NBA: Heat hold off Hawks without Jimmy Butler to clinch series win
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Miami Heat centre Bam Adebayo (in red) dunks the ball against Atlanta Hawks at the NBA playoffs on April 26, 2022.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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MIAMI (REUTERS) - Victor Oladipo scored 23 points and Bam Adebayo posted 20 points and made a key defensive play as the Miami Heat held off the Atlanta Hawks for a series-clinching 97-94 victory in Game 5 of the National Basketball Association Eastern Conference's first round on Tuesday (April 26).
The Hawks had a couple of chances to pull even in the final 30 seconds, but a missed shot came before a game-ending steal by Adebayo.
Miami will be off until opening the conference semi-finals on Monday against Philadelphia or Toronto.
Max Strus scored 10 points during Miami's 17-0 run late in the second quarter that allowed the Heat to build a 54-42 half-time lead.
Tyler Herro poured in 16 points off the Miami bench and Strus finished with 15 points. The Heat played without All-Star swingman Jimmy Butler (knee injury) and, for the second game in a row, point guard Kyle Lowry (hamstring).
Atlanta's De'Andre Hunter scored 35 points, including 11 in the last five minutes. Kevin Huerter and Danilo Gallinari both had 12 points for the Hawks, who were unable to repeat last year's post-season success when they reached the Conference Finals.
Atlanta star guard Trae Young was held to 11 points, scoring just three points - all on free throws - in the fourth quarter. He was 2-for-12 from the field, including 0-for-5 on three-pointers, and was charged with six turnovers.
Miami's big burst came in the final minutes of the first half after the Hawks led for the first eight minutes of the second quarter. But Atlanta did not have a field goal in the last 4½ minutes of the half, with Hunter's two free throws with 3.2 seconds before half-time halting Miami's scoring run.
The Hawks recovered enough to close within 79-76 with 8:14 remaining on Onyeka Okongwu's three-point play. Oladipo posted seven of Miami's next 13 points as the spread reached 92-82 before Atlanta's final push.
Adebayo and Hunter each led their teams with 11 rebounds.
This was the closest outcome of Miami's four wins in the series; the three others came by at least 10 points.
In Memphis, Ja Morant scored 18 of his game-high 30 points in the fourth quarter, including a tie-breaking lay-up in the final second, and the Grizzlies defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 111-109 to take a 3-2 lead in their first-round Western Conference play-off series.
Morant's driving basket under duress as time expired capped a whirlwind final 2min 1sec in which the National Basketball Association's 2021-22 Most Improved Player scored the Grizzlies' final 11 points.
Memphis will try to wrap up the best-of-seven series in Minneapolis on Friday.
