NBA play-offs Roundup – 11th May: Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder win
Miami Heat 97 – Boston Celtics 87
On Wednesday night, Miami Heat put one hand on the Eastern Conference title when they thrashed the depleted Boston Celtics in the game 5 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals at the American Airlines Arena. With the win, Heat took
the series 4-1. Dwyane Wade and LeBron James utterly dominated the proceedings in the game as they notched up 34 and 33 respectively to spearhead Miami for an enthralling 97-87 victory.
Chris Bosh also had a double-double with 14 points and 11 boards and supported the team magnificently down the stretch.
Boston’s starting five headed out aggressively and outscored the Heat in the early minutes. The Celts were led by their power forward Kevin Garnett, who scored 12 points in the first quarter. Miami strived to lift the momentum
however Nenad Krstic landed two free throws just before the end of the period to give Celtics a 24-16 lead.
After a slow start, James buried a three right at the start of the second quarter to set the tone. Wade then surged with a series of free throws and jumpers in the last couple of minutes as Miami managed to cut down the deficit
47-49 as the game progressed into the second half.
The see-saw battle ensued in the third quarter. Both the teams played some hard defence in the period as Boston sustained the two-point advantage going into the final 12 minutes.
The Big 3 completely took control of the fourth quarter and thrashed the Celtics out of the play-offs capped by a 15-point blitz from James in the defining moments of the game.
Oklahoma City Thunder 99 – Memphis Grizzlies 72
After a strenuous triple-overtime outing in the last game, the Memphis Grizzlies seemed to have nothing left in the tank as they were comprehensively outshined by the Oklahoma City Thunders in a 99-72 at the Oklahoma City Arena
Kevin Durant led the scoring with a game-high 19 points and 7 rebounds as the Thunder took 3-2 lead in the Western Conference best-of-seven semi-final series.
Marc Gasol was the only player to land in double figures as the rest struggled to influence, including the instrumental forward Zach Randolph.
Both the teams started off slowly and managed to score only 17 points apiece in the first quarter. However, Thunder never took their feet off the gas after that.
The Grizzlies kept the Thunder under check at the start of the second period and remained within striking distance. However, OKC rattled the Grizzlies late in the period with an 18-6 run as they went into the halftime with a 46-35
advantage.
Memphis’ struggle continued in the second half of the game and their failed to trouble the Thunder in the last two quarters. Durant scored 8 points in the third quarter including a 3-pointer as Oklahoma City amplified the lead
to 71-52.
With the OKC starters on the bench, Daequan Cook took over the game with three blows from downtown and smashed the Grizzlies with 13 of his 18 points as OKC rolled on to a comfortable win.
Tags: