Cavs passed 'a test against ourselves' in Miami sweep, says Mitchell
Donovan Mitchell believes the Cleveland Cavaliers passed a "test against ourselves" in their series sweep against the Miami Heat.
Mitchell led the way in Cleveland's Game 4 blowout against the Heat on Monday, scoring 22 points in 25 minutes in a 138-83 rout.
The top-seeded Cavs were without All-Star point guard Darius Garland for a second consecutive game because of a sprained toe, but had six players score in double figures.
Ty Jerome had 18 points, Evan Mobley added 17 and Jarrett Allen had 14 points, 12 rebounds and six steals for the Cavaliers.
Cleveland won the series by a combined 122 points, one more than the previous record for a series margin, set by Denver over New Orleans in 2009.
Indeed, the combined 92 points that the Cavaliers won by in Games 3 and 4 was also the largest point differential in a two-game span in playoff history.
They were leading by 39 points at half-time in Game 4, the third-largest advantage after two quarters in NBA history, with Mitchell sending a simple message to his team-mates at the break.
"We had to finish our breakfast," the Cleveland Cavaliers star guard said.
MONDAY'S FINAL SCORES
— NBA (@NBA) April 29, 2025
Donovan Mitchell and the @cavs secure their place in the East Semis!
De'Andre Hunter: 19 PTS
Ty Jerome: 18 PTS, 5 AST
Evan Mobley: 17 PTS, 7 REB, 2 BLK
Jarrett Allen: 14 PTS, 12 REB, 6 STL pic.twitter.com/DjCzrbxYlj
Mitchell added the Cavs were motivated to end the series early to earn extra rest ahead of a likely second-round series against the Indiana Pacers, who are ahead 3-1 in their series with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Last season, Cleveland led 2-0 in their series against the Orlando Magic before dropping Games 3 and 4 in Florida, leading to a tiring seven-game series that affected them in a second-round loss to the Boston Celtics.
"Last year, we only won one road [playoff] game. We've only won one road playoff game since I've been here until this year," said Mitchell.
"And for us just never being satisfied, it's really a test on ourselves. Understanding that, yeah, we were up 3-0, but this was our test against ourselves.
"We have a bigger goal in mind. For us, it's understanding that this is special. We've been doing special things all year.
"But we didn't come here just to sweep in the first round and get to the second."
Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson applauded his team's mentality, saying: "We don't seem to have letdowns. That's rare.
"We came down here with the right mentality and, again, our maturity, our leadership, all that stuff we've been talking about all year."