On May 5, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs continued, the Heat hosted Philadelphia, Embiid continued to be absent, Harden single-handedly led the team, Philadelphia fell behind by 8 points in the first quarter, Philadelphia bit the score in the second quarter, and Philadelphia fell behind 52-60 in the half.
The Heat ranked first in the East, easily eliminating the Hawks in the first round, Philadelphia ranked Fourth in the East, and eliminated the Raptors 4-2 in the first round. In the first meeting between the two teams, the Heat established an advantage in the second half and won by 14 points, Embiid was absent due to injury, and Harden, who led the team alone, performed average.
Embiid continued to be absent, and Philadelphia's starting lineups were: Harden, Maxy, Green, Harris, Jordan Jr. The Heat's starting lineups are: Strus, Vincent, Tucker, Butler, Adebayor. At the beginning of the first quarter, Harris scored first, Butler opened the record for the Heat, Harden assisted Jordan Jr. in the air, Green hit a three-pointer, and Philadelphia led 11-6. Strus hit a three-pointer and the score came to 11 draws. Adebayor clipped Jordan Jr. to 13-15.
The timeout came back and the two teams continued to clench the score, Harris turned over and scored on a jump shot, and Vincent hit a three-pointer to bring the score to 17 draws. Butler used his footing to score from the basket, and the Heat rebounded 22-20. Harden's feel was average, the Heat gradually pulled away the score, Hiro hit a three-pointer, Andrea Dudemon dunked, and the Heat led 29-24. Hiro scored on the board and the Heat led by seven points 31-24 in the first quarter.
Kokmaz hit the first three-pointer in the second quarter, the Heat's offense was still sharp, Hiro felt hot, and the difficult jumper scored, giving the Heat a 35-27 lead. The two teams alternated points, with Hiro hitting a three-pointer and the Heat leading 43-34 to stop Philadelphia, and Hiro became the first player to score in double figures. The Heat maintained a 10-point lead, with points alternately rising, Oladipo hit a three-pointer and the Heat stopped Philadelphia again 51-38.
Philadelphia then burst into action, with Maxi and Niang scoring consecutive points to make it 9-0 and trailing to 47-52 and just five points. The Heat quickly stabilized the situation and established the advantage again, hardening all three free throws to give the Heat a 60-52 lead at halftime. Harden had 16 points and five assists on 5-of-10 shooting at halftime, Maxi 11 and Harris 6. For the Heat, Adebayo had 11 points, Hiro 16 and Butler had 8 points and seven assists.