The Boston Celtics have emerged as the favourites to make it through the Eastern Conference after a 116-112 win against the Brooklyn Nets confirmed a 4-0 series sweep.
In what was billed as arguably the most competitive first round series in recent memory, the Celtics were simply too good on the defensive end to let the frightening Nets offense find any rhythm or flow.
Boston's Jayson Tatum scored a team-high 29 points on nine-of-16 shooting (four-of-six from distance) before getting fouled out late in the fourth quarter, while Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart showed his offensive skills with 20 points and 11 assists.
Grant Williams did a superb job for the Celtics, coming off the bench to hit four of his six three point attempts, while also playing smothering defense on Kevin Durant and swatting away three shots.
Despite Williams' best efforts, Durant was still a force offensively, scoring a game-high 39 points on 13-of-31 shooting while adding nine assists and seven rebounds in 47 minutes.
Kyrie Irving played 45 minutes, and finished with a respectable line of 20 points, five rebounds and five assists, but he went missing for long stretches of the must-win game. Irving attempted just 13 shots, which was the same number as Seth Curry, who outscored him with 23 points.
An early storyline in the game, and ultimately one of the deciding factors, was Brooklyn's reserve center Nic Claxton missing the first 10 free throws he attempted, finishing the game one-for-11.
Raptors make things interesting
The Toronto Raptors refuse to lay down against the Philadelphia 76ers, winning Game 5 103-88 on the road to pull the series back to 3-2, with Game 6 heading back to Canada.
Toronto trailed 3-0 after three games, but have won back-to-back fixtures with their season on the line to put the pressure back on Philadelphia.
Game 5 was won on the defensive end, as the Raptors took control of the contest with a 25-14 second quarter.
Toronto forced 16 Philadelphia turnovers while only committing nine themselves, and they held the home side to 38 per cent shooting (31-of-81), with the visitors shooting 51 per cent (42-of-82).
With Fred VanVleet out of action, Pascal Siakam assumed point guard duties for Toronto, finishing with 23 points (10-of-17 shooting) with 10 rebounds and seven assists, while Precious Achiuwa added 17 points, seven rebounds and three blocks in 27 minutes off the bench.
Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes showed his talent in his return to the starting line up, scoring 12 points, grabbing eight rebounds, dishing four assists and snatching a game-high three steals.
For the 76ers, Joel Embiid was kept quiet by his standards with 20 points and 11 rebounds from just 15 field goal attempts as the Raptors consistently double-teamed him and forced Philadelphia's role players to hit shots.
James Harden was disappointing, with just 15 points and seven assists to go with five turnovers.
No NBA team has ever come back from a 3-0 series deficit.
Dallas' defense hits new heights
The last game of the night was also the least competitive, as the Dallas Mavericks flashed some unbelievable defensive upside in a 102-77 win against the Utah Jazz.
Prior to the game, Utah's lowest score of the season was a 124-90 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans in March, with the 77-point figure being their lowest score since November 2018 – in a 118-68 loss to the Mavericks.
Dallas now leads the series 3-2, with Game 6 to be played in Utah, and while the Mavs' defense stole the show, Luka Doncic was the best player on the floor.
Doncic had 33 points (11-of-22 shooting) in 33 minutes, with 13 rebounds and five assists, while partner-in-crime Jalen Brunson chipped in with 24 points on nine-of-20 shooting with four assists and just one turnover.
Utah only scored more than 19 points in one quarter – the last, when the game was sealed – as the Mavericks won the first three frames by margins of 24-18, 28-18 and 29-19.
It was the lowest-scoring game of Donovan Mitchell's playoff career, finishing with just nine points on four-of-15 shooting. Of Mitchell's four career playoff games with 12 points or fewer, this was the first since April 2019.
Ingram: Pels proved they can beat the best by downing the Clippers
Brandon Ingram said the New Orleans Pelicans proved they can contend with the best in the NBA as he continued his hot streak to earn a huge win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Ingram scored 25 points or more for the ninth straight outing, putting up 36 in a 122-114 victory that leaves the Pelicans just one game back of the sixth-placed Clippers in the West.
Getting into the top six would mean the Pelicans avoid the play-in tournament in the playoffs.
"If you want to be the best, you've got to go against the best and you've got to beat them," Ingram said.
"That's one of the things that was in my head tonight, just trying to get this win."
Asked about his impressive form, Ingram said: "It's just manoeuvring a little bit, seeing what's open, seeing what spot I can get to on the floor, not forcing the game.
"That’s the biggest thing – seeing what's the best shot for the team, but also making sure that I stay aggressive."
Team-mates CJ McCollum and Trey Murphy III put up 19 apiece, and the former paid tribute to Ingram's ability to make the clutch shots in key moments.
"Those are I'm-just-better-than-you shots," McCollum said.
"He's relying on his skill set and his comfort level. Regardless of analytics and what's considered a good shot, that's a great shot for him."
Kawhi Leonard put up 40 points for the Clippers, who have now lost back-to-back games.
"We just have to give credit to them as they played amazing. Ingram played great," Leonard said.
A win is a win – Butler relieved to end losing streak as Heat boost playoff prospects
Jimmy Butler said the win is all that matters as the Miami Heat boosted their playoffs standing, while simultaneously damaging the Dallas Mavericks' own postseason hopes.
The Heat entered Saturday's contest with a three-game losing streak, but fought for a 129-122 victory at the FTX Arena.
That was despite the slumping Mavericks shooting at 61 per cent, marking only the second time the franchise has ever lost when shooting at least 60 per cent including the playoffs (30-2 all time).
Butler led the way with 35 points and 12 assists, while Cody Zeller (20 points), Kevin Love, Max Strus (both 18) and Tyler Herro (15) all contributed.
The Heat are seventh in the East, have a three-game buffer over the Atlanta Hawks for the final play-in spot, and are only a game back of the Brooklyn Nets in sixth to avoid the play-in altogether – although, due to a superior head-to-head record, the Nets only need to go 3-2 at the end of the season to hold on.
After the game Butler, said: "A win is a win.
"I don't like the fact that they shot 61 per cent, but I do like the fact that we finally won a game."
Head coach Erik Spoelstra added: "I wouldn't necessarily have drawn it up this way."
The Mavericks, like the Heat, made the Conference Finals last season but find themselves in a real battle just to make the postseason this time around.
Defeat leaves them 11th in the West, one game back of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Luka Doncic was once again impressive with 42 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, with Tim Hardaway Jr (31) and Kyrie Irving (23) adding heftily to the tally.
But head coach Jason Kidd was not impressed with his team's performance at the other end of the court.
"Our defense was non-existent. Couldn't get stops," he said.
Hardaway Jr tried to rally his teammates, saying: "[We've] just got to play hard, play with desperation and anything can happen. Anything can happen."
St Louis' perfect start ended by Minnesota, Bernardeschi nets Olimpico for Toronto
Expansion franchise St Louis City's perfect start to their inaugural MLS season was ended by Minnesota United who triumphed 1-0 after Luis Amarilla's 78th-minute penalty on Saturday.
City had made MLS history by winning their first five games but that was ended by the Loons with Amarilla drilling home the spot kick after a needless challenge by Kyle Hiebert.
Hiebert brought down Amarilla just inside the box with a rash tackle when Jakob Nerwinski appeared to have Kervin Arriaga's wayward pass under control.
Substitute Samuel Adeniran came closest to equalising for St Louis, with a 95th-minute shot going over the bar after a great first touch from Klauss' right-wing cut back.
St Louis remain top of the table with 15 points from six games, but unbeaten Minnesota climb up to fourth in the Western Conference.
Cincinnati continued their impressive start to the season with a 1-0 home triumph over Inter Miami who slumped to their fourth straight defeat.
Yerson Mosquera scored the 45th-minute winner for Cincy, who are top of the Eastern Conference.
Giorgos Giakoumakis scored an early winner as Atlanta United moved up to second in the East with a 1-0 home win over New York Red Bulls, who are down in 12th in that conference.
Jordan Morris and Leo Chu scored first-half goals as Seattle Sounders stayed second in the West with a 2-1 victory at LA Galaxy, who are without a win and have only three points from five games.
LAFC remained unbeaten and third in the West despite a 0-0 draw at the winless Colorado Rapids, while SJ Earthquakes climbed to fifth with a 2-1 victory over Houston Dynamo with all three goals coming from penalties.
Vancouver Whitecaps snapped a run of three straight draws with a resounding 5-0 win over 10-man Montreal with Simon Becher scoring a double. Becher is the fastest player (87 minutes) in MLS history to score his first four goals.
Franck Boli rescued a 1-1 draw for Portland Timbers at Dallas, Chicago Fire and DC United drew 0-0 and Nashville triumphed 2-0 at Orlando City.
Federico Bernardeschi netted another spectacular goal with a strike straight from a corner in Toronto's 2-2 home draw with Charlotte.
Sporting KC remained winless after a 0-0 draw at Philadelphia Union, New England drew 1-1 with New York City and Real Salt Lake suffered their fourth straight loss, going down 4-0 to Columbus Crew.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
