LeBron James leads a one man rally as Miami Heat edge out New Jersey Nets 101-98: NBA Recap
On Monday night at the Prudential Center, Newark, NJ a capacity crowd of 18711 witnessed the New Jersey Nets take on the visiting, Miami Heat.
Nets who are out of the playoff picture gave the strongest contenders from the East a run for their money but in the end, Miami and LeBron James managed to snatch the win 101-98.
Dwyane Wade was sitting on the bench, in uniform. However, he did not feature at all on the night as per, Erik Spoelstra`s decision. This only meant more responsibility for LeBron and he responded in great fashion. For the Nets,
Deron Williams did not feature in the game due to a sore right calf.
James led the scoring with 37 points, 17 of which came in the final 4 and half minutes of the match and catered for all Heat points. He also notched up 7 assists and 6 rebounds in the game. Chris Bosh had double-double night with
22 points and 15 rebounds.
Even though, none of the other players for the Heat, scored in double figures but they all chipped in well from time to time by shooting the ball 47.2% on the night.
Kris Humphries was spectacular on the night and appeared to be unstoppable at times. He finished the game 29 points and 8 boards. Rookie MarShon Brooks contributed very well by scoring 24 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals.
Gerald Green and Sundiata Gaines played well by contributing 15 and 11 points respectively.
Despite being outrebounded by the Nets, Miami did manage to boss their way on the paint, outscoring New Jersey, 44-36 in that department.
Nets started the game off by racing to a 4-0 lead. Heat did rally back to make the scores level at 6 each but by the end of the first quarter, Nets held a 5 point advantage, 34-29. Humphries had 14 points while Brooks had 11 in
the frame.
New Jersey led for most part of the second quarter. However, late in it Miami were able to make the scores equal at 52 with 31.4 seconds remaining. On the next possession, Gaines hit a three to make it a 3 point advantage in Nets
favour at the half way mark, 55-52.
At one point during the third quarter, the Nets were able to extend their lead to as much as 12 at the score of 70-58. Miami responded back with a 12-4 run to make it a two possession game with 59.4 seconds remaining. Inside the
final minute of the third quarter though, Gaines scored 5 quick points for the Nets to extend the lead back to 9 points going into the fourth, 79-70.
Miami started the fourth quarter on a 12-3 run to make the scores 82-each with 7:11 remaining till the final whistle. In the next several minutes, Nets were able to again take the lead at the score of 93-86 with 3:30 remaining.
For the remainder of the game, it was a complete LeBron James show as he single handed led the charge for the Miami Heat.
Nets had led for 47 minutes of the game but in the last minute, James turned it all around. He drove to the basket to give the Heat their first lead at 97-96 with 51 seconds remaining. In the end, James added 4 more points to
his account as the Heat came back to win this one by a margin of 3 points.
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