Without Jimmy Butler, Atlanta is holding on to win the Miami Series

Victor Oladipo scored 23 points and left Adebayo 20 points in Game 5 of the first round of the Eastern Conference on Tuesday night and made a crucial defensive play to hold Miami hit visiting Atlanta Hawks to a series-clinching 97-94 victory.

The Hawks also had a few chances to pull in the last 30 seconds, but a miss shot came before Adebayo’s game was over.

Miami will be closed until Monday night’s conference semifinals against Philadelphia or Toronto.

Max Strauss scored 10 points late in Miami’s 17-0 run in the second quarter to give the Heat a 54-42 half-time lead.

Tyler Hero dropped 16 points from the Miami bench and Strauss finished with 15 points. All-star swingman Jimmy Butler (knee injury) played without the hit and point guard Kyle Lori (hamstring) in the second game in a row.

Atlanta D’Andre Hunter has scored 35 points, including 11, in the last five minutes. Kevin Huerter and Danilo Galinari both had 12 points for the Hawks, who failed to replicate last season’s success after reaching the conference finals.

Atlanta star guard Trey Young was held to 11 points in the fourth quarter, scoring just three points – all in free throws. He was 2-for-12 off the field with 0 -5 for 3-pointers and was charged for six turnovers.

Miami had a big blast in the last minute of the first half after the Hawks took the lead in the first eight minutes of the second quarter. But Atlanta had no field goals in the final 4-1 / 2 minutes of the half, with Hunter’s two free throws stopping Miami’s scoring run 3.2 seconds before half time.

The Hawks recovered enough with 8:14 left in Onieka O’Connor’s three-point game in 79-76. 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 team with 11 rebounds.

Miami’s four wins in this series were the closest result; The other three scored at least 10 points.

Grizzlies 111, Timberwolves 109
In the fourth quarter, Ja Morant scored 18 of his top 30 points, including a tie-breaking layup in the final seconds, and the hosts led Memphis 3-2 in their first-round Western Conference Play-off series against Minnesota.

As time ran out, Morant’s driving basket was limited to 2:01 in the hurricane final where the 2021-22 National Basketball Association (NBA) most advanced player Griezelis scored the final 11 points. Morant also contributed 13 rebounds, nine assists and three steals while teammate Desmond Ben scored 25 points and blocked three shots.

Carl-Anthony Towns finished with 28 points and 12 rebounds for Hayes for Minnesota, which will try to eliminate in Minneapolis on Friday.

Sun 112, Pelican 97
Mikal Bridges scored 31 points and Chris Paul added 22 points and 11 assists as host Phoenix beat New Orleans to take a 3-2 lead in the first round play-off series of the Western Conference.

Dendre Ayton has 19 points for top-seeded Suns, who could end the series with a win in New Orleans on Thursday. For the Phoenix Pelicans, 10 out of 27 hits came from outside the arc, compared to 5 out of 25.

Brandon Ingram scored 22 points, CJ McCullum 21, Jonas Valencianus 17 points and 14 rebounds and Jose Alvarado 12 to lead New Orleans. – Reuters