PELICANS, HEAT CATCH LAST BUS

The Miami Heat shrugged off the absence of star forward Jimmy Butler to crush the Chicago Bulls 112-91 in their play-in eliminator on Friday and earn a clash with the top-seeded Boston Celtics in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

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In the Western Conference, the New Orleans Pelicans, also missing their key man with forward Zion Williamson out with a hamstring injury, beat the Sacramento Kings 105-98 to set up a first-round series with the number one seed Oklahoma City Thunder.

It is the second straight season that Miami have earned the eighth-seed spot via the play-in tournament and they will play the Celtics for the fourth time in the last five post seasons.

Butler suffered a sprained MCL knee ligament in Wednesday's defeat to the Philadelphia 76ers and faces several weeks out.

The 34-year-old has led the Heat to two NBA Finals, including last year's run, which included an Eastern Conference Finals win over the Celtics.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra had insisted that his team had the personnel to cope with the loss of their talisman and they illustrated that in a convincing home win.