Jaylen Brown and Derrick White every scored 25 factors and the Boston Celtics superior to the Japanese Convention semifinals, beating the short-handed Miami Warmth 118-84 in Recreation 5 on Wednesday night time.
Boston will face the winner of the Cleveland-Orlando sequence. The Cavaliers lead 3-2, with Recreation 6 in Orlando on Friday night time.
Brown additionally had six assists, and White hit 5 3-pointers. Sam Hauser added 17 factors and Jayson Tatum had 16 factors and 12 rebounds, The highest-seeded Celtics by no means trailed and led by 37 factors. In addition they received a measure of revenge a yr after the Warmth routed them in Recreation 7 of the convention finals in Boston.
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Bam Adebayo scored 23 factors and Tyler Herro had 15 for Miami, which made its first exit from the playoffs previous to the convention finals since 2021. The Warmth struggled all through, going 3 of 29 from 3-point vary.
MAVERICKS 123, CLIPPERS 93
Luka Doncic scored 20 of his 35 factors within the second half and added 10 assists and 7 rebounds, propelling Dallas to a victory over the Los Angeles Clippers in Recreation 5 and a 3-2 lead of their first-round sequence.
Maxi Kleber hit 5 3-pointers and Kyrie Irving added 14 factors for the Mavericks, who clamped down on the Clippers defensively and gained decisively in Los Angeles for the second time within the sequence. Dallas moved to the brink of its first playoff sequence victory since 2022 and solely its third since profitable the NBA title in 2011.
Doncic is taking part in on a sprained proper knee that restricted him at instances within the sequence, however the Slovenian celebrity clearly received extra snug and extra harmful as Recreation 5 went on. He had 14 factors within the third quarter whereas the Mavs stretched their result in 25 and ultimately took an 89-69 benefit into the fourth, the place the Clippers by no means threatened to do an imitation of Dallas’ rally again from a 31-point deficit in Recreation 4.
Recreation 6 is Friday night time in Dallas. If needed, Recreation 7 will probably be again in Los Angeles on Sunday.