MIAMI,
United States —
Victor Oladipo led the depleted Miami Heat to a series-clinching 97–94 victory
over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday as Ja Morant produced a dazzling late scoring
spree to give Memphis a thrilling win over Minnesota in the NBA playoffs.
اضافة اعلان
Miami, missing injured stars
Jimmy Butler and
Kyle Lowry, produced a superb defensive performance to shut down Atlanta and
advance to an Eastern Conference semi-final series against either Philadelphia
or Toronto.
Oladipo, who only returned to action in March
after an 11-month injury layoff, was handed his first start of the playoffs by
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.
The 29-year-old two-time All-Star repaid that
faith with a 23-point display alongside
Bam Adebayo, who finished with 20
points and 11 rebounds.
The win marked a fairytale return to center
stage for Oladipo, whose career has been decimated by injuries and surgeries
over the past three years.
Oladipo was sidelined for nearly a year after
undergoing surgery to repair a ruptured quadriceps tendon in May last year. He
had undergone surgery to treat the same problem in January 2019.
“There’s nothing I can’t handle,” Oladipo
said after Tuesday’s win.
“There’s nothing I haven’t gone through. At
the end of the day, I feel like I can come back and get through anything.
“So when they told me I needed to start
tonight, I just stepped up to the plate and did everything I could to help my
team win ... this is only the beginning.”
Adebayo took pride with a Miami defensive
performance that restricted Hawks star Trae Young to just 11 points. De’Andre
Hunter led the
Atlanta scoring with 35 points.
“We knew it was going to be a fight to the
end, we just had to finish it with our defense,” Adebayo said. “Defense wins
championships.”
Morant
magic sinks Wolves
In the
Western Conference playoffs Morant scored a gravity-defying last-gasp layup as
the Grizzlies conjured an epic late fightback to stun the Minnesota
Timberwolves 111-109.
Morant’s wizardry with one second remaining
sealed an enthralling battle which leaves Memphis 3–2 ahead in the
best-of-seven series with game six in Minnesota on Friday.
Minnesota had led by 13 points early in the
fourth quarter after big performances from Karl Anthony-Towns, who finished
with 28 points and
Anthony Edwards (22 points).
But Morant, who bagged 30 points, suddenly
found his scoring touch to haul Memphis back into contention.
The 22-year-old rising star of the NBA
erupted for 18 points in the fourth quarter as Memphis outscored Minnesota
37-24 in the final period.
The catalyst for Morant’s masterpiece
appeared to be a jaw-dropping dunk over Wolves guard Malik Beasley at the end
of the third quarter that brought the Memphis crowd to their feet.
Morant later said he was “not that excited”
by the dunk, but added: “It definitely ignited the crowd and that gave us some
energy.”
The Grizzlies’ come-from-behind win was too
close for comfort for Morant though.
“Me personally, I’m tired of it, tired of
playing from behind,” he said. “Last three games we haven’t played our
basketball.”
Morant, who also had 13 rebounds and nine
assists, was backed with a 25-point display from
Desmond Bane while Brandon
Clarke added 21 points with 15 rebounds.
In Tuesday’s other game, Western Conference
top seeds Phoenix returned to winning ways with an emphatic 112-97 win over New
Orleans in Arizona to take a 3–2 series lead.
Mikal Bridges led the way for Phoenix with 31
points and five rebounds while Chris Paul added 22 points with 11 assists.
“Hell of a win tonight,” Bridges said. “We
stayed together to get the win, now we’ve got to go and get another one.”
The win marked a return to form for
Phoenix,
who had been erratic over the opening four games of the series against the
eighth-seeded Pelicans.
“They’ve been playing harder than us so we
knew we’d have to come out tonight and play harder than them,” Bridges said.
Game six in the series takes place in New Orleans on
Thursday.
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