After the Miami Heat returned home to the Kaseya Center over the weekend for Game 3 of their series against the Cavaliers, hopes for a change of fortune quickly disintegrated. The Heat were run out of the building in Game 3, losing, 124-87. 

And if there was some comfort to be taken in the notion that things could not get worse for the Heat then that, well, things did, indeed, get worse. In fact, if the Cavaliers ran the Heat out of Game 3, then it could be said that the Heat did not even show up in the building for Game 4 as the Cavs finished the sweep. 

The first-quarter tally was 43-17, Cavaleirs. It was 72-33 at halftime. By the end of the game, the score was up to 138-83, a jaw-dropping 55-point decision. Pity the poor TNT “Inside the NBA” crew. This was not an easy game to describe. 

Kenny Smith compared the Cavs performance to a kung fu movie. Ernie Johnson dubbed it, perhaps, “the worst game I’ve ever watched.”

And Charles Barkley, not wanting to accuse NBA players of laying down and quitting, nevertheless accused the Heat of laying down and quitting.

TNT sports analyst Charles Barkley 

Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

“Ernie, I try not to ever use the word quit or choke,” he said. “I very seldom use them. This is quitting at its finest right here. It’s like, I bet if we went to they house, all their stuff is packed already. … If you lose by 37 and then come back and lose by 40, you can’t stay in town.”

The Heat were a 39-win team that earned the No. 8 seed, and the right to play against the top-seeded Cavaliers in the East playoffs, thanks to the play-in game. They were 25-24 on Feb. 6, when they pulled off a blockbuster trade that sent disgruntled star Jimmy Butler to Golden State.

The Heat limped into the season’s finish going 14-21 in their final 35 games.