Miami Heat snatch a 98-90 win in O.T; put the Boston Celtics on the brink of elimination – Part 2
After a topsy-turvy first half, the third quarter was a relatively low scoring affair as both teams concentrated on defence. Even the game’s top scorer, LeBron James, managed just 2 points. Ray Allen was the main outlet for the
Boston Celtics in the third, scoring 10 points.
The Celtics were a little slow coming out of the blocks after the interval. They matched the Heat at the start but soon switched off a little. Miami took advantage of that and Dwyane Wade levelled the scores at 57 – 57 with a floating
jump shot. Chris Bosh then tipped one in to give Miami the lead with 6:47 remaining. Ray Allen however hit back right away with a baseline dunk.
Miami would go ahead again only to be pegged back by the Celtics. With 3:10 left on the clock, Allen hit a big three to ignite an 11 – 0 run for the Celtics, which saw them end the quarter at an advantage of 69 – 73.
If the third was slow, the pace of the game grinded to a halt in the fourth quarter. Although both teams played some hard defence, they also showed some jitters. A total of 7 turnovers were committed by the teams and they also
had a hard time shooting the ball, going 9-of-32 from the field.
Allen hit a big shot from downtown to give Boston a 3 point lead near the end. However, with 2 minutes left to play, Dwyane Wade responded with a three of his own to level the scores at 84 – 84. LeBron James and Paul Pierce exchanged
shots next as the game went into the final minute of regular time tied at 86.
On the ensuing Miami possession, James turned the ball over and with 24 seconds left, it seemed as it would be Boston’s night. However Paul Pierce failed to take advantage as he missed his trey at the buzzer, taking the game into
overtime.
The momentum shifted towards the Heat and they started overtime with six points without a reply. Boston never recovered and Miami ran out comfortable winners at the end, Bosh hitting the final free throw.
After the huge win from Miami, their coach Erik Spoelstra preached caution to his team. He refused to celebrate just yet and warned that the Celtics will fight for their lives in game-5, "Wednesday night will be our greatest challenge
that we've had with this group so far," Spoelstra said. "We'll get their best games on Wednesday. And we have to be better. If we're real about what we want to do, we have to beat the Boston Celtics at their best."
Miami shot slightly better, with 44.3 percent as compared to Boston’s 43.9, although they trailed in 3-pointers by 23.1 to 31.2 percent. However, Boston got bludgeoned on the boards, losing out 45 – 28. 35 of Miami’s rebounds came
from their Big Three.
Paul Pierce was visibly upset at losing the game and credited his team’s poor play at the death for the loss, "We just had poor execution down the stretch," Pierce said. "It just carried into overtime, it seemed like. We feel like
tonight we beat ourselves."
Miami Heat are now 3 – 1 up in the best of seven Eastern Conference semi-final series. They need just one more win to make it to the Eastern Conference Semi-finals, while the Celtics have the un-enviable task of winning three on
the bounce.
Tags: