Miami Heat draw first blood – Beat the Boston Celtics 99-90 (Part 2)
Boston started the third quarter with Rondo back on the field. Their game improved immediately as they outscored Miami 26-25 in this period. However, they could not
cut into the big lead that Miami had established early on. The third quarter ended at 76-62 in favour of the Heat.
Things got heated in the final period as both teams went hard at each other. Jermaine O’Neal had a flagrant foul in the 3rd quarter and tensions were raised
since then. They finally boiled over in the fourth when Jones was sold on a pump fake by Paul Pierce and he fouled Pierce hard in return. Pierce’s reaction drew a double-technical call from the officials.
A few pushes and nudges started to creep into the game and it came to a head as Pierce was again fouled hard, this time off the ball by Dwyane Wade. Pierce again
failed to keep his temper in check and the resulting double-technical call meant an ejection for Paul Pierce with 7 minutes left on the clock. Pierce did not talk to reporters after the game.
The play was pretty one sided from there on. Despite Boston scoring more than the Heat in the quarter, Miami were never really threatened. Ray Allen got the score
82-90 with a signature three and 4: 22 left to play, but shots from Chris Bosh and then Wade got the gap back into double figures. The Celtics could not muster up any strong run with Pierce out of the game and Rondo struggling, and the Heat closed it out.
Fittingly, Jones sank the final free throws.
The win was an important one for Miami as they look to go past the Celtics and advance to the Eastern Conference finals. There is bad blood between the teams and
it showed tonight. The Celtics knocked out the Heat in the playoffs last year and knocked out LeBron James Cleveland Cavaliers twice, in 2008 and 2010. The whole Heat team is itching to get one over the Boston Celtics.
They are also keeping their feet on the ground,
"Now we have to try to get amnesia as quickly as possible and try to figure out how we can play better," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Dwyane Wade said the whole series will be a fight and the Heat have to be ready for it.
"We're going to have to fight for every inch, every game we get," Wade said. "Right now, we won Game 1. We're supposed to. We'll go back and focus on winning Game
2. We're at home, we have home-court advantage. They're just trying to come in and steal one like they've done in the past. So it's our job to come out with the same mentality in the next one."
The Boston Celtics will take a long look at themselves and rest assured, they will come back strong in the next game. Miami played superbly tonight and they will
have to keep the momentum going for next game. As Wade said, this was a home game; it will be tougher in Boston.
Boston’s struggles stemmed from Rajon Rondo being completely marked out of the game by the Heat. Miami will do well to keep that up. The Heat also need their bench
to fire. On the night, they had 29 points but 25 of them came from James Jones. Jones cannot be expected to repeat a career playoff high performance throughout the series.
They have won the first game though and will be confident going into the next one. The Celtics now need to answer the call.
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