Except for the hesitation in the second game, Boston managed the series with an overview and in the fifth duel showed from the beginning that it was going for promotion. He won the first quarter by 18 points and did not lose once in the game. Gradually, his lead grew to 37 points. He didn’t mind the absence of key pivot Kristaps Porzingis, who was sidelined by a right foot injury from the last game.
Without its star Jimmy Butler, Miami couldn’t put up more resistance. Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro tried, but struggled with shooting success. The Heat, who made only three three-pointers in the game with a success rate of 10 percent, will not follow up on last year’s participation in the finals. On the contrary, Boston can already look for an opponent for the quarterfinals, which will come from the pair of Cleveland-Orlando. The Cavaliers are 3-2 in the games.
“Today we wanted to end it at all costs and go for promotion. And you could see that determination from the beginning,” said Jaylen Brown, who had 25 points in the win, as did Derrick White.
Dallas showed that he can defend very well and stopped all the stars of the Clippers. Conversely, on the Mavericks side, Luka Dončič shined, who has been a little overshadowed by teammate Kyrie Irving so far in the series. Today he scored 35 points, added 10 assists and led the team to a win. Irving didn’t have to push himself as much in the end and scored 14 points.
“I felt like I had to help Kyrie more, that I was leaving him too much alone for now. He kept us the whole series. It was up to me to take over,” said Dončič.
Dallas started running away from the opponent in the second quarter and the lead gradually increased to 32 points. Players from the bench, led by Jaden Hardy, who gave 14 points in five minutes on the court, also helped.
| NBA Playoffs Round 1: |
|---|
| Eastern Conference – Game 5: |
| Boston – Miami 118:84, the final state of the series 4:1 |
| Western Conference – Game 5: |
| LA Clippers – Dallas 93-123, series status 2-3. |
