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| Dwyane Wade drives against Glen Davis during the second quarter of Game 4 of the Miami Heat's series against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden in Boston on Monday, May 9, 2011. |
BY JOSEPH GOODMAN
JGOODMAN@MIAMIHERALD.COM
BOSTON -- A split second after making the most important field goal of his career, Chris Bosh turned up court and screamed.
That was the sound of Boston’s pain.
Bosh rose above Celtics All-Star Ray Allen with 24.2 second left in overtime and tipped in a missed jumper by LeBron James to put the Heat ahead by five points.
Instantly, an arena filled with noise and hope suddenly shrank into quiet depression. The Heat defeated the Celtics 98-90 in overtime Monday night at once unconquerable TD Garden to take a 3-1 lead in this second-round, best-of-7 series.
“Us winning this game just means we have more hard work ahead of us and that’s what the playoffs are all about,” Bosh said. “It’s going to be twice as hard to beat this team from here on out.”
Monday was Miami’s first victory at TD Garden this season and also its first win here in its past 12 tries.
All things considered, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra called it a “breakthrough” game. It featured nine lead changes, including five in the fourth quarter, and eight ties. Led by Bosh and Dwyane Wade, Miami scored 12 points in the five-minute overtime after managing just 19 in the third quarter and 17 in the fourth.
“We’ve been through a lot of pain and heartache to get to a point where we feel confident at the end of games,” Spoelstra said. “We all know we struggled early in the year, trying to find our identity. … I think if we didn’t go through all those struggles at the end of games against big teams, we probably wouldn’t feel as confident as we do.”
Another challenge
The Heat next plays the Celtics on Wednesday at AmericanAirlines Arena with a chance to close out the series. Spoelstra called it the Heat’s “greatest challenge,” adding “it will be the toughest thing we’ve had to do at this point is to put away a champion.”
The Heat’s Big3 combined for 83 points with Bosh scoring 20, rebounding from a poor game Saturday. He also had 12 rebounds and outplayed Kevin Garnett in the second half and overtime. Garnett finished with seven points and 10 rebounds after scoring 28 in Game3.
Wade called Bosh’s tip-in the most important rebound of the game.
“When Bosh rebounds well we usually win,” Spoelstra said.
Said Bosh: “It’s always good to bounce back. You know, I don’t think much of it but bad games are necessary if you want to grow.”
Bosh had five points in overtime, including a layup that gave the Heat a four-point lead with 3:41 left. The score was tied at 86 at the end of regulation but the Heat scored the first six points of overtime.
James led the Heat with 35 points and added 14 rebounds. He scored 11 of the Heat’s final 13 point of regulation and had two points, an assist and a rebound in overtime. Wade had five points in overtime and finished with 28 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
“I looked at it as one of the most important games of my career,” James said. “We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to just do whatever it took.”
The Heat’s tough late-game defense allowed the Celtics only 17 points in the fourth quarter and overtime combined. Boston shot 33 percent in the second half and was 1 of 6 from the field in overtime. Playing with an injured Rajon Rondo at point guard, the Celtics committed 18 turnovers, including four in overtime.
The Celtics only had five points in the fourth quarter when Paul Pierce found Delonte West out of the corner of his eye and shot a pass to the corner. West swished a three-pointer over Wade’s outstretched arms to tie the score at 81 with three minutes left.
Plenty of tension
Allen followed with a three to give the Celtics a three-point lead. James then tied it with an off-balance three-pointer that could go down as one of the playoffs most improbable highlights.
From that moment on, the entire arena stood with a nervous tension worthy of such a pivotal playoff game. The Celtics needed Monday’s game and their fans knew it with every desperate scream that filled TD Garden. The arena shook with excitement when Pierce’s driving layup tied the score at 86 with 41.4 seconds left.
Minutes later, the arena Miami has had so much trouble conquering this season, the home of Boston’s recent dominance of the Eastern Conference, was finally silenced.
“It’s no doubt, obviously, this was the biggest game for this team to this point,” Wade said. “It puts us in a great position.”
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/05/09/2209446/big-3-combines-for-83-points-as.html#ixzz1LvDQjRPR
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