Cleveland Cavaliers vs Miami Heat Prediction & Betting Tips - NBA

Prediction published on 20/04/2025, 06:51  by Devesh Jaganath | Modified on 20/04/2025 at 06:53 in NBA Predictions

The Cleveland Cavaliers will get their NBA Playoffs underway on Sunday with a Game 1 clash against the Miami Heat at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The Cavs are the number one seed in the Eastern Conference, while the Heat are number eight. Let’s get into the match prediction.

The Cleveland Cavaliers will be hoping for a more straightforward first-round Playoff series this season after going seven hard-fought games against the Magic last year before bowing out to the Celtics in round two. 

Cleveland stormed out the gate this season, racking up 15 straight wins at the start of the campaign and going on to record 64-18 - the most wins since LeBron James left the franchise. 

Kenny Atkinson has turned the Cavs into a scoring machine, with the team averaging 121.9 PPG (best in the league), led by Donovan Mitchell’s 24.0 PPG and five assists. 

Meanwhile, the Cavs had to wait a full week to find out their opponents for the first-round clash, and it was the Miami Heat who secured the spot with wins over the Bulls and Hawks in the Play-In tournament. 

Tyler Herro was the star performer in both those games, putting up 38 points against Chicago and 30 versus Atlanta. He is now averaging 23.9 PPG and 5.5 assists on the season. 

While the Heat lost the season series 2-1 to this opponent and are massive underdogs here, let’s not forget that they reached the NBA final in 2023 as the number eight seed.