LeBron James scores 29 points as Miami Heat advance past New York Knicks in 5 Games - NBA Playoffs 2012 Recap
LeBron James scored 16 of his team high 29 points in the second half to propel the Miami Heat towards a 106-94 win over the New York Knicks in Game 5 of this Eastern Conference first round series.
With this win, Miami closed out the series 4-1 at home, enabling them to have some rest before they take on the Indiana Pacers in the second round. Pacers had qualified for the next stage yesterday night.
"We will savour this win tonight," James said after the win. "And then we get to work tomorrow and get ready for Indiana."
LeBron did a little bit of everything in the game and to go along with 29 points, he was also able to collect 8 rebounds and dish out 7 dimes. Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade combined together to shoot 15-for-34 and
got 19 points each. Mario Chalmers continued to excel in the post season by posting another double digit night with 10 points.
For the Knicks, Carmelo Anthony tried his best to keep the game competitive by racking up 35 points; however it all came a little too short in the end. Amar'e Stoudemire, who was instrumental in the Game 4 win,
played well in this one as well to record 14 points before fouling out of the game late in the fourth quarter.
Landry Fields and J.R. Smith both collected 12 points each and Mike Bibby, who was given a starting nod in this game, scored 10 points.
New York’s only enjoyable moment came when they held an early 14-8 lead courtesy of 5 points from Bibby. Miami however came rallying back to first tie the game up at 20 and then lead by 28-24 by the end of the
first quarter.
In the early stages of the second quarter, Miami outscored the Knicks 10-6 to open up an 8 point advantage. They were able to carry on with the momentum and with 4:48 to go in the half, a James dunk put the lead
into double figures, 44-34.
Knicks responded with a 6-0 spurt to cut down the margin but the Heat were just getting warmed up and pulled off an 11-4 run to make it 55-44. Wade was sensational in the second quarter and recorded 12 points
in the period.
The third quarter saw the Knicks trying their best to chip down the lead and they were able to make the advantage less than 10 on several occasions. However when Stoudemire went to the bench with foul trouble,
Miami made the most of this opportunity to close out the third period with an 81-67 lead. They held the Knicks at bay for most part of the final quarter and with just about 5 minutes remaining in the game Stoudemire got fouled out of the game, the score at
96-80.
What followed was a 10-4 Knicks run, but Miami, paced by James, were just too hot to handle down the stretch. In the end Miami was able to eventually advance to second round by cleaning up this series in 5 games.
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