NEWSLETTER
Ja Morant was soul-snatching in Memphis last night, and Mikal Bridges turned in the performance of a career in Phoenix. But, first, down went Atlanta.
Heat 97, Hawks 94
Series: MIA WINS 4-1
Even with Jimmy Butler sidelined last night, the Miami Heat were too much for the Atlanta Hawks as they punched their ticket to the second round of the NBA Playoffs. Bam Adebayo’s 20-point, 11-rebound double-double paced Miami in the clincher.
Bam went Bam on Atlanta in the series clincher pic.twitter.com/eh8NbVL6wV
— Miami HEAT (@MiamiHEAT) April 27, 2022
Victor Oladipo scored 23 points for Miami, starting in place of the injured Jimmy Butler, and Max Strus added 15 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals as the former DePaul Blue Demon continued to play a crucial role for the Heat.
For Atlanta, the story of their demise was Miami’s defensive domination of Trae Young. He had yet another miserable game on Tuesday night, scoring just 11 points on 2-12 shooting and 0-5 from deep. De’Andre Hunter did his best to pick up the slack by scoring 35 points and grabbing 11 rebounds for Atlanta, but it wasn’t enough.
Atlanta needed its All-Star to show up to have a chance to upset the Heat in this series, and it didn’t happen. That was the simple difference in a relatively easy series victory for Miami.
Grizzlies 111, Timberwolves 109
Series: MEM leads 3-2
Ja Morant, folks.
Ja Morant🤯#NBAPlayoffs presented by Google Pixel on TNT pic.twitter.com/rZA73F13Cr
— NBA (@NBA) April 27, 2022
Ja Morant took Malik Beasley’s soul on that thunderous third-quarter dunk before taking the rest of the team’s soul on this game-winning drive and score at the rim. The Grizzlies have now taken a 3-2 lead in the series with the next battle set for Friday in Minnesota.
WHAT A FINISH.
JA MORANT WINS GAME 5 FOR THE GRIZZLIES 😱 pic.twitter.com/0xlpwHg4fN
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 27, 2022
Morant was on another level in the fourth quarter as he scored the final 13 points and willed the Grizzlies to a huge victory. The NBA’s Most Improved Player scored 30 points and logged 13 rebounds and 9 assists as he narrowly missed a triple-double.
Desmond Bane scored 25 points and Brandon Clarke added 21 points for the Grizzlies in their Game 5 victory. Meanwhile, Karl-Anthony Towns led Minnesota with 28 points and 12 rebounds, and Anthony Edwards added 22 points. The T-Wolves shot 14-33 from three-point range and 21-24 from the charity stripe, but it wasn’t enough to top the furious run by Ja Morant and the Grizz down the stretch.
Suns 112, Pelicans 97
Series: PHX leads 3-2
With Devin Booker out for the series with a hamstring injury, the Suns needed two things to take control of their series with the Pelicans: (1) Chris Paul to play much better than he did in Phoenix’s Game 4 loss in New Orleans, and (2) someone else to step up and fill Booker’s shoes. Phoenix got both last night.
Chris Paul scored 22 points and logged 11 assists and 6 rebounds while picking up 3 steals. Then, there was Mikal Bridges, who had possibly the best game of his career. Bridges led all scorers with 31 points and added 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 blocks, and a steal while shooting 12-17 from the floor and 4-4 from three-point land.
Bridges was all over the floor, and not only did he shoot the lights out, but he also stifled New Orleans’ offense by holding his defensive matchups to seven points on 3-17 shooting, per StatMuse.
Mikal Bridges took and defended the same amount of shots tonight (17).
He made 12/17 for 31 points.
The players he guarded made 3/17 for 7 points. pic.twitter.com/yux5wmrCnm
— StatMuse (@statmuse) April 27, 2022
Deandre Ayton added 19 points and 9 rebounds on 8-13 shooting in the winning effort for the Suns, who now own a 3-2 advantage in the series with New Orleans.
Brandon Ingram scored 22 points and CJ McCollum added 21 points and 8 rebounds in the losing effort. The series heads back to New Orleans with the Pelicans now facing elimination on Thursday night.
