NBA Play-offs Roundup May 9, 2011 – Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder win
Miami Heat 98- Boston Celtics 90
Miami Heat’s trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh were in demolition mode as the men from the south beach gunned down the Boston Celtics 98-90 in overtime on Monday night at TD Garden.
Miami’s big three combined for 83 out of the total 98 Heat points as they propelled the Heat to a commanding 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semi-finals. James scored 35 points, Wade posted 28 while Bosh added 20 points for
Miami.
Although, Paul Pierce scored 27 points, but his individual performance was not enough for the Celts as they collapsed in overtime. Ray Allen gathered 17 while Rajon Rondo and Delonte West had 10 points each for the Boston Celtics.
First two quarters favoured the Celtics as the maintained a slender advantage over the Heat. The second half of the game started at 50-53. Nerves started to creep in for both the teams in the second as they spurned one shot after
another. After a low scoring third quarter, the teams scratched their way to an 86-all tie at the end of the regulation time.
The game went into overtime and the Heat just took over to come out victorious 98-90.The loss has put the Boston Celtics in a tough spot now and if they are to stay in the playoffs, they need to win the next three games against
the Heat.
Oklahoma City Thunder 133- Memphis Grizzlies 123
On Monday night, the Oklahoma City (OKC) Thunder overpowered the Memphis Grizzlies 133-123 in a breathtaking fixture at FedEx Forum. Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook posted a game high 40 points and five rebounds for the Thunder
and tied the second round best-of-seven series 2-2.
In a nerve wrecking spectacle that went till the third overtime, it was the OKC team that hung tough and outscored the Grizzlies 14-4 down the stretch to clinch the victory.
Kevin Durant also scored 35 points for the Thunder, who got 10 from Daequan Cook while James Harden also came off the bench to gather 19.
For the Memphis Grizzlies, Zach Randolph performed very well but, his 34 points could not save the game. Marc Gasol also scored 26 points on the night; Mike Conley gathered 16; Greivis Vasquez had 14 and O.J. Mayo scored 18 points
for the Grizzlies.
The Grizzlies took a solid lead of 12 points in the first quarter, 28-16, but Oklahoma City bounced back in the second and reduced the deficit to 49-53 by the end of the first half. The third quarter was evenly fought battle and
it ended with the scores at 71-72 in the Grizzlies favour.
OKC gathered the momentum in the fourth quarter and played with full thrust to carve out an 82-92 lead, with nearly five minutes to go. However, the Grizzlies responded with a 7-0 run and equalled the score 96-96 at the end of
the fourth quarter, thus taking the game into overtime.
The first overtime was a see-saw battle and the second O.T. followed the same trend. The game was finally decided in ultimate third overtime where the Memphis Grizzlies were ousted by the Oklahoma City Thunder 133-123.
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