3 Cleveland Cavaliers bold predictions for Heat series in 2025 NBA Playoffs

The Cleveland Cavaliers may have limped into the finish line of the regular season, going 6-4 over their final 10 games. But they have established throughout the course of the season that they are going to be one of the teams to beat come playoff time. And in the first two games of their first-round series against the Miami Heat, this has proven to be the case, as they have taken care of business at home to go up 2-0.

What makes the Cavs such a tough team to beat is that they have a plethora of weapons that allows them to shapeshift depending on the opposition. They have the supersized frontcourt of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, a deep team that allows them to play with an offensive threat on the floor at all times, and a star backcourt pairing in Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland to rip defenses apart.

It is expected that the Cavs will be taking care of business rather handily in their matchup against the Heat, and the first two games of the series have done nothing to change that. It's only going to be a matter of how Cleveland dispatches of Miami, not if.

Here are a few bold predictions for how the rest of the Cavs' first-round matchup against the Heat in the 2025 NBA playoffs will shake out.

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Ty Jerome has a 30-point game in the first round

Ty Jerome emerging as an incredible player off the Cavs bench is one of the best stories of the 2024-25 season. Jerome suited up in a total of two games last season and then ended up being one of the best snipers in the association, putting up 12.5 points per game in 70 games this past season (just three starts) while posting shooting splits of 52/44/87 — monster stuff.

Jerome blossoming into an efficient scoring force was not something that many, if anyone at all, could have foreseen prior to the start of the season. And while the 27-year-old guard did go through a bit of a slump towards the end of the season, he managed to right the ship and was brilliant in Game 1 of the series against the Heat, scoring 28 points on 10-15 shooting from the field and cementing himself as a major rotation piece for Cleveland through the rest of the season.

While Jerome was a non-factor in the Cavs' Game 2 win, he should be able to contribute much more meaningfully in the coming games. The series is now shifting to the Heat's homecourt, and it's not like Miami is totally helpless in this series, as evidenced by the way they made Cleveland sweat on Wednesday night.

When Jerome has it going, he is ridiculously difficult to stop at the point of attack. Expect there to be a moment where the Cavs need him to bail them out, with the 27-year-old guard popping off for a playoff career-high of at least 30 points, perhaps as soon as Game 3 on Saturday afternoon.

Cavs set record for most 3s in a single playoff game

In Game 2, the Cavs went off into a major Cavalanche in the second quarter, making a playoff-best 11 threes in a single quarter. Other than Jarrett Allen, there are no non-shooters in the Cavs rotation, and under head coach Kenny Atkinson, they have made the three-point shot quite the devastating weapon. They ranked second this past season in total three-point makes and three-point percentage while boasting the best offense in the league.

They ended up with 22 three-pointers as a team on the night; the Heat buckled down defensively towards the end of the game and made it a ballgame. But it can be concerning how many good looks from beyond the arc this Heat defense is conceding.

There is a chance that the Cavs just go all-out from beyond the arc and catch fire; they only needed to make three more triples anyway on Wednesday night to tie the playoff record for most threes in a game for a team. It may not be likely, but if there's any team that can make 26 threes in a single game in the playoffs, it's this Cavs side.

Cleveland blows Miami out by 35+ in clinching game

The Heat, under head coach Erik Spoelstra, can never be counted out. After all, Heat culture is all about punching above their weight class. But these Cavs are simply on a different level.

There should be a game where the Cavs, not unlike the 1-8 matchup on the opposite conference, blow the Heat out by an inordinate number of points — which, as predicted in this piece, will be happening in the closeout game.