The Miami Heat entered their Game 4 matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday with their backs against the wall, facing a 3-0 deficit and the risk of elimination from the postseason with a loss. But instead of putting their best effort forward, they came out lifeless and flat, which the Inside the NBA cast wasn’t afraid to call them out for during their halftime report.
Prospects weren’t all that high for the Heat coming into the game, looking entirely outmatched throughout the entirety of the series. Game 3 of the series was perhaps the best indication of this, as the Cavaliers came away with a 124-87 victory.
If Heat fans thought Game 3 was bad, Game 4 would be considered an absolute disaster from the very start. The game was essentially all but over by the end of the first half, with the Cavaliers going into the locker room with a 72-33 lead, the largest first-half deficit for a team in the postseason since the 2020 matchup between the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Clippers.
As you may expect, the always-opinionated cast of Inside the NBA wasted no time tearing into the Heat for their first-half performance. In particular, Ernie Johnson questioned whether it was the “worst game he had ever watched,” while Charles Barkley flat-out claimed the Heat were “quitting” in the game.
“This reminds me of a karate movie when the guy comes into town and just starts beating everybody up,” said Kenny Smith. Just slapping people, coming through there… That’s what this looks like, man.”
“This may be the worst game that I have ever watched,” added Ernie Johnson.
“Ernie, I try not to ever use the word quit or choke… I very seldom use them. This is quitting at its finest right here,” said Charles Barkley. “I bet if we went to their house, all their stuff is already packed. If you lose by 37 and then come back and lose by 40, you can’t stay in town. You know better.”
Johnson then brought up how Heat star Bam Adebayo said that the team was going to “go down swinging,” which Barkley mocked by swinging at Smith about as softly as he possibly could to depict the kind of swinging that Adebayo must have been referring to.
The Cavs — up 3-0 in the series — took a 72-33 lead into halftime vs the Heat in Game 4 in Miami.
Ernie Johnson: “This might be the worst game I’ve ever watched.”
Charles Barkley: “Ernie, I try not to ever use the word quit or choke… This is quitting at its finest right… pic.twitter.com/p6fzFmaJF4
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 29, 2025
Unfortunately for anyone outside of Cavaliers fans watching the game, things would only get worse for the Heat in the second half, as the game turned into a completely non-competitive and boring affair. Ultimately, the Cavaliers won the game 138-83, which ended up being the fourth-largest margin of victory in an NBA postseason game.
For as ruthless as the Inside the NBA cast was towards the Heat, Erik Spoelstra, the head coach of the Heat, was perhaps even more critical of his team after the game. In his postgame press conference, he minced no words about his team’s performance, calling the loss “embarrassing” and “humbling.”
“Damn, it was humbling,” said Spoelstra. “This series was humbling. These last two games were embarrassing. But Cleveland is also a very good team. We won whatever we won. They won 65 (games). We’re as irrational as we usually are, thinking we had a chance to win this series. They showed us why we weren’t ready for that.”
“Damn, it was humbling. This series was humbling. These last two games were embarrassing…”
Heat HC Erik Spoelstra after a 138-83 loss in Miami to give the Cavs a 4-game sweep. #NBA #NBAPlayoffs
(h/t: @ohnohedidnt24) pic.twitter.com/BngLrEzDWv
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 29, 2025
Maybe next year, the Heat will be more ready for this kind of postseason matchup.
