Miami Heat beat Boston Celtics to make it 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals: NBA Playoffs Part 2
With the scores tied at 105 and 1:50 left in overtime, the turning point of the game came when Rondo missed a driving layup, a play in which he believed he was fouled by Wade.
Miami took the rebound and ran to the other side of the court where they were able to find Haslem open in the paint as the Celtics were in transition. James passed to Haslem for an easy dunk. The Celtics lost their next possession
as well, on a turnover by Kevin Garnett and again the Heat ran in transition which allowed Wade to put up a driving jumper and get the foul.
His three point play put the Heat up 110-105 with 59 seconds left and sealed the victory for them. Rondo hit two three pointers in the final minute of the game but his efforts could not get the Celtics back in the game as they
were unable to cut the deficit. Miami won 115-111.
LeBron was 7 of 20 from the field for his 34 points but went 18 of 24 from the foul line. He had 10 rebounds and 7 assists to go with the points as well. Wade finished with 23 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Mario Chalmers had
a good night, scoring 22 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists. Udonis Haslem had 13 points and 11 rebounds on a night in which the Heat others played as well as James and Wade.
Rondo had a spectacular night, going 16 of 24 from the field and 10 of 12 from the foul line for his 44 points. He played every single minute of the game; the first time in his career he has done so. He also had 10 assists and
8 rebounds to become the first player in NBA history to put up such figures in a playoff game.
Kevin Garnett struggled on the night, going 6 of 18 from the field for his 18 points. He also grabbed 8 rebounds for his team. Paul Pierce had 21 points, 6 rebounds and went 8 of 19 from the field in the game. He was a bit unfortunate
as he was fouled out from the game with 1 minute left. He sat out the whole over time period watching helplessly from the bench as his team missed his presence on the floor.
The Celtics shot better than the Heat from the field at 49.4%, and were 26 of 29 from the foul line. The Heat were 31 of 47 from the foul line, although they did get 18 more free throw attempts than the Celtics which is a good
sign.
Both teams had only 8 turnovers for the game, an impressive figure. The Heat had 24 assists compared to only 15 for Boston, 10 of which came from Rondo. Boston badly missed Avery Bradley in the game, particularly when Pierce was
fouled out of the game.
Both teams had 42 rebounds, but Miami had a 13-8 advantage in offensive rebounds which allowed them to run the court and play in transition, catching the Celtics defence off guard. This was their main arsenal against the strong
defence and hustle play of the Celtics, particularly in over time. The 5 points that stretched the Heat lead from 105-105 to 110-105 and proved to be the game clincher were all scored in transition.
Boston now face an uphill task of having to make a comeback from a 0-2 deficit if they want to take the trip to the NBA Finals. Game 3 will be played on Friday night at the TD Garden, where the Celtics will be looking to avoid
falling 3-0, as no team in franchise history has come from that deficit to win the series.
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