The 2022 Heat-Hawks playoff series will forever be etched in the memory of Trae Young, a star player who was minimized to the extreme of caricature by a spectacular rival defense. Miami knocks out the Hawks, winning by a resounding 4-1.
Heat showed up in Game 5 without Jimmy Butler y Kyle Lowrydespite which he came out unscathed in a tight ending thanks to his successful defense.
With the score at 97-94, Atlanta attacked to seek extra time, but the team from Nate McMillan was unable to generate a 3-point shot because Miami’s exemplary defense advanced their lines to deny the 3-pointer, forcing Danilo Gallinari to launch a shot of 2 and also quite forced, a shot that missed.
That shot involved a fight for the rebound that ended with the ball off the court. Ball for the Hawks, Heat requested a review that was useless, Atlanta served to tie with 5.2 seconds to play, but again the local defense crossed their path, this time twice. On the first attempt Hawks had to call a timeout as he had no passing lane on serve; and in the second the ball went to the corner to Danilo Gallinari, who lost it because he could do little else in that situation.
Yes, Gallinari missed a shot of 2 and lost a ball in the last seconds, but there is little to blame the Italian, because in reality it was all due to the Miami defense and only Gallo had the courage to try to change the situation in the face of inability group of their peers.
Atlanta lived from De’Andre Hunterwho scored a great game with 35 points and 11 rebounds and who was the architect of the score going from 95-86 to 95-93 in the final stretch, but Hunter ended up eliminated in the last minute by committing his sixth foul and with his loss dashed much of the visitors’ hopes.
Miami dominated the game but ended up suffering. He came into the break 54-42 after leading 54-40 thanks to a 17-0 run in which Max Strus He scored 10 points in a row in 67 seconds. And then, already in the third quarter, Miami took a 15 lead (67-52), which did not prevent them from going through a lot of trouble at the end of the match.
Heat went to the conference semifinals and is waiting to meet their rival, which will come from the winner of the Sixers-Raptors duel. For this he braided a whole defensive network that in the 5 games left Trae Young at the height of the bitumen.
Young made 3 games of 8, 9 and 11 points, in another of them he lost 10 balls and his averages in the series with Miami speak for themselves: 15.4 points, 6 assists, 6 turnovers and just 32% in the field shot. A real disaster. The disappearance of a star at the moment of truth.
those of Spoelstraon the contrary, they had an irrepressible Jimmy Butler in the series and today, without him, they had the best news, which was none other than the performance of Victor Oladipowho started and finished as the local top scorer with 23 points after playing 36 minutes.
Bam Adebayo he went to 20 points and 11 rebounds dominating the paint at will, Tyler Herro to 16 points and Strus to 15.
Atlanta, which lost 19 balls, only had the aforementioned Hunter and his 35 points. The Georgians did not have an inside game and suffered another anomalous night from their leader, Trae Young, who culminated his disastrous series with 11 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 6 turnovers and 2 of 12 shooting from the field (with 0 of 5 from triple).
Did not play Bogdan Bogdanovic due to physical problems, which was a hard blow for his family.
In short, Miami corroborates its great season by going to the next round and Atlanta confirms its bad season by staying out.