NBA highlights on April 19: No Zion, no problem for Pelicans

The New Orleans Pelicans beat the Sacramento Kings 105-98 in the NBA Western Conference play-in tournament game at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Friday, becoming the final qualified team for the playoffs in the West. They will play the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round that will begin on Sunday.

The Pelicans lacked their offensive weapon of massive destruction, Zion Williamson, because of a left hamstring strain, but his NBA All-Star teammate Brandon Ingram did a great job of casting his influence on the game for his side to win. He shot 10-for-20 from the field to get 24 points, six rebounds and six assists. Whenever he was on the court, he tried to get his teammates involved in offense first, shouldering a huge part of the team's playmaking duties.

Then, as defenders began to fear Ingram's passing and, as a result, allowed him to launch isolation, he made a series of big shots, mostly jumpers around the free throw line. The Kings had no one in the perimeter or wingman positions that could match him in size. As for their big men like Domantas Sabonis, Sasha Vezenkov and Trey Lyles, none of them was quick enough to follow Ingram.

The Pelicans' bench unit completely outperformed their Kings' counterpart, leading 34-12 in points, 16-7 in rebounds and 7-1 in assists. Larry Nance Jr., Naji Marshall and Jose Alvarado all had double-digit points and two steals each, enabling their side to outscore the opponents 32-21 in the second quarter and sit on a lead of over 10 points most of the of the time since then.

Jonas Valanciunas played more than 26 minutes for the Pelicans in Friday's game, much longer than his average time in the past two months. He didn't stop Sabonis from getting 23 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists, but Valanciunas contributed a double-double of 19 points and 12 rebounds, including six on the offensive glass.

The King's star duo of De'Aaron Fox and Sabonis combined to drop 58 points, 21 rebounds and 12 assists. The two also had three steals each. However, their teammates failed to provide any decent support. Both Keegan Murray and Keon Ellis lost their magic outside the 3-point line, where they made only two of their 11 attempts in total. Davion Mitchell had only 10 points and one assist, not to mention that his 1.88-meter height became a defensive weakness for the Pelicans' forwards.

Tyler Herro puts on Jimmy Butler's jersey and leads Heat to playoffs

The Miami Heat walked over the Chicago Bulls 112-91 in the NBA Eastern Conference play-in tournament game at Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida, on Friday, making the playoffs as the No. 8 seed of the conference. They will challenge the Boston Celtics in the first round, their fourth postseason meeting in the past five years.

The Heat lacked their best player, Jimmy Butler, in Friday's game due to a sprained right medial collateral ligament, but his usual contributions were shared by his teammates. Tyler Herro did an excellent job on the offensive end with 24 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. His surprising orchestrating performance in the first quarter of delivering five assists led his side to build an early solid lead of 17 points (34-17). After the Bulls rallied to cut it to 10 points (47-37) in the second period, Herro scored 12 points by himself in the third quarter to expand their advantage to a safe level again.

Kevin Love made significant contributions to the Heat's victory on Friday, too, off the bench. Though the 35-year-old big man played only 12 minutes, he got 16 points and seven rebounds. In the decisive third period, he kept attacking the Bulls' paint in mismatch and shot 6-for-6 at the free throw line.

The Bulls were nothing but desperate in front of the Heat's quick and well-disciplined defensive rotations during half-court offense on Friday night. Coach Billy Donovan's response was to have his players drive as much early offense as possible and shoot as many 3-pointers as possible. The former worked in the second quarter, but the latter was a total failure since the team scored 30 of their 43 triples.

DeMar DeRozan went 8-for-16 in field goals to score 22 points and four assists for the Bulls in Friday's game. His contract with the team will expire this summer, and the extension negotiations with the team reportedly didn't go well.