Heat vs Hawks Game 5
97-94 Heat
Series 4-1 Heat
The Miami Heat are now the second team to advance in the 2022 NBA playoffs after gentlemen sweeping the Hawks. The Heat exposed the weakness of some of these lower ranked teams and that is if you can completely lock up their one superstar, then they have no one else who can win the game for them. Trae Young was pretty much swarmed every time he got the ball making it hard for him to score and create plays. Even though there were open guys for Atlanta, the Heat never took them as a serious threat and therefore continued to double or even triple cover Trae. This worked pretty much all series and ultimately got the Heat the win. The Heat are a hard team to predict how well they are going to do because unlike most teams in the playoff, they are more reliant team success over individual. What I mean is that they do not really have an elite scorer that can carry the offense. They instead spread out the scoring. If they are going to win their next series the rotation guys are going to need to step up and take some of the load off the starters.
| Hawks | Team Stats | Heat |
| 41.9 | Field Goal % | 45.1 |
| 32.0 | 3 Pointer % | 22.6 |
| 85.7 | Free Throw % | 76.2 |
| 42 | Total Rebounds | 33 |
| 15 | Assists | 19 |
| 2 | Blocks | 2 |
| 8 | Steals | 12 |
| 19 | Turnovers | 14 |
| 28 | Points in the Paint | 54 |
| 22 | Fouls | 25 |
Timberwolves vs Grizzlies Game 5
109-111 Grizzlies
Series 3-2 Grizzlies
The Memphis Grizzlies were able to make another huge comeback to get their third win in the series. In the closest series we have seen yet, it is very clear that both teams are not going to back down and are going to do whatever it takes to win this series. However, if the Timberwolves are going to win this series, then they need to figure out how to close games. If they had not blown all of their leads, the series would already be over. However, saying this is not entirely fair to the Grizzlies as they have repeatedly not backed down when the odds are stacked against them. Their performance in this series shows why they are the second seed in the West, because even when it does not look like they should, they win games. I hope that this develops into a great rivalry for years to come.
| Timberwolves | Team Stats | Grizzlies |
| 44.6 | Field Goal % | 41.5 |
| 42.4 | 3 Pointer % | 25.0 |
| 87.5 | Free Throw % | 66.7 |
| 42 | Total Rebounds | 53 |
| 23 | Assists | 24 |
| 7 | Blocks | 7 |
| 9 | Steals | 10 |
| 22 | Turnovers | 16 |
| 38 | Points in the Paint | 62 |
| 29 | Fouls | 19 |
Suns vs. Pelicans Game 5
97-112 Suns
Series 3-2 Suns
The Suns came out strong earlier and never allowed the Pelicans to catchup. A good win for the Suns, one that they really need as most teams who win the 5th game in a tied series go on to win the entire series. However, the Suns are definitely not comfortable. What makes the Pelicans so deadly is that in the beginning they were a team that was playing like they had nothing to lose. Then Devin Booker got hurt which really evened out the star power for each team. Now the Pelicans are doing all they can to upset the leader in the West and it makes for a very exciting matchup. What I am most excited for is the return of Zion to this Pelicans team. If he can stay healthy this team will be legit for the next few years.
| Pelicans | Team Stats | Suns |
| 40.0 | Field Goal % | 50.0 |
| 20.0 | 3 Pointer % | 37.0 |
| 80.0 | Free Throw % | 80.0 |
| 47 | Total Rebounds | 40 |
| 14 | Assists | 28 |
| 5 | Blocks | 4 |
| 6 | Steals | 10 |
| 15 | Turnovers | 9 |
| 40 | Points in the Paint | 46 |
| 20 | Fouls | 25 |
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