MIAMI, (Reuters) – The Boston Celtics drew on their famous grit and determination to move within one victory of the NBA Finals on Tuesday with an upset 94-90 road win over the Miami Heat to take a 3-2 series lead.
The Celtics can now secure the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals back home in Boston today after Miami’s vaunted offence spluttered in the second half.
LeBron James scored 30 points and Dwayne Wade poured in 27 but the Heat now face the distinct possibility of missing out on the finals completely as they bid to make up for the disappointment of losing last year’s title showdown.
Rajon Rondo was the architect of Miami’s demise for Boston with 13 assists on a night where he shot only 3-of-15, while Kevin Garnett was the chief executioner with 26 points and 11 rebounds.
But above all, Boston were able to draw on their renowned fighting spirit once again as they fought back from a 13-point deficit in the second quarter and from nine points behind in the third.
Both times, Boston picked themselves up and dealt with the situation to secure a victory against the odds, despite shooting just 41 percent and getting out-rebounded by 49-39.
“We were just hanging in there,” Celtics head coach Doc Rivers told reporters.
“They jumped on us at the beginning of the game and we just told our guys ‘don’t over-react, hang in there, the longer we are in the game, the better we’ll play’.
“I thought out execution down the stretch, defensively and offensively… was terrific,” he added.
It was far from a classic encounter, however, with Miami shooting at 39 percent from the field and managing just 7-of-26 three-point attempts as defenses dominated.
The work was spread around for Boston with Ray Allen and Mickael Pietrus scoring 13 each and Brandon Bass chipping in with ten points.
The Heat, with Chris Bosh (nine points, seven rebounds) back from injury for the first time in the series, started brightly and led 24-16 at the end of a first quarter in which Rondo failed to score a point.
The lead was down to 42-40 at halftime, though, with Miami’s offence running out of steam and that was a trend that continued in the third quarter as Boston, on the back of a 15-1 run, rushed into a 65-60 advantage.
Key to the change was the scheming role of Rondo, who shot just one-of-eight from the field in the first half but provided five assists in the third quarter, and the powerful play at the basket from Garnett.
The game’s decisive moment came when Paul Pierce (19 points) nailed a three-pointer over James, who tallied 30 points for the ninth time this post-season, with 52.9 seconds remaining to give the visitors a 90-86 lead.
Miami, who benched Bosh in the latter stages, could not come back from that blow and now the pressure is really on the Heat for a do-or-die encounter at ‘the Garden’.
“It’s a loss and that’s all it is,” Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said.
“It was a tough one to lose here at home but it’s over with. It has to be behind us right now and our energies have to be ready for Thursday,” he said.
“It is going to be an extremely difficult time but that’s what the playoffs are about,” Bosh told reporters, when asked about the coming two days of preparation for the game.
“In order to get to where we want to go, we’re going to have to face huge challenges and I think we are in the biggest challenge of our lives right now, of our professional careers.
“We have to overcome it. It is going to be very, very difficult but that’s how it is supposed to be,” he said.
Another member of Miami’s ‘Big Three’, Wade, was under no illusions about the magnitude of the task facing the Heat in Boston but was sure they can get out of the hole they find themselves in.
“We normally respond really well to desperation. We are a confident team, we haven’t won much in that arena but we won one last year that gives us the confidence that we can go up there and get the win,” Wade said.
“But we have to play a great game, as close to perfection as possible. “At this point, it is not about schemes or about play-calling it is about ‘mano a mano’ and see who comes out in the next game and wants it the most”.
Heat coach Spoelstra saw the series in boxing terms.
“You have to go back to your corner right now. We all just have to huddle up and lean on each other. We’re the only people we can depend on right now and that can be a powerful thing.
“All we have to do is focus on winning Game Six, then all of a sudden, bang, that momentum changes again,” he said.
Bosh’s return from an abdominal strain gives Miami more options even though on Tuesday he was not yet ready to join the starting rotation.
Bosh played for 14:23 minutes and put up nine points and seven rebounds but he did not feature down the stretch as the game moved away from Miami.
Spoelstra said he had considered putting Bosh back into the action but felt that might have been too risky.
“I didn’t think it would necessarily be fair to him to throw him in with three minutes to go. But he gave us some good minutes and that is something we can build on. I didn’t see a great deal of rust,” he said.
Bosh said he would be able to offer more to the team today.
“I definitely have more to give and I will be there. I’ll be ready to play more than I played tonight,” he said.
