Heat KO Hawks in Game 5 • Morant’s last-second layup lifts Grizzlies

Victor Oladipo scored 23 points and Bam Adebayo posted 20 points and made a key defensive play as the Miami Heat held off the visiting Atlanta Hawks for a series-clinching 97-94 victory in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference’s first round Tuesday night.

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 semifinals Monday night 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 halftime 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 postseason 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 didn’t have a field goal in the last 41/2 minutes of the half, with Hunter’s two free throws with 3.2 seconds before halftime halting Miami’s scoring run.

The Hawks recovered enough to close within 79-76 with 8:14 remaining on Onyeka Okongwu’s threepoint 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.

Grizzlies 111, Timberwolves 109

Ja Morant scored 18 of his gamehigh 30 points in the fourth quarter, including a tiebreaking layup in the final second, and Memphis beat Minnesota to take a 3-2 lead in their first-round Western Conference playoff series.

Morant’s driving basket under duress as time expired capped a whirlwind final 2:01 in which the 2021/22 NBA Most Improved Player scored the Grizzlies’ final 11 points.

Memphis will try to wrap up the best-of-seven series in Minneapolis on Friday.

With Minnesota up by two and 1:03 to play, Memphis’ Brandon Clarke – who finished with 21 points and a game-high 15 rebounds coming off the bench – tipped the carom off a missed Tyus Jones three-point attempt out to Morant at the top of the key.

Morant’s ensuing three-pointer was his first made attempt from beyond the arc on the night, and it gave Memphis its first lead since the late first quarter. The Timberwolves built an advantage of as many as 13 points in the second half, including in the fourth quarter when Karl-Anthony Towns connected on one of his five made three-pointers on seven attempts.

Towns finished with team highs of 28 points and 12 rebounds while also recording three steals and two blocked shots.

After Towns’ three-pointer pushed Minnesota ahead 92-79 with 9:38 left, Memphis dominated the rest of the fourth quarter.

Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane scored 25 points and blocked three shots. Morant also contributed 13 rebounds, nine assists and three steals.

Jaden McDaniels’ defensive rebound gave the Timberwolves another chance to retake the lead, but Clarke successfully contested D’Angelo Russell’s fallaway jumper. Morant subsequently sank two free throws for a three-point lead with 8.2 seconds to go.

Anthony Edwards, who sank a game-tying 3-pointer with 3.7 seconds to go, the last basket of his 22-point night.

Morant’s lay-in on the other end broke the tie.

Suns 112, Pelicans 97

Mikal Bridges scored 31 points and Chris Paul added 22 points and 11 assists as host Phoenix defeated New Orleans to take a 3-2 lead in their Western Conference first-round playoff series.

Deandre Ayton scored 19 points and Cameron Payne had 12 before fouling out for the top-seeded Suns, who can end the series with a victory in New Orleans on Thursday night.

Bridges made 4-of-4 three-point attempts and Payne made 2-of-3 as Phoenix hit 10-of-27 from beyond the arc compared to 5 of 25 for the Pelicans.

Brandon Ingram scored 22 points, CJ McCollum had 21, Jonas Valanciunas had 17 points and 14 rebounds and Jose Alvarado scored 12 to lead eighth-seeded New Orleans.

The Suns, who had been outscored in the third quarter of each of the previous games and by an average of 11 points, played much better coming out of halftime.

Bridges made two three-pointers and Crowder made one as Phoenix extended its 13-point halftime lead to 78-60 midway through the third.

Valanciunas scored six points to help New Orleans get within eight before Payne’s 3-pointer gave the Suns an 89-78 lead at the end of the period.

Phoenix twice built the lead to 13 points before Alvarado’s three-pointer pulled the Pelicans within seven midway through the fourth quarter.

Paul had a basket and two free throws as the Suns pushed the lead to 104-93 with 3:27 remaining. New Orleans made just one field goal in the final 5:22. (Reuters)