NBA: Miami Heat hold off Atlanta Hawks 97-94, reaches Eastern Conference semifinals

Victor Oladipo scored 23 points, Bam Adebayo added 20 points and 11 rebounds, and the Miami Heat moved into the Eastern Conference semifinals by beating the Atlanta Hawks 97-94 on Tuesday night.

Tyler Herro scored 16, Max Strus scored 15 and Caleb Martin added 10 for the top-seeded Heat, who ousted the eighth-seeded Hawks in five games. And Miami got the series-clincher without Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry, both of whom sat out Tuesday with injuries.

Also read: NBA: Mavericks take 3-2 lead in Playoffs, Jazz survive with dim hope

Trae Young’s rough series for Atlanta remained that way: He finished 2 for 12 from the floor, scoring just 11 points. For the series, the Hawks’ guard shot 32% against Miami’s swarming defence.

De’Andre Hunter scored 35 for Atlanta, which got 12 apiece from Kevin Huerter and Danilo Gallinari.

Also read: NBA: Raptors thrash 76ers, force Playoff game 6 at home

Hunter fouled out with 41.6 seconds left, 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, time expired and Miami moved on.

Also read: NBA: Boston Celtics clear Playoff with clean sweep against Brooklyn Nets

Onyeka Okongwu’s three-point play got Atlanta within 79-76 early in the fourth, the Hawks clawing back after being down by as many as 15.

But Herro hit a high-arcing jumper from the lane, Miami got a stop, and Oladipo hit a left-wing 3 on the next Heat possession to push the lead back to eight with 7:29 remaining.

Also read: NBA: Pelicans rout Suns without Devin Booker, Playoff tied at 2-2

That’s how the final minutes went: Atlanta made a charge, Miami would hold it off, all the way to the end.

And now, the Heat get nearly a week off before facing either Philadelphia or Toronto in the East semis. Game 1 will be Monday in Miami.

Also read: NBA: Nuggets ‘live to fight another day’, beat Warriors for 3-1 Playoff tally

The Heat already knew they’d be without Lowry, who missed his second consecutive game with a strained left hamstring. The surprise was Butler, who reported knee soreness to the team on Monday and didn’t see enough improvement to play on Tuesday.

It was the fourth time the Heat had to play without both Butler and Lowry this season, after going 1-2 in that scenario during the regular season — one of those losses being the finale in Orlando where Miami sat most of its rotation players.