Hawks Heat Basketball

Heat guard Victor Oladipo drives to the basket against Hawks forward John Collins during Game 5 of their first-round series on Tuesday in Atlanta. Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press

MIAMI — Victor Oladipo scored 23 points, Bam Adebayo added 20 points and 11 rebounds, and the Miami Heat moved into the Eastern Conference semifinals by beating the Atlanta Hawks 97-94 on Tuesday night.

Tyler Herro scored 16, Max Strus scored 15 and Caleb Martin added 10 for the top-seeded Heat, who ousted the eighth-seeded Hawks in five games. And Miami got the series-clincher without Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry, both of whom sat out Tuesday with injuries.

Trae Young’s rough series for Atlanta remained that way: He finished 2 for 12 from the floor, scoring just 11 points. For the series, the Hawks’ guard shot 32% against Miami’s swarming defense.

De’Andre Hunter scored 35 for Atlanta, which got 12 apiece from Kevin Huerter and Danilo Gallinari.

Hunter fouled out with 41.6 seconds left, Miami clinging to a three-point lead at the time. The Hawks got a stop, taking over with 29.2 seconds remaining, and retained possession after a missed shot from Gallinari went out of bounds off Miami.

The Hawks never got another shot off, time expired and Miami moved on.

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Onyeka Okongwu’s three-point play got Atlanta within 79-76 early in the fourth, the Hawks clawing back after being down by as many as 15.

But Herro hit a high-arcing jumper from the lane, Miami got a stop, and Oladipo hit a left-wing 3 on the next Heat possession to push the lead back to eight with 7:29 remaining.

That’s how the final minutes went: Atlanta made a charge, Miami would hold it off, all the way to the end.

And now, the Heat get nearly a week off before facing either Philadelphia or Toronto in the East semis. Game 1 will be Monday in Miami.

GRIZZLIES 111, TIMBERWOLVES 109: Ja Morant scored on a layup with a second left, and Memphis rallied from 11 points down in the fourth quarter to edge visiting Minnesota and grab a 3-2 lead in their first-round Western Conference series.

Morant, named the NBA’s most improved player on Monday, struggled mightily much of the game. But he turned it on in the fourth quarter, scoring 18 points – including 9 of 10 at the free-throw line.

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Morant came from the low post as the Grizzlies inbounded the ball with 3.7 seconds left and lost Anthony Edwards at the top of the key. That left him an open lane into the paint that he’s so rarely had in this series, beating Jarred Vanderbilt with his left hand on an underhanded layup.

Morant finished with 30 and had 13 rebounds and nine assists. Desmond Bane added 25 points, and Brandon Clarke had 21 off the bench for Memphis, and Jaren Jackson Jr. added 12 before fouling out.

Karl-Anthony Towns led the Timberwolves with 28 points and 12 rebounds. Anthony Edwards had 22, and D’Angelo Russell added 12 and Taurean Prince 10.

Game 6 is Friday night in Minnesota.

NOTES

BULLS: The Chicago Bulls might be without Zach LaVine when they try to avoid a playoff knockout by the Milwaukee Bucks after the two-time All-Star entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols.

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The Bucks lead the first-round series 3-1 and will try to wrap up the series in Milwaukee on Wednesday.

Coach Billy Donovan said LaVine wasn’t feeling great. Donovan was informed as the team was getting ready to practice that his player was entering protocols.

The Bucks won the past two games in Chicago by a combined 54 points, and the defending NBA champions did it without Khris Middleton, who is out with an left knee injury.

LaVine, meanwhile, has been in and out of the lineup for Chicago the past few months because of a sore left knee. Now, he’s in the health and safety protocols for the third time in a year: He tested positive for the coronavirus last April and again in December.

“We’ve kind of dealt with this all year long,” Donovan said. “Whether it’s been injury and/or COVID, we’ve had guys in and out. I think a lot of times our mentality has been next guy up. Guys have done a pretty good job handling that. Any time you lose a player like Zach LaVine, there’s no question it impacts your team just as Middleton impacts their team.”

With guard Alex Caruso in concussion protocol after taking an inadvertent hit to the face from Milwaukee’s Jevon Carter on Sunday and point guard Lonzo Ball suffering a season-ending knee injury in January, the Bulls could be down three starters as they try to avoid elimination.

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LaVine averaged 24.4 points during the regular season and made his second straight All-Star team. The eight-year veteran is averaging 19.3 points in his first playoff series.

AWARDS: Milwaukee Bucks guard Jrue Holiday has been named the NBA’s teammate of the year for the second time in three seasons.

A panel of league executives selected 12 finalists for the honor, which is officially named the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award. More than 300 current NBA players voted on the winner from that list of 12 finalists.

Dallas Mavericks center Boban Marjanovic finished second in the voting and Chicago Bulls guard/forward DeMar DeRozan was third. Holiday received 39 first-place votes and 964 total points. Marjanovic had more first-place votes – 48 – and received 936 total points. DeRozan had 34 first-place votes and 898 points.

SUNS: Coach Monty Williams has been fined $15,000 for publicly criticizing the officiating in Game 4 of the first-round playoff series against the New Orleans Pelicans.

Williams made his comments to the media following the Suns’ 118-103 road loss Sunday. He said he did not want to take away from the Pelicans’ effort, but he was upset by the disparity in foul shots.

NUGGETS: Center DeMarcus Cousins has been fined $15,000 for kicking towels into the stands during Game 4 of Denver’s first-round playoff series against Golden State.

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