Miami Heat on verge of clinching the second-round series from Boston Celtics - NBA Play-offs
The streaking Miami Heat, who clinched a 98-90 victory from the Boston Celtics in over-time on Monday in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals, arrived at the airport Tuesday morning from Boston and despite the hectic schedule they were back at work
less than 12 hours later.
Such late arrival deserves a day off, but Miami who are on the cusp of knocking the Celtics out of the contention do not want to take even a single day off. Especially against Boston that had given a lot of pain to Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Miami for
so long.
The Heat, who are 3-1 up in the best of the seven game series will play the next game at home on Wednesday night. Miami are now just one win away from reaching the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time after their 2006 championship run.
Wade said, "This is not a team that you let your guard down against,"
"No way," James instantly said as he was standing next to Wade.
The Heat did not go for a regular long session, as they just watched some old game films and did some light shooting. While the Celtics took the day off and gathered at mid-day to catch their flight to South Florida. Rajon Rondo, who dislocated his elbow
in Game 3, also accompanied the squad since he remains hampered therefore he will be receiving some treatment.
A determined Rondo said, "I'll be fine. I'm playing."
Heats’ coach Erik Spoelstra told that he will persist with the previous game squad. This means that Joel Anthony will again play at centre position and open the game while Zydrunas Ilgauskas will be the reserve and point guard Mario Chalmers will come after
first-stringer Mike Bibby.
Right after the Game 4 coach Spoelstra told his players that this match-up with Boston would be the toughest challenge so far and he did not back down from his words until Tuesday.
Spoelstra said, "We can expect their best. We know we're getting their best effort and I'm sure they'll play well. We'll have to play better."
The Heat faced a lot of criticism during the regular-season as they were struggling collectively, especially late in closely fought games. However, in this game they did a good collective effort, Wade and James together tallied 63 points and also got contributions
across the roster to seal the victory for the Heat.
James brilliant three-pointer that tied the game at 84 with just two minutes left in the final quarter broke the back of the Celtics and was the highlight of the collective effort. Then, Wade dished one from 23-feet for a 92-86 lead with 2:01 remaining in
over-time that made the Celtics’ crowd silent. After which Chris Bosh secured the win from the paint.
Heat forward James Jones, who made another big play, as he fouled Allen and took away a possible Boston fast break when the game was tied at 86 with just 19 seconds to go said, "We executed well down the stretch defensively and offensively. I think it was
just our presence of mind, our determination. We had mistakes. We made some mistakes."
It will be interesting to see how Boston fights back to stay alive in this play-off series against the Heat.
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