Depleted Heat pur away Hawks, Morant sinks Wolves in thriller

MIAMI: Victor Oladipo led the depleted Miami Heat to a series-clinching 97-94 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday as Ja Morant produced a dazzling late scoring spree to give Memphis a thrilling win over Minnesota in the NBA playoffs.

Miami, missing injured stars Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry, produced a superb defensive performance to shut down Atlanta and advance to an Eastern Conference semifinal series against either Philadelphia or Toronto.

Oladipo, who only returned to action in March after an 11-month injury layoff, was handed his first start of the playoffs by Heat coach Erik Spoelstra.

The 29-year-old two-time All-Star repaid that faith with a 23-point display alongside Bam Adebayo, who finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds.

The win marked a fairytale return to center stage for Oladipo, whose career has been decimated by injuries and surgeries over the past three years.

Oladipo was sidelined for nearly a year after undergoing surgery to repair a ruptured quadriceps tendon in May last year. He had undergone surgery to treat the same problem in January 2019.

"There's nothing I can't handle," Oladipo said after Tuesday's win.

"There's nothing I haven't gone through. At the end of the day I feel like I can come back and get through anything.

"So when they told me I needed to start tonight, I just stepped up to the plate and did everything I could to help my team win... this is only the beginning."

Adebayo took pride with a Miami defensive performance that restricted Hawks star Trae Young to just 11 points. De'Andre Hunter led the Atlanta scoring with 35 points.

"We knew it was going to be a fight to the end, we just had to finish it with our defense," Adebayo said. "Defense wins championships."

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