t “f***king around” in his matchup. Facing closer scrutiny after those comments, Herro didn’t shine under a harsh spotlight.
The Heat guard scored only 13 points, harassed into a 5-of-13 shooting performance (including 1 of 3 on 3s) by a smothering defensive effort from the Cavs’ backcourt. (Maybe Garland’s absence helped his team on that end of the floor.)
Coming off a 33-point performance in Game 2, Herro arguably needed to be even better. Instead, he registered one of his worst games of the season. He hadn’t scored fewer than 20 points in his past 15 games.
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Cavaliers’ frontcourt stepped up
In addition to not having Garland’s 24 points per game in the lineup, Donovan Mitchell scored only 13 for the Cavs while shooting 4 of 14 from the floor. Being outscored by Max Strus (18 points) likely wouldn’t have been predicted as a key to victory by any observer.
However, the Cavaliers also made up for Garland’s absence by picking up their play in the frontcourt with a strong performance from Jarrett Allen. Allen tallied 22 points and nine rebounds, answering Bam Adebayo’s identical numbers for the Heat. He also helped limit Kel’el Ware to eight points and Andrew Wiggins to 10 in a clear win on the frontline for Cleveland.
— Ian Casselberry
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