Heat defeat Hawks, take 2-0 series lead
Heat 115, Hawks 105: Jimmy Butler scored a playoff career-high 45 points, including a personal 7-0 run in the final moments, and host Miami held off Atlanta in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference first-round series Tuesday night.
Tyler Herro scored 15 for Miami, while Max Strus scored 14 and Gabe Vincent added 11 for top-seeded Miami, which took a 2-0 lead over the eighthseeded Hawks.
Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 19 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter for Atlanta. Trae Young scored 25 for the Hawks, while De’Andre Hunter had 16 and John Collins finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Hawks.
Butler’s previous playoff best was 40, done twice, both in the bubble when the Heat made the 2020 NBA Finals. The Heat needed all of his heroics then, and they needed them all on Tuesday as well.
Bogdanovic’s 3-pointer with 3:15 left got Atlanta within 104-101.
From there, it was all Butler.
He had a dunk, a 3-pointer and another dunk – all in the span of 56 seconds – to turn things from in doubt to locked down, putting Miami up 10 with 1:20 remaining and ensuring the Heat would finish off the win.
“Just staying aggressive,” Butler said. “Taking what the defense gives me.”
As would be expected in a playoff series, pleasantries began being exchanged with more regularity. The first half featured 16 fouls by Atlanta and 14 by Miami – a season-high for the Hawks, one off the season-high for the Heat, and those 30 personals didn’t even include a double technical that Lowry and Hunter got for getting faceto-face.
Grizzlies 124, Timberwolves 96: Ja Morant scored 23 points and handed out 10 assists as host Memphis looked much more like the team that posted the NBA’s second-best record, routing Minnesota night to even up their firstround Western Conference series at 1 apiece.
Morant went to the bench with 4:40 left to a huge ovation. He finished a rebound shy of a triple-double. Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr. each added 16 with Jackson hitting 4 of 7 from 3point range as the Grizzlies finished with seven in double figures.
Brandon Clarke, Xavier Tillman Sr. and Ziaire Williams each had 13. Tyus
Jones added 10.
Game 3 is Thursday night in Minneapolis.
Anthony Edwards, who scored 36 points in his playoff debut in Game 1, led Minnesota with 20. All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns had 15 points and 11 rebounds. Naz Reid and Taurean Prince had 12 each off the bench, and D’Angelo Russell added 11.
The Timberwolves dominated the series opener after scoring a franchiserecord 41 points in the first quarter.
This time, officials stayed very busy calling 20 fouls in a very long first quarter.