Boston Celtics proved they are still a major force in the East as they took down the Miami Heat 115-107 at the South Beach....
On Tuesday night at the American Airlines Arena, Miami, FL, the visiting Boston Celtics rolled over the Miami Heat for the second time within a time span of 9 days, 115-107.
Having the best record in the league at home did little for the Heat to stop the Celtics. Miami have now lost twice in three games at home, the first one coming against the Memphis Grizzlies on April 6th. This was also
the Heat`s 5th loss in their last 10 games.
The gutsy win was another strong message for all other teams in the playoff contention from the Eastern Conference. Celtics have been on a spectacular run off form in the second half of the season and are peaking at just the right
time.
Paul Pierce was the leading scorer for the Celtics with 27 points; Kevin Garnett contributed 24 points, with 10 of those coming in the fourth quarter. He also had nine rebounds and two blocks on the night.
Rajon Rondo scored 18 points, Brandon Bass had 12 points and Avery Bradley contributed 11 points in the game as all five starters ended the night scoring in double-figures. Boston also had 23 assists in the game, Rondo leading
in that department with 15 making this his 18th consecutive game with double digit assists.
LeBron James led the way for the Heat with 36 points, 7 assists and 7 rebounds. Dwyane Wade, who was coming back from injury, shot the ball 9-for-21 from the field as he struggled throughout the match to get his 20 points. Chris
Bosh had another disappointing game with 13 points. Mario Chalmers was the only other player for Heat, scoring in double figures with 18 points which included 3 triples.
In the early goings of the game, Heat capitalized on a slow start by the visitors as they raced to a 9-3 advantage. Boston then settled into the game and came back to tie the score at 9 each with 7:48 minutes to go in the first.
The scores remained close from there onwards and were tied at 22-all at the 3:14 mark.
Boston then showed off their experience as they held the Heat scoreless for the remaining first quarter while adding 11 to their account.
The C’s continued to dominate and carved out an 18 point lead over their hosts with 7:35 to go in the half. Heat did rally back late in the second quarter as they chipped off 10 points off the lead to be behind by just 8, going
into the break.
In the third quarter, both teams traded baskets throughout the quarter, scoring 24 points each. But importantly, Boston`s 8 point advantage remained intact going into the final quarter.
In the last 12 minutes, Heat needed to step their game up if they wanted to have any kind of chance to win this matchup. Miami did that immediately as they stared the fourth quarter off on a 7-0 run to pull within one point of
the Celtics.
Bass put an end to the run with a turnaround jump shot extended the lead to 3 points. On the other end, the Celtics were hit with a technical and Chalmers successfully converted the free throw to make it a two point game. Ray Allen
responded back with a 3 pointer on Rondo`s 13th assist of the night to make this one a two possession game.
From then on, it was a Kevin Garnett show. The veteran big successfully converted 4 possessions to 8 points as the Heat did not seem to be able to contain the veteran.
In the next several possessions, the Celtics advantage extended back to double digits - the score reached 108-96 with 4:47 to go in the game.
Miami were not letting up though as on the next three possessions, with two free throws from James, one from Bosh and two contested layups from Wade pulled the deficit back to within 5, with 2:22 remaining in the game.
On the other end though, Garnett again made a meal out of the Miami defence by getting his 5th field goal in the quarter, and a minute later, the lead was extended back to 8 points to make this one a three possession
game.
James drove to the basket to cut the lead to 6 and in the final seconds of the game, with the Heat trailing by 6, James attempted a 3 pointer. He clanked that and Pierce delivered the final blow as Shane Battier committed his 4th
personal foul to send him to the free-throw line.
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