Lebron James and the Miami Heat scorch the Boston Celtics with a 100 – 77 win - NBA Recap
Lebron James scored a game-high 27 points to lead the Miami Heat over the Boston Celtics with a 100 – 77 win on Sunday at the American Airlines Arena in Miami. After trailing in the first quarter,
Miami raised the heat in the second period to stifle the Celtics on the offensive end and grab the victory.
Miami’s bench, often criticized for not contributing, was the star tonight. It added 32 points and outscored its Boston counterpart with a 32 – 12 advantage. Mario Chalmers added nine points and played
aggressive defence on Rajon Rondo to restrict the Celtics’s guard to just 3-of-8 shooting.
Joel Anthony also had a good game with seven points and 10 rebounds.
“It was a playoff-atmosphere type of game, from the fans to both teams' approach to what the game meant,” Wade said. “It had that feel.”
Lebron James had 27 points and seven assists, while Dwyane Wade added 14 points and eight assists. Chris Bosh was 5-of-8 on his way to 14 points and eight rebounds.
Things heated up in the game when Jermaine O’Neal offered a non-play on the ball and turned his shoulder into a driving James. Both players collided and exchanged some heated words and the teams started
pushing and shoving, before the officials jumped in to restore some order.
O’Neal was hit with a flagrant-1 foul, and James received a technical for reacting and throwing the ball at him. Dwyane Wade and Paul Pierce also received technical fouls for shoving each other around.
“I thought it was all theatrical, all the c**p. I guess that's called toughness these days,” Celtics Coach Doc Rivers said. “Two guys run into each other, we've got to call a flagrant foul, which
I thought was a joke. And I thought the reactions by both were a joke.”
Boston were singeing from the floor early on, hitting eight of their nine shots to start the game. The Celtics held an early 11 – 2 lead in the first quarter before Miami responded to cut the lead
down to 22 – 21 at the end of it.
Miami held Boston to just 18 points in the second quarter and outplayed their opposition to take a comfortable 47 – 40 lead into the halftime break. The Heat muscled over the Celtics with a 44 – 26
disparity in points-in-the-paint and also dominated the boards. Miami also out-rebounded Boston with a 42 -26 advantage.
The Heat continued their strong play into the second half and never let the game get too close. Boston went on a 12 – 0 run to cut a 22 point Miami lead to 85 – 75 with some good plays by Pierce and
Ray Allen. But Miami quickly regained control of the game and finished it off strong to grab the win at home.
Miami shot 50.7 percent from the floor and moved the ball well, to outwork, out-hustle and totally outplay the Celtics. They racked up 24 assists as a team on the night, compared to just 16 for Boston.
With Sunday’s win, Miami move one game ahead of Boston and now need two more wins to clinch the number-2 seed in the East. Miami proved they could play with the big-boys by routing Boston, but the
players were focused on the big goal of winning the next two road games.
"This is cool and all," Bosh said, "but we still have two more games."
Paul Pierce top-scored for Boston Celtics with 24 points, while Kevin Garnett chipped in with 21 in the losing effort.
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