NBA playoffs: Thunder finish off sweep of Grizzlies, Cavaliers blow out Heat to take 3-0 lead

The NBA playoffs continued Saturday with four first-round matchups, three in the Western Conference. In the East, the Cleveland Cavaliers took a 3-0 series lead over the Miami Heat. 

In Saturday’s two Game 4s, the Oklahoma City Thunder closed out a sweep over the Memphis Grizzlies, while the Los Angeles Clippers could take a decisive 3-1 series lead over the Denver Nuggets. 

The day’s playoff slate closes with the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets looking to take a 2-1 series lead. 

• Cavaliers 124, Heat 87, Game 3 (Cavs lead series 3-0)

• Thunder 117, Grizzlies 115, (Thunder win series 4-0)

• Nuggets (4) at Clippers (5), Game 4, 6 p.m. ET

• Rockets (2) at Warriors (7), Game 3, 8:30 p.m. ET

Check out Yahoo Sports’ predictions for each first-round series, in addition to Kevin O’Connor’s ranking of the top 40 players in the NBA postseason.

Here are the results and key takeaways from Saturday’s games:

---

Thunder 117, Grizzlies 115

The Thunder finished off the Grizzlies with a win in Game 4 on Saturday, and it didn’t take a 29-point comeback this time.

With Memphis missing star point guard Ja Morant, out with a hip injury from Game 3, Oklahoma City was in control for most of the nip-and-tuck game behind 38 points from Shai Gilgeous Alexander. Despite Morant missing the game and Zach Edey and Scotty Pippen Jr. fouling out, the Grizzlies stayed within striking range until the final possession.

All things considered, the Grizzlies can at least say this loss was the least embarrassing of the series.

Thunder struggle from distance, but persevere

Oklahoma City didn’t have its A game offensively Saturday, struggling mightily to find the range from beyond the arc — just 7-for-35 (20%) from 3-point land as a team, one of the worst long-distance shooting performances in franchise playoff history.

Great teams have more than one way to win, though … and if we’ve learned anything this season, it’s that the Thunder — the NBA’s No. 1 defense, and one of the best teams in the league at winning the possession battle — are a pretty great team. And now, they’re on to Round 2.

The MVP favorite steps up

Gilgeous-Alexander, an MVP finalist, scored his 38 points on 13-for-24 shooting, capped by a stepback dagger with 11 seconds remaining, to help Oklahoma City finish off the sweep of an undermanned Grizzlies squad. All-Star forward Jalen Williams added 23 points, five assists and four rebounds for the top-seeded Thunder, who will take on the winner of the 4-vs.-5 matchup between the Nuggets and Clippers in the Western Conference semifinals.

With Morant unavailable, Memphis needed big games from Jaren Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane to extend its season. They combined for just 35 points on 32 field-goal attempts, though, as they battled both foul trouble and a snarling OKC defense.

While this series opened with the Thunder blowing the Grizzlies out in Games 1 and 2 — and outscoring Memphis by 32 points in the second half of Game 3 — the closeout contest was a much closer affair, with seven lead changes and neither team able to get more than 12 points clear of the other. With its long-range shooting offline, Oklahoma City relied largely on its defense, forcing the Morant-less Grizz into 21 turnovers, leading to 32 Thunder points. Between all those Memphis miscues and OKC both limiting its own mistakes (just eight turnovers leading to nine Memphis points) and grabbing its misses (12 offensive rebounds, 15 second-chance points), the Thunder wound up taking 14 more field-goal attempts than the Grizzlies — a major possession advantage that paid major dividends.

Memphis looked to bounce back from Thursday’s devastating blown 29-point lead by getting off to a hot start, opening 8-for-12 from the floor to gain an early edge. The Thunder kept pace, though, thanks to Gilgeous-Alexander finally starting to thaw out after an icy start to the playoffs.

After shooting just 35.3% from the floor and 25% from 3 in the first three games of the series, Gilgeous-Alexander made his first seven shots on Saturday, pouring in 16 points in the first quarter — the highest-scoring postseason quarter of his career — and assisting on seven more, helping stake OKC to a 34-31 lead after 12 minutes.

But while Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams came out hot, Oklahoma City’s frigid perimeter shooting allowed a physical (sometimes toophysical) Memphis team to stay in the fight. Morant’s replacements at point guard (Scotty Pippen Jr.) and in the starting lineup (elevated reserve forward Santi Aldama) combined for 25 points on 8-for-15 shooting in the first half, sending the Grizzlies into intermission down only one, 60-59.

Oklahoma City seized control in the third, ripping off an early 9-0 run fueled by — what else — its defense:

Scotty Pippen Jr. and Memphis show heart — but it’s not enough

But Pippen Jr. — a revelation in Morant’s place, scoring a career playoff high 30 points to go with 11 rebounds and four assists — continued to work his way to the basket and keep the Grizzlies close. But after a 10-0 Memphis run made it a one-score game heading into the final minute, Thunder center Chet Holmgren stripped Pippen Jr. under the basket before drawing a sixth foul that turned Memphis’ best offensive initiator into a spectator for the balance of the game.

A pair of late 3s by Bane and Vince Wlliams Jr. made the Thunder sweat into the closing seconds. But Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault didn’t let OKC get off a potential overtime-forcing 3-point attempt, having his players foul with a three-point lead to preserve the advantage — and, a few ticks later, make Oklahoma City the first team to move on in the 2025 NBA playoffs.

— Dan Devine

---

Cavaliers 124, Heat 87

The Heat needed a win Saturday to avoid falling behind 3-0. They also arguably had their best opportunity to get a victory with the Cavaliers missing second-leading scorer Darius Garland. 

However, Miami didn’t play anything like a team whose season was at stake, getting blown out at home. It was the worst playoff loss in the Heat’s history and the third-biggest playoff margin of victory for the Cavaliers. 

Cleveland had a 20-point lead and boosted the margin to 22 points after three quarters. With five minutes remaining in the game, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra emptied his bench and decided to move on to Game 4, where Miami will hope to avoid a series sweep. 

De’Andre Hunter made up for Garland’s absence

Sam Merrill took Garland’s place in Cleveland’s starting lineup and didn’t provide much. But De’Andre Hunter filled the missing point production with his best scoring performance of the playoffs. The sixth-year veteran tallied 21 points off the bench, shooting 3 of 5 on 3-pointers. 

Plenty of the postseason remains to be played, but Hunter provided exactly the kind of boost the Cavaliers were hoping for when they acquired him at the trade deadline from the Atlanta Hawks. Cleveland now has the kind of depth that can help in a long playoff series against teams like the Indiana Pacers and Boston Celtics. 

Tyler Herro was ‘f***ing around’

Tyler Herro didn’t like being singled out by Garland as a weak defender who could be “picked on” by the Cavaliers, saying he wasn’t “f***king around” in his matchup. Facing closer scrutiny after those comments, Herro didn’t shine under a harsh spotlight. 

The Heat guard scored only 13 points, harassed into a 5-of-13 shooting performance (including 1 of 3 on 3s) by a smothering defensive effort from the Cavs’ backcourt. (Maybe Garland’s absence helped his team on that end of the floor.) 

Coming off a 33-point performance in Game 2, Herro arguably needed to be even better. Instead, he registered one of his worst games of the season. He hadn’t scored fewer than 20 points in his past 15 games. 

Cavaliers’ frontcourt stepped up

In addition to not having Garland’s 24 points per game in the lineup, Donovan Mitchell scored only 13 for the Cavs while shooting 4 of 14 from the floor. Being outscored by Max Strus (18 points) likely wouldn’t have been predicted as a key to victory by any observer. 

However, the Cavaliers also made up for Garland’s absence by picking up their play in the frontcourt with a strong performance from Jarrett Allen. Allen tallied 22 points and nine rebounds, answering Bam Adebayo’s identical numbers for the Heat. He also helped limit Kel’el Ware to eight points and Andrew Wiggins to 10 in a clear win on the frontline for Cleveland. 

— Ian Casselberry