Heat complete sweep to reach second round
Bam Adebayo got his first playoff series win, but the big man wasn’t planning on celebrating for too long.
He planned to give himself about 21⁄2 hours to enjoy the Miami Heat’s 99-87 victory Monday over the Indiana Pacers before turning his attention to the Eastern Conference semifinals and a possible date with the topseeded Milwaukee Bucks.
“100% I think we can get to another gear,” Adebayo said. “And that’s everybody here. This next series might be different. We might need to have different schemes.”
Goran Dragic scored 23 points, Adebayo had 14 points and 19 rebounds, and the fifth-seeded Heat completed a sweep and made it out of the first round for the first time since 2016.
Miami guard Jimmy Butler left the game in the first quarter with a left shoulder strain but returned after halftime and finished with six points in 23 minutes, although he made a handful of big plays on defense.
Butler said the shoulder was bothering him before the game.
“I was hoping it would cool down, but it didn’t,” Butler said. “I’ll be OK.”
Victor Oladipo had 25 points for the Pacers, who have been bounced in the first round of the playoffs in five straight seasons.
Thunder 117, Rockets 114: Dennis Schroder scored a career playoff-high 30 points, and Oklahoma City rallied to tie the first-round series at two wins apiece.
The Thunder trailed by 15 points in the third quarter.
“I always believe we can turn it around,” Schroder said. “Just bring a little bit of energy, get stops as a team, take the good shots and we’ll be in good shape. We’ve been doing it all season.”
Bucks 121, Magic 106: Giannis Antetokounmpo had 31 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists and Khris
Middleton finally came alive with a huge fourth quarter as Milwaukee took a 3-1 series lead.
Middleton scored 18 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 10 rebounds after being held to one field goal in the first three quarters on one-fornine shooting.
Nikola Vucevic continued his strong play for Orlando, with 31 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.