Butler, Heat crush 76ers
Jimmy Butler scored 23 points, Max Strus added 19 points and 10 rebounds, and the Miami Heat moved one win away from a trip to the Eastern Conference finals by topping the Philadelphia 76ers 120-85 on Tuesday night.
Victor Oladipo scored 13 for Miami, which got 12 from Bam Adebayo and 10 apiece from Tyler Herro and P.J. Tucker. The top-seeded Heat now lead the East semifinal series 3-2, and improved to an Nba-best 6-0 at home in these playoffs.
Joel Embiid scored 17 points for fourth-seeded Philadelphia, which got 14 from James Harden and 12 from Tobias Harris. The 76ers were down by 15 going into the fourth, then gave up 12 consecutive points to open the final quarter. Game 6 is in Philadelphia on Thursday. It was a tough night all the way around for the Sixers, especially for Embiid — their best player, already wearing a mask to protect a facial fracture and dealing with a significant thumb injury.
Embiid got shaken up in the first quarter when he tried to dive into some baseline seats while attempting to save a loose ball. He remained in the game after that scare.
He also remained in the game after the next scare, which was much worse.
It came midway through the second quarter, when Miami’s Dewayne Dedmon missed a shot and Embiid grabbed the rebound. Dedmon, flailing for the ball, made contact with it — and wound up pushing it back into Embiid’s mask-covered face.
Embiid lost the ball and went down in pain, and remained there for several moments, before making his way back to the Philadelphia bench and getting tended to by doctors.
Note: All-star guard Ja Morant is doubtful for the remainder of the NBA postseason after an MRI and further evaluation revealed a bone bruise in his injured right knee. Morant reinjured his knee on a play with the Warriors’ Jordan Poole that the teams debated during the Grizzlies’ 142-112 loss in Game 3. Memphis trails in the series, 3-1.
WNBA
Fever 82, Lynx 76: Kelsey Mitchell scored 26 points, Crystal Dangerfield had 10 points and six assists against her former team and Indiana beat Minnesota. Dangerfield, who was waived by Minnesota a week ago, made a jumper from the free-throw line to extend Indiana’s lead to 76-72 with 2:26 left and added two free throws to seal it.
Mystics 89, Aces 76: Elena Delle Donne scored 12 of her 19 points in the second half, Myisha Hines-allen had 15 points, eight rebounds and eight assists and the Washington Mystics used a big third quarter to beat Las Vegas.