FLORIDA – Bam Adebayo was a dominant force inside as Miami Heat opened their NBA Eastern Conference semifinals series with a 106-92 beating of Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night (Tuesday in the Philippines) at the FTX Arena in Miami, Florida.
With 76ers center Joel Embiid out due to orbital fracture and concussion, Adebayo feasted inside as he finished with double-double 24 points and 12 rebounds as the Heat took a 1-0 lead in the series.
Tyler Herro scored 25 points, including four outside conversions, Jimmy Butler added 15 points, while Gabe Vincent and P.J. Tucker got 10 markers each for Miami.
With Embiid out and James Harden tightly guarded by Tucker, Miami went on a 10-2 blast in the opening half for a 37-24 lead before surrendering a 51-50 lead to the 76ers at the half.
The Heat regained the lead at 62-61 in the third canto on an Adebayo dunk before pulling away for good after dropping 10-0 and later 13-2 scoring runs for their biggest lead of 98-77.
Tobias Harris scored 27 points to lead Philadelphia, Tyrese Maxey chipped in 19 markers, while Harden was limited to 16 points to go with nine rebounds and five assists.
Phoenix Suns, for its part, kicked off its NBA Western Conference semifinals series with Dallas Mavericks with a 121-114 triumph at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.
Deandre Ayton, Devin Booker and Chris Paul set the tone on offense with a quick 35-25 start before maintaining the advantage that reached 96-77 in the third quarter.
The Suns were still up by double-digits late in the fourth quarter before the Mavericks came up with a late rally but managed to only cut the deficit to 114-119.
Ayton top-scored for the Suns with 25 points to go with eight rebounds, Booker chipped in 23 markers, while Paul and Cameron Johnson contributed 19 and 17, respectively.
Luka Doncic led the Mavericks with 45 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists, while Maxi Kleber, Dorian Finney-Smith and Jalen Brunson had 19, 15 and 13, respectively.
BOX SCORE:
MIAMI 106 — Herro 25, Adebayo 24, Butler 15, Vincent 10, Tucker 10, Martin 6, Yurtseven 6, Strus 5, Oladipo 5, Dedmon 0.
PHILADELPHIA 92 — Harris 27, Maxey 19, Harden 16, Korkmaz 9, Green 5, Jordan 4, Reed 4, Milton 4, Thybulle 2, Bassey 2, Millsap 0, Niang 0, Joe 0.
Quarterscores: 30-22, 50-51, 80-72, 106-92./PN
