The Miami Heat have defeated the Atlanta Hawks in the play-offs to advance to the Eastern Conference semi-finals.
Miami’s 97-94 win on Tuesday night (local time) was the necessary fourth victory in the fifth game of the series. The win came without injured stars Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry. Victor Oladipo was the best scorer for the winners with 23 points. The Heat will next face either the Philadelphia 76ers or the Toronto Raptors. In this series, Philadelphia leads 3-2.
Miami took control in front of their home crowd as the game wore on and never trailed at any point in the second half. De’Andre Hunter had a strong evening with 35 points and eleven rebounds, but could not prevent the Hawks around their star Trae Young from going out.
The Heat are the second team to qualify for the second round of the playoffs. The Boston Celtics had already ended their series against the Brooklyn Nets on Monday. The team around national player Daniel Theis won all four games. If the Heat and the Celtics meet, it will be in the Eastern Conference finals.
In the Western Conference, the Memphis Grizzlies mounted a late comeback to take a 3-2 lead in the series against the Minnesota Timberwolves. The visitors squandered a 13-point lead in the final quarter and now can’t afford to lose again.
At 111-109 Ja Morant scored the decisive basket with one second left to give the Grizzlies victory. The 22-year-old recorded 30 points, 18 of which came in the final period, playing a decisive role in the late victory.
Suns win game five – Coach Williams penalised for referee criticism
Meanwhile, the co-favourites Phoenix Suns took an important step towards the second round in the West. Point guard Chris Paul’s team leads the series 3-2 after a 112-97 home win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
Suns coach Monty Williams, meanwhile, has to pay a 15,000 US dollar fine for his criticism of the referees. The NBA fined him on Tuesday for complaining after his Suns’ fourth-game playoff series loss to the New Orleans Pelicans that the Pelicans had been awarded significantly more free throws than his team.
In the days before, coach Taylor Jenkins of the Memphis Grizzlies and Joel Embiid also had to pay 15,000 US dollars each for a similar criticism of significantly more free throws for the host team.
