Cavs Insider

Cavaliers Owner Delivers Crystal Clear Message After Sweeping Heat

Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert has sent a very clear message after watching his team sweep the Miami Heat in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

Matthew Schmidt

Bedrock Founder, Chairman Dan Gilbert announces General Motors moving its global headquarters to the newly completed Hudson site, during a press conference held at the Hudson site in downtown Detroit on Monday, April 15, 2024.
Bedrock Founder, Chairman Dan Gilbert announces General Motors moving its global headquarters to the newly completed Hudson site, during a press conference held at the Hudson site in downtown Detroit on Monday, April 15, 2024. / Kimberly P. Mitchell / USA TODAY NETWORK
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The Cleveland Cavaliers completed a four-game sweep of the Miami Heat in their first-round playoff matchup on Monday night, advancing to face the winner of the Indiana Pacers-Milwaukee Bucks series.

That the Cavaliers defeated the Heat does not come as too much of a surprise. After all, Cleveland won 64 games during the regular season, and Miami finished well below .500.

Regardless, it was an impressive showing for the Cavs, but owner Dan Gilbert wants to ensure that his team stays grounded for the remainder of the playoffs.

After the Cavaliers' Game 4 win, Gilbert delivered a rather strong message to his team.

Beating the Heat was expected, so while it's certainly nice to win a playoff series, Cleveland really shouldn't be celebrating this victory.

The Cavs have a long way to go, and it starts by overcoming their demons in the second round of the postseason, specifically in the case of Donovan Mitchell.

While the rest of the Cavaliers stars—Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen—don't have a whole lot of playoff experience to begin with, Mitchell has been in the playoffs plenty of times. To be exact, this is his eighth appearance. However, he has never made it to the conference finals.

As a matter of fact, this marks just the fourth time in his career that Mitchell has even made it to the second round. He did so twice with the Utah Jazz, and he made it to Round 2 in Cleveland last spring.

We'll see if the Cavs can keep their momentum going.

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Matthew Schmidt
MATTHEW SCHMIDT

Matthew Schmidt is a sportswriter who covers NFL, MLB, NBA and college football and basketball. He has been writing professionally since 2011 and has also worked for Bleacher Report, FanRag Sports, ClutchPoints, NFLAnalysis.net and NBAAnalysis.net. He was born and raised in New Jersey and has a rather eclectic group of favorite teams: the Boston Celtics, New York Giants and Miami Marlins.

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