Miami Heat outscore Boston Celtics 27-20 in the third quarter; Start to take control
Third quarter was the period which saw the momentum shift away from the Celtics. After schooling the Heat in the first half, and increasing their lead to eight early in the third quarter, Boston started fading away.
In a tad more than two minutes which followed, the Celtics missed two field shots and committed two turnovers to allow Miami an 8-0 run. That spurt tied the game at 59 apiece, the first of the total six ties in the period.
With seven minutes left in the period, Kevin Garnett made a jumper to halt the Miami charge and regain a 61-59 lead for his side, but a driving layup from James made it 61-all.
Rondo split a pair of free throws on the next possession. His second attempt hit the rim with Bass grabbing the rebound. The ball eventually found Pierce, who let it rip from the long range. The shot however did not fall and when
Wade sunk a jumper on the resulting trip, Miami took its first lead of the game since 7:11 remaining in the first quarter.
It was an end-to-end action after that and a Bosh jumper tied the game at 73 with 28.7 second to go. Boston ran the clock down on the next possession, which ended when Garnett missed a fade away jumper. Racing against time, LeBron
James tried to make a fancy three, but to no avail.
The third quarter really set the tone for the Heat. Six different players scored in that span with the most significant contribution coming from Mario Chalmers. The Heat point guard managed to score only six points, but more importantly
put doubt in the Celtics defense by slicing through them for his two layups and a jumper.
Shane Battier also made the last two of his four three pointers for six points; James added another six and Wade scored 5.
The Celtics had only three scorers in the third. Rajon Rondo scored half of their points (10), including the last seven to keep his team in the hunt. Garnett had 6 points while Pierce chipped in with 4.
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