Good morning, Winners! This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Here’s Mike Sykes.
The Cleveland Cavaliers whooped the Miami Heat so bad on Tuesday that I thought LeBron James was trying to take his talents to South Beach again.
Game 4 in Miami was bad. Really bad. Ernie Johnson said this might’ve been the worst game he’s ever seen and it’s hard to disagree with him. It was a dumpster fire. But it was also hard to take your eyes off of it because you wanted to see just how bad it could get.
The Cavs beat the Heat by 55 points in game four to complete the four-game sweep we all knew was coming in the first round of the playoffs. I just don’t know if anybody saw it happening like this. The Cavs were up by 60 points at one point and, somehow, this game never felt like it was as close as the score was indicating.
It wasn’t just this game. As our Bryan Kalbrosky pointed out, the Cavaliers won this series by a margin of +122 points. That’s the most lopsided series in NBA history by quite a bit. Yes, most of that was built up in the fourth and final game of the series. But even if you take away Game 4, it’s not really that close. Pat Riley’s face says it all here.
MORE WILD STATS: Here are 12 eye-popping stats from the Heat-Cavs series that will show you how uncompetitive this was.
So much for Heat Culture.
That mantra has always been a bit insufferable and even annoying at times. But you could tell that, at a certain point, it was something the Heat’s players believed in it — at least a little bit. That’s the sort of thing that lifts you from the play-in tournament to the NBA Finals.
Today, that’s dead. And the dirty little secret is that we’ve been watching it die for the last few months, starting with Jimmy Butler’s dissent in Miami, which completely poisoned the well this season. The Heat had one last gasp to save the season and get into the playoffs, but that was it. There was nothing else left after that.
What we witnessed in Game 4 was what “nothing else” looks like. It wasn’t pretty. That’s the type of loss that will dismantle an entire organization in the offseason. That’s what’s next for the Heat.
We’ll see how much of that good ol’ culture Miami has left when Pat Riley is done.
Speaking of blowouts…
How about the Mets, folks? New York beat the Nationals 19-5 and became the first team to 20 wins in Major League Baseball this season.
Brandon Nimmo batted in nine (!!!!!) of those runs himself, going 4-6 at the plate and hitting two homers. That’s a franchise record.
Being the first team to 20 wins in an MLB season doesn’t necessarily guarantee you a World Series, but the Mets are undoubtedly a championship contender at this point. New York has won 18 of its last 25 games, has the best record in the league and are now 11 games over .500 this early in the year.
It’s still early. There’s a lot of baseball left to be played. But these are all major positives for Mets fans to cling on to.
The Commanders want the Super Bowl
I don’t mean Washington just wants to win a Super Bowl — the team obviously wants that. But it also wants to host one, too, and it’s hoping the new RFK Stadium coming back to D.C. puts it at the front of the line to do exactly that.
RFK will be built with a dome, which means the building will meet a key requirement to host a Super Bowl, according to The Athletic. A Super Bowl host site either has to have an average temperature of 50 degrees Fahrenheit during the league’s Super Bowl window, or the stadium has to have a roof. RFK will have the roof.
Rodger Goodell didn’t confirm that D.C. would be considered for a Super Bowl during a press conference announcing the new building on Monday, but he did say the new plan helps its cause “dramatically.”
The Big Game might be coming to the nation’s capital within the next decade. Never thought we’d see the day.
Quick hits: Saquon Barkley needs a backbone … Angel Reese is big sis now … and more
— Prince Grimes says Saquon Barkley’s reaction to backlash for golfing with Trump was spineless. He’s spot on with this one.
— Angel Reese is playing the “big sis” role for Hailey Van Lith with the Chicago Sky. Meg Hall has details.
— Jordon Hudson reportedly interrupted the Bill Belichick interview multiple times. This is kind of weird. Charles Curtis has details on it.
— Dillon Brooks vs. Jimmy Butler? Sign me up. Bryan Kalbrosky has details here.
— This has to be the funniest hot mic moment of 2025. The announcers were SPEECHLESS. Mary Clarke has more here.
— Damian Lillard might be out for the year, but he’s not done. Andrew Joseph has more on his latest message to fans here.
That’s a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for reading. Appreciate your time. Peace.
-Sykes ✌️
#Cavaliers #destroyed #Heat #Culture #NBA #playoffs #sweep
