Donovan Mitchell scored 30 points and Ty Jerome scored 16 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter as the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers pulled away for a 121-100 victory over the visiting Miami Heat in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round series Sunday.
Backup point guard Jerome, making his playoff debut in his sixth season, also dished out three assists in the final period after being named a finalist for the Sixth Man of the Year award earlier in the day. He made 10 of 15 field goal attempts, including 5 of 8 on 3-pointers.
Six-time All-Star Mitchell posted his seventh straight 30-point performance in a series opener, tying Michael Jordan for the NBA record. Jordan accomplished it twice in his legendary playoff career with the Chicago Bulls.
Darius Garland scored 27 points and Jarrett Allen had 12 points and 11 rebounds for Cleveland, which outscored the Heat 34-21 in the fourth. Its largest lead was the final score, courtesy of Mitchell’s two free throws with 1:23 remaining.
Bam Adebayo had 24 points and nine rebounds, and Tyler Herro scored 21 points for the Heat. Miami played its third game in five days, following play-in tournament wins at Chicago (Wednesday) and Atlanta (Friday) that made it the first 10th seed to qualify.
The Heat were within 95-88 early in the fourth before Jerome buried a 3-pointer, sparking “Ty Jer-ome” chants from the home crowd. He scored seven straight Cleveland points later in the quarter to make it 111-94 before Garland delivered the dagger with two threes.
Davion Mitchell had 18 points and a game-high nine assists off the Miami bench and Andrew Wiggins scored 14 points. Cleveland’s reserves only had six points by players not named Jerome, all by Sam Merrill.
The Cavaliers won two of the teams’ three regular-season games, their only loss coming in Miami. This is the first time they have met in the playoffs.
