The Memphis Grizzlies defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 111-109 in Game 5 of the NBA Western Conference first-round playoffs at FedExForum in Memphis on Tuesday, leading the series 3-2.

Ja Morant, who had not met most people's expectations in the previous four games of the series, gave his best performance on Tuesday night with an epic tomahawk dunk and a one-second game-winning layup.

The Grizzlies were struggling most of the time in the first three quarters. They kept missing shots, both at the 3-point line and free throw line. The team's best rim protector Jaren Jackson Jr. had his hands tied due to foul trouble. The whole team committed 14 turnovers and often failed to return to defense on time.

The Grizzlies already trailed by 13 points (85-72) with 11 seconds to go till the end of the third quarter. Then came Morant's dunk over Malik Beasley. Though it only cut their deficit by two, the play woke the whole team up. The Grizzlies had a 37-24 run in the fourth quarter, leading 21-12 in rebounds and 17-5 in free throw attempts.

Morant made his first and only 3-pointer at 1:02 in the final quarter, putting the Grizzlies back on top after trailing for three quarters of the game. Anthony Edwards' corner triple tied the game at 109-109 with 3.7 seconds to go. In the following possession, Morant dodged Edwards to receive the ball, drove toward the hoop, passed along Jarred Vanderbilt in the air and then put the ball into the basket with a double pump to take his team ahead 111-109.

The Timberwolves had no timeouts left after Morant's play and Karl-Anthony Towns' desperate back-court 3-pointer didn't even touch the board. He had a good game on offense after shooting 5-for-7 from downtown and making all nine free throws. However, he, Vanderbilt and Naz Reid failed to stop the Timberwolves from dominating the offensive rebounds 18-6. Brandon Clarke alone had nine offensive rebounds for the Grizzlies. Such difference resulted in a 17-point deficit in second-chance points by the Timberwolves.

Game 6 of the series will be at Target Center on Friday. If the Timberwolves want to put up the last resistance in Memphis instead of wrapping up their playoff journey at home, they must figure out how contain the opponents in the paint and transition offense.

Pelicans panic in front of experienced Suns

In another game, the Phoenix Suns beat the New Orleans Pelicans 112-97 in Game 5 of the NBA Western Conference first-round playoffs at Footprint Center in Phoenix on Tuesday to lead the series 3-2.

Having learnt his lesson from the lost Game 4, Chris Paul didn't pivot to scoring or orchestrating on Tuesday night. Instead, he passed to an open teammate when the Pelicans double-teamed him and launched  an attack by himself exploiting mismatch and screen. Paul had three, three, two and three assists as well as eight, eight, zero and six points in each of the four quarters respectively. In the third quarter Paul didn't score, Mikal Bridges and other teammates shared the scoring duty.

With Paul's well-managed involvement in the Suns' offense, though the team didn't outperform their opponents from the second to the fourth quarters as much as they did in the first one (32-20), they never allowed the lead to go below seven points. As the more experienced side of the matchup, the Suns held steady control of the pace in Tuesday's game until they sealed victory tight.

Of course, coach Monty Williams had a surprising trick for the Suns in the first quarter. They were leading 21-18 at 3:17 and then placed a "Twin Towers" squad that included DeAndre Ayton and JaVale McGee on the court. The Suns had a 11-2 run in the rest time of the quarter while the Pelicans committed four turnovers and missed two field goal (FG) attempts, scoring only two points via free throws.

Though putting two full-sized centers on the floor at the same time is rare in today's NBA, it shouldn't be magical enough to make the Pelicans perform like they did offensively in the last three minutes of the first quarter. In fact, committing four turnovers during that period was just an epitome of their sloppy running offense for the whole game. The Pelicans delivered only 14 assists in Game 5 at the cost of 15 turnovers.

What made things worse was their poor 3-point. The Pelicans hit 5-of-25 from downtown. Their players obviously hesitated much more than they did in Tuesday's game. Even though the ball movement only stalled for one second, it's long enough for the Suns to get ready defensively, not to mention how important rhythm is to shooting performance of C.J. McCollum and Brandon Ingram.

The Pelicans will return home to play Game 6 at Smoothie King Center on Thursday. The series is 3-2 instead of being over because the Pelicans have been doing surprisingly well exploiting their advantage in energy, size and athleticism. They must continue to do so and fight till the last second rather than scaring themselves to death.

Heat advance to East semifinals

The Miami Heat defeated the Atlanta Hawks 97-94 in Game 5 of the NBA Eastern Conference first-round playoffs at FTX Arena in Miami on Tuesday, winning the series 4-1 and reaching the East semifinals first.

The Heat are waiting for the winner between the Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors. The 76ers currently lead 3-2 but the Raptors have won the last two games.

Both Jimmy Butler and Kyle Lowry sat out Tuesday's game, leaving Victor Oladipo to run Heat's offense in Game 5. Oladipo shot 8-for-16 from the floor and made three triples to get 23 points, He also had three steals. Though he is likely to return to the bench in the following competitions, such performance of Oladipo means he can become an X-factor when the series needs a change.

Tuesday's game was the best chance for the Hawks to win but the team missed the opportunity after another underperforming night by Trae Young. He only made two FGs and missed all five 3-pinters to score only 11 points. Each of his six assists came along with a turnover. Of all the things he has to learn form this lost series, Young should focus on improving his pull-up jump shooting around screen, especially in the middle range.

The best-performing player of the Hawks in Game 5 was De'Andre Hunter. The fourth-overall selection of the 2019 Class scored a double-double of 35 points and 11 rebounds before he was fouled out in the fourth quarter. As a 2.03-meter-tall, 103-kilogram forward, Hunter can offer that the Hawks need the most: size, athleticism and defense from the wing position. He still has one year left of his rookie deal and the team should take the best advantage of it while negotiating a fail extension to keep him.