The Cleveland Cavaliers weren't in the mood to mess around. Sure, after going up 3-0 in their first-round series against the Miami Heat, Cleveland could've taken their foot off the gas a bit. Enjoy a little bit of that South Beach nightlife, come out a bit flat, polish off the gentleman's sweep back home later in the week and move on to the second round.
Instead, Kenny Atkinson's team went for the neck. The Cavs didn't just slam the door on Miami; they slammed the door, locked it, slid a piano in front of it and then set the house on fire, setting an NBA record with a 138-80 win over the Heat in Game 4 on Monday night.
Cleveland won 64 games during the regular season en route to the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed, but questions still lingered about this team's championship equity, especially with the defending champion Boston Celtics looming on the other side of the bracket. Four wins over a mediocre Heat team won't put those to bed for good, but the Cavs hardly seemed to break a sweat against a Miami organization that's given heavy favorites fits in playoffs past.
This team sure looks every bit as good as its regular-season record suggested. But they're still just one-quarter of the way to an NBA title, and their next test figures to be a far stiffer one.
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Updated NBA Playoffs bracket after Cavs sweep Heat
Cleveland has become the first team in the East to punch its ticket to the second round, and the second team overall after the Oklahoma City Thunder finished off their own sweep of the No. 8 seed Memphis Grizzlies.
We're still not quite sure of who the Cavs' opponent will be in the conference semis, but we have a pretty good idea after Sunday night. The No. 4 seed Indiana Pacers took a commanding 3-1 series lead over the No. 5 seed Milwaukee Bucks with a decisive road win in Game 4, a game that felt more or less over the moment Bucks guard Damian Lillard went down with what turned out to be a torn Achilles.
With three opportunities, including two at home, to win one game, it feels very hard to believe that Indy won't be moving on to the second round. And while Cleveland will be the solid favorite in that matchup, Tyrese Haliburton and Co. are a very dangerous underdog, one that brings loads of experience, explosiveness and confidence to the table.
Cavs vs. Pacers season series: Indy has surprising edge
These Central Division rivals are all too familiar with each other. But while the Cavs have conquered nearly all comers this year, they had a bit more trouble than you'd expect with the Pacers. In fact, Indy won three of four regular-season meetings, one of only two Eastern Conference teams to win the season series against Cleveland. (The other? The Atlanta Hawks, oddly enough.)
Indy won in Cleveland by 15 in mid-January, and while the Cavs answered back with a road win of their own two days later, the Pacers won a pair of thrillers in April — including one in double overtime. Indiana was just 13th in net rating this year, with a top-10 offense dragged down a bit by a merely average defense, but Haliburton looks more and more comfortable, and this team is battled tested after reaching the Eastern Conference Finals last spring.