MIAMI – As the Miami Heat were swept in the first round of the NBA Playoffs by the Cleveland Cavaliers, it put an end to what was a highly tumultuous season. With the Heat's season ending historically for the wrong reasons, the first part of bouncing back is looking at what went wrong in the year prior.

There's no doubt that the Miami 2024-25 season will be highlighted by the drama involving Jimmy Butler until he was traded to the Golden State Warriors before the deadline. With that clouding the team among other instances like their 10-game losing streak, head coach Erik Spoelstra would acknowledge how there were “more lows” in the year than highs, but still emphasized how they battled through multiple obstacles in the way.

“A lot of lows, probably more lows,” Spoelstra said after the Game 4 loss. “But the thing that I'll always remember about this group, with all the adversity that we fought through, we ended up playing our best basketball. You know, we were a couple plays here or there, from going eight straight, possibly 10 straight, you know, go 10 down and then 10th straight. Like, that close, it would have been a great story.”

While there were some positive aspects to the team's season in trying to bury the drama with Butler, the Heat will seem to be remembered for not just the sweep from Cleveland, but the back-to-back outings of losing tremendously. After losing by 37 points in Game 3, which was a team playoff record, they would best it in Game 4 on Monday night with a 55-point defeat.

Heat's Tyler Herro on the “ups and downs” of the season

Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro (14) passes the basketball as Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley (4) defends in the first quarter during game four for the first round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Kaseya Center.
Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Despite playing his best season yet in the NBA, it was a rough series for Heat star Tyler Herro, who scored just four points in 31 minutes of play on Monday night. Still, Herro made immense strides this season, leading to his first All-Star nod, but was no doubt exposed in the last two games as the Cavs shut him down.

Speaking about the season as a whole, Herro would talk about how there was “no real consistency in our play” and echoed the same sentiments as Spoelstra in how the playoffs were “humbling.”

“It was a roller coaster, ups and downs at different points,” Herro said. “We thought we were finding a little traction, a couple of great games, and then go back downhill. So there's no real consistency in our play. And it was kind of the last two or three weeks, you know, we played really well in those two play-in games to get us to this point, and that's kind of what led us to think that, obviously we didn't think we would have got swept, how bad we got swept. And it was, you know, very humbling. Back to the drawing board, and we figure out things to do.”

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Heat's Erik Spoelstra is “better from” the disappointing season

The 55-point loss by the Heat to the Cavs in Game 4 capped off what would be the largest lopsided series in NBA history, with the latter outscoring the former by 122 points. Miami also became the first team in NBA history to lose two consecutive postseason games by 30 points or more.

One would think that the players on the Heat will think about that dreadful ending for a long time, ultimately fueling and motivating them to come back stronger. For Spoelstra, he would even say that he will be “better from it” while also admitting the sweep was “humbling.”

“But more importantly, it's this league and this association of a long NBA season, you're always given that opportunity for that gift of adversity,” Spoelstra said. “And to have a group that responded in the way that you wanted a group to respond, to become more connected, to have developed more resolve, to try to overcome things, it was just, it was a fun experience.”

“I think I became better from it,” Spoelstra continued. “I hope that players became better from it. But damn, it was humbling. You know, this series [was] humbling. These last two games are embarrassing, but Cleveland is also a very good team. We won whatever we won, they won 65, we were as irrational as we usually are, thinking that we have a chance to win this series, and they showed us why. We weren't ready for that.”

At any rate, the Heat look to make some big changes in the offseason and will go back to the drawing board to make a big splash for next season.