Miami Heat roar back to the NBA Finals: Beat Boston Celtics in Game-7 of the Eastern Conference Finals
LeBron James put another maverick performance with 31 points and 12 rebounds; Dwyane Wade hammered 23 points, six rebounds and six assists while Chris Bosh came off the bench to add 19 points and eight rebounds as the Miami Heat clinched the Eastern Conference for the second year running with a 101-88 win over the grandfatherly Boston Celtics.
The Big Three were huge for the Heat. While James and Wade were making unbelievable plays through the traffic, Bosh exposed the C’s with his long range shooting. The Miami power forward made two big time three pointers in the fourth quarter, to only stretch the court, but also lure Kevin Garnett towards himself. That one move proved to be a game changer as the star triple of Miami combined for the last 30 points to seal the game.
Just like the Game-7 against the Philadelphia 76ers, Rajon Rondo erupted with a triple-double for the Celtics with 22 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds. But, this time around the quality of the opposition was just too good.
Rondo added 10 points in the third quarter, in which the Heat came back from an 11 point deficit to take the lead.
After a dominant first half, the Celtics looked lost on the offense in the third and the swingman was the only one keeping them in the game.
Rondo made a driving layup to start the fourth and give the Celtics a 75-73 lead, but what followed was a long range dagger from Bosh.
Boston matched the Heat shot for shot on the next two possessions, however 9:07 to go in the game, James roared to the rim to start a 10-2 run, which the King capped with a long three. The Greens did come within five, 86-91, on a Rondo layup with 5:13 to go, but the next shot from them came when the game had already been sealed by Wade.
The sharpshooter scored seven of the next 10 Miami points to provide an exclamation mark to what was the best playoffs series this year.
Paul Pierce added 19 points for the Celtics, who got 16 from Brandon Bass, 15 from Ray Allen and 14 points with 7 rebounds form Kevin Garnett.
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