Cavaliers with NBA record: Coach ashamed after greatest humiliation in history

This has never happened before—and it probably won't happen again anytime soon. The Cleveland Cavaliers are making history in the NBA playoffs. The losers are embarrassed.

In a fireworks display, the Cleveland Cavaliers swept the Miami Heat and followed the Oklahoma City Thunder into the quarterfinals with an NBA record. Donovan Mitchell's team won 138-83 in Florida, ending the most lopsided playoff series in history. The Cavs won the best-of-seven series by a total of 122 points, the previous record set by Denver in 2009 against New Orleans (+121).

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was ashamed of his players' performance. "Damn, that was humiliating," said the 54-year-old. "This series was humiliating. The last two games were embarrassing." Miami also lost the game at home, 87-124. "There's no excuse for that," said Heat all-star Tyler Herro after the game. The 25-year-old had made only one of his ten shots. He, too, found the Heat's performance "embarrassing."

Cleveland, the top regular-season team in the Eastern Conference, followed the example of the Oklahoma City Thunder. The top regular-season team in the Western Conference, led by German international Isaiah Hartenstein, also made short work of the Memphis Grizzlies with a 4-0 victory.

"We came here with one goal in mind," said top scorer Mitchell (22 points) on TNT television. "We wanted to keep irritating them." And they succeeded. In the next round, the Cavaliers will play either the Milwaukee Bucks or the Indiana Pacers—Indiana leads 3-1.

The Cavs quickly showed who was boss against Miami, who only advanced to the round of 16 via the play-in tournament. The visitors led 43-17 after the first quarter, and at halftime, the game was virtually over at 72-33. Cleveland is fighting for its second NBA title after 2016.