(Basketball news) Miami Heat progressed to the next round of the playoffs after they beat the Atlanta Hawks 97-94. For the Heats, Victor Oladipo scored 23 points, Bam Adebayo added 20 points and 11 rebounds as Tyler Herro scored 16, Max Strus scored 15 and Caleb Martin added 10 points. For the Hawks, Young went 2 for 12 from the floor, scoring just 11 points. De'Andre Hunter scored 35 points, while  Kevin Huerter and Danilo Gallinari got 12 apiece. With this result the Heat’s win the series 4-1 to become the second team to reach the 2nd round of playoffs.

''The biggest thing about this game was our defense,'' Adebayo said.

''They're a good defensive team,'' Young said. ''Their team is more of a system than who they have on their team. No matter who they have out there, they can play. … And when they've got a guy that they're targeting and trying to take away, they do a really good job of doing that.''

''They are a hell of a team,'' Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. ''Those guys compete every second that they're out on the floor and I have a great deal of respect for how they play.'

''We're all committed to the same goal,'' Strus said.

''I thought it was fitting that we had to get this game with a stop at the end,'' Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.

The Phoenix Suns took the lead in the 7 game series against the New Orleans Pelicans as they beat them 112-97 in game number 5. For the Suns, Bridges scored 31 points and blocked four shots in arguably the best game of this pro career as Chris Paul added 22 points and 11 assists, bouncing back from a subpar performance in Game 4. Deandre Ayton added 19 points and nine rebounds. For the Pelicans, Brandon Ingram scored 22 points and CJ McCollum added 21 for New Orleans, which was hurt by a slow start and 15 turnovers. With this result the Suns are just a win away from securing this series and progressing into the next round of playoffs as they are 3-2 up currently in the series.

''I'm ready to play tomorrow,'' Bridges said with a big grin at the postgame news conference. ''I'm energized, my teammates keep me going. I'm itching my knee right now, talking about it. I'm ready, I love being out there with my teammates. They're my best friends, it makes it way easier.''

''I just thought that we made some timely mistakes, starting with the turnovers,'' Pelicans coach Willie Green said. ''Fifteen turnovers for 23 points, that fuels their team and that fuels their transition opportunities. That is an area where we know we have to be better.''

''He doesn't miss games, he guards the best players every night and then he has 31,'' Paul said

''We have to change the way we start a game and come out with energy,'' Pelicans center Jonas Valanciunas said. ''If we didn't have that struggle in the first half, it would have been a different game.

The Memphis Grizzlies beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 111-110 to take the lead in the series 3-2. For the Grizzlies, Morant scored the last 13 points for Memphis, and his layup with a second left capped the Grizzlies' big rally from 11 points down in the fourth quarter to edge the Minnesota Timberwolves as Morant finished with 30 and had 13 rebounds and nine assists. Desmond Bane added 25 points, and Brandon Clarke had 21 off the bench for Memphis, and Jaren Jackson Jr. added 12 before fouling out. For the Timberwolves, Karl-Anthony Towns led the Timberwolves with 28 points and 12 rebounds. Anthony Edwards had 22, and D'Angelo Russell added 12 and Taurean Prince 10.

''Go get a bucket. Ja,'' Morant said of the game-winning play’

''Obviously, he had a brilliant fourth quarter,'' Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins said.

''It's a tough pill to swallow,'' Towns said. ''You feel like you got it after all the mistakes made and everything like that. We hit a big 3 to tie the game up with 4 seconds (left). You feel good. You feel good about going into overtime and having a chance to win the game. Just a learning experience.''

''Thank God that you're as good as you are because we had just fought so hard,'' Clarke said. ''And hit a really tough 3. And I was just like, it's fine, though, because we got 12 and we got a player that can make a really, really big-time finish. And I was like, `Yeah, thank God that we got you, man.'''

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