Miami Heat hold off a late rally to beat Boston Celtics 115-107: NBA Recap
After a heart breaking loss against the New York Knicks in their season opener against the New York Knicks, on Tuesday night, the Boston Celtics headed to the American Airlines Arena to take on the Eastern Conference rivals Miami
Heat.
Heat showed glimpses of the nightmare that they can unleash on the teams around, in the last game against the defending champions Dallas Mavericks, and with Paul Pierce still suffering from a bruised right heel, the C’s had their
work cut out.
As expected, they started feeling the Heat from the word go.
Heat pounded the C’s throughout and midway through the third, were leading by as many as 20 points. Boston tried hard to come back in the game and came within 105-108 late, but Miami hung tough for a 115-107 win.
The surprise package of the night was Norris Cole, the rookie Heat point guard. Cole scored 20 point on the night, 14 of which came in the crucial fourth quarter when Miami were really feeling the heat. LeBron James was exceptional
again with 26 points, but only two of them came in the fourth. Dwyane Wade had 24 points, 8 assists and 4 blocks, while Chris Bosh completed a double-double with 18 points and 11 boards for Miami, which shot at 56 percent from the floor.
For the C’s, Ray Allen scored a game-high 28 points on a 8 of 12 shooting while Rajon rondo had 22 points, 12 assists and 8 rebounds. Keyon Dolling was brilliant off the bench with 18 points; Brandon Bass had 13, while Kevin Garnett
finished the night with 12 points.
After Allen tipped the game off with two free throws, the men from the South Beach raced away to a 9-2 run to set the tone. It was Allen again who nipped the surge with a layup and after a Dwyane Wade jumper Sasha Pavlovic drilled
a 3 to make it 9-11.
What followed though was another 10-2 run, capped by three consecutive free throw from LeBron James, which took Miami’s advantage into double figures, 21-11. With Rajon Rondo leading the way, the Celtics responded swiftly in the
form of a 14-5 spurt to make it a one point game, 25-26, with 2:31 to go.
Miami entered the second quarter leading by 30-27 and rattled off a 10-3 burst to start with. They continued to toy with the Celtics in the ensuing passage and with 3:51 left till the interval, the second of the two consecutive
James Jones’ treys put the Heat up by 57-40. Boston tried hard to edge back and at one point brought the deficit at 10, but the Big Three ensured that Miami headed to the break with a 69-54 lead.
James and Wade both scored 15 points at halftime while Chris Bosh had 10. For the C’s, Ray Allen led with 18 and Rondo had 12. The duo combined for consecutive baskets early in the third quarter to bring the deficit to 58-69, but
LeBron keyed a 16-7 Miami run to push the Heat at 85-65 midway through the period.
The Celtics responded after that and reeled off a 17-5 spurt to make it 82-90 with 40.7 seconds to go till the fourth quarter. Jones made a free throw on the last possession of the third as the game headed to the last 12 minutes
with the Heat holding a 91-82 advantage.
Cole got the Heat off to a flyer in the last frame. He added 6 points in an early 9-2 Miami sprint that put them ahead by 100-85 and with only 6:56 to go, the game looked out of Celtics reach.
But, the capacity crowd at the arena was in for a surprise.
The Celts pulled off a 12-4 run within the next two minutes to send shivers in the Miami camp. They however went cold after that and in the next two minutes missed three attempts from the floor with Brandon Bass leaking a turnover
that led to a Cole 19 footer, with just 3 minutes left on the clock.
That was where Keyon Dolling took over.
The 6 ft 3 veteran guard knocked down four free throws and a three within a space of just 44 seconds to bring the Celtics within 3, 105-108, forcing a Miami timeout.
Cole followed the time out with two 20 footers, separated by a Bass jumper, to make it 112-107. Boston crumbled under pressure after that and fouls from Dooling and Rondo ensured that Miami went on to seal the game at 115-107.
Tags: