Donovan Mitchell, Cavs Impress Fans with Game 1 Win vs. Herro, Heat in NBA Playoffs

The Cleveland Cavaliers held serve in Game 1.

Led by Donovan Mitchell's 30 points and Ty Jerome's surprising 28 points off the bench, the Cavs handled the Miami Heat on Sunday in the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs, 121-100.

Darius Garland added 27 points for Cleveland, while Bam Adebayo (24 points, nine rebounds) and Tyler Herro (21 points) paced the Heat.

But Sunday was all about the one-two punch of Mitchell and Jerome, and NBA fans and pundits enjoyed the strong showing from both:

It's no surprise that Mitchell started the playoffs strong—he's averaged a cool 28.1 points per game in the postseason during his career. Mitchell is a bucket this time of year.

But the showing from Jerome in his first career playoff game had just about everyone surprised, especially given that his epic fourth quarter essentially buried the Heat. The Cavs kept the Heat at arm's length for much of the game, but nobody expected Jerome to serve as closer.

The result itself is about as expected. The Heat needed the Play-In Tournament to reach the postseason and were just 37-45 on the year, compared to the 64-18 Cavs. This is not a even matchup.

But if the Cavs are going to get this type of performance from their bench, this could be the year the core group of Mitchell, Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen finally gets over the hump.