Miami Heat overcame the absences of Kyle Lowry and Jimmy Butler to hold off Trae Young and the Hawks to reach the NBA’s Eastern Conference semi-finals.
Victor Oladipo scored 23 points for the Heat and Bam Adebayo added 20 points and 11 rebounds, as they moved into Round 2 of the playoffs by closing out the Atlanta Hawks 97-94 at home in five games.
Their stifling defense once again held Young to just 11 points in what turned out to be the final game.
Miami Heat swarmed Young from the start of Game 1 to the end of Game 5, holding Atlanta’s most potent scorer to just a 15.4-point average in the series on 32% shooting.
Young also had as many assists as he had turnovers – 30 in each case.
Tyler Herro added a valuable 16, Max Strus scored 15 and Caleb Martin added 10 for the top-seeded Heat who have the home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.
Young went 2 for 12 from the floor, scoring just 11 points. De’Andre Hunter scored 35 for Atlanta with Kevin Huerter and Danilo Gallinari adding 12 points apiece.
Hunter fouled out with 41.6 seconds left with Miami clinging to a three-point lead at the time.
The Hawks got a stop, taking over with 29.2 seconds remaining, and retained possession after a missed shot from Gallinari went out of bounds off Miami.
The Hawks never got another shot off as time expired and Miami moved on.
The Miami Heat get nearly a week off before facing either Philadelphia or Toronto in the East semis.
Game 1 will be Monday in Miami (EST).
