After flaming out in the first round of last year’s NBA playoffs, the Miami Heat have gotten past the Atlanta Hawks in five games to return to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Team leader Jimmy Butler had a simple message on social media after Miami’s 97-94 victory on Tuesday.
Butler missed the contest with a sore knee, and the Heat were also without starting point guard Kyle Lowry, who has a hamstring issue.
Miami took a double-digit lead late in the second quarter by virtue of a monster 17-0 run, and it maintained a solid lead into the fourth period.
But then the Hawks started to take flight, and they threatened to send the series back to Georgia for a sixth game. De’Andre Hunter, almost by himself, kept Atlanta’s hopes alive by scoring 35 points on 11-of-21 shooting and grabbing 11 rebounds.
But what ultimately did the Hawks in was Trae Young’s inability to hit the broad side of a barn. He went just 2-of-12 from the field and 0-of-5 from 3-point range, continuing a trend that lasted for much of the series.
The Heat will move on to take on either the Philadelphia 76ers or Toronto Raptors in the next round of the postseason. Joel Embiid and crew took a 3-0 lead in that matchup, but the young Raptors have taken the last two games to make things interesting.
Miami will also get several days of rest before starting its next series, which will allow Butler and Lowry to recover and increase their chances of being able to play in Game 1.