For the Boston Celtics it was a sigh of relief as they capitalized on their home court tieing the series against the Heat after blowing an 18 point lead. The Celtics came out guns blazing as they routed the Heat in the first quarter. Celtics coach Doc Rivers seemed to agree stating that the Celtics played almost “flawless” in the first half. The second half on the other hand was a different story. The Miami Heat were able to cut the Celtics lead down due to the lockdown defense which held the Celtics to 31 percent shooting in the third. In the fourth the C’s regained their composure and hounded the Heat defensively which was apparent on the last possession of regulation. Lebron had the ball with the game tied. Lebron critics were waiting for him to finally take the throne and prove that he could step up during clutch moments. Instead Lebron dished the ball to Haslem who shot a fadeway which didn’t graze the rim. In overtime foul calls became an issue as both Lebron James and Paul Pierce fouled out of the game. After Pierce fouled out, Rondo had one message for his team “it’s time, we have to take over.” The Celtics consequently went up by two as Dwyane Wade had the rock as the clock ticked down. Wade pump faked, and then got a wide open three for the win. The ball hit the front rim and bounced out as the Celtics got the win. “It was a good look. It was on line but didn’t want to go in,” said Wade, “Got the shot off I wanted and that is all you can ask for.”
For the Celtics Rondo led the way with 15 points and 15 assists while Pierce, Garnett and Allen each chimed in 23, 17 and 16 respectively. The Heat were led by Lebron with 29 points and 6 rebounds while Dwyane Wade had 20 points 6 assists and 7 rebounds off of 7-22 shooting.
The next game is in Miami, June 5 at 8:30 EST on TNT
-Amit C. (@hazyamit)
