Category: NBA Playoffs Blog

Kevin Garnett had 24 points and 11 rebounds and Rajon Rondo scored 21 points with 10 assists to lead the Boston Celtics to a 101-91 victory over the Heat in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals on Friday night, cutting Miami’s lead in the series to 2-1.

Game 4 is Sunday night in Boston.

Paul Pierce scored 23 points for Boston.

LeBron James scored 34 points, but the NBA MVP and the rest of the Heat went cold during a 7-minute stretch at the end of the first quarter and the beginning of the second, when Boston outscored them 15-0 to turn a six-point deficit into a nine-point lead.

James scored 16 points in the first quarter but had just four points with one rebound and one assist in the fourth, when Miami cut a 24-point deficit to eight. Mike Miller hit consecutive 3-pointers during an 11-0 run that cut the deficit to 95-87.

Miami still trailed by eight points, with the ball, when Dwyane Wade missed and Ray Allen grabbed the rebound, sending Rondo on a fast break that made it a 99-89 with 99 seconds to play. James threw the ball away underneath, then missed a 3-point attempt the next time down – one of only four shots he took in the fourth quarter.

Pierce found Garnett for a long jumper at the other end, and the teams began emptying their benches.]

— Reported by Jimmy Golen of the Associated Press

Kevin Garnett scored a team-high 24 points on 10-of-16 shooting and added 11 rebounds as the Celtics made an effort to establish him around the basket early and it aided them in building as much as a 24-point lead. Rajon Rondo added 21 points, 10 assists and 6 rebounds, while Paul Pierce kicked in 23 points despite just 7-of-21 shooting over 40 minutes. Boston shot 50 percent (38-of-76) from the floor and dominated on the glass, outrebounding Miami 42-32. LeBron James scored a game-high 34 points on 16-of-26 shooting, but was a bit quiet after a big first quarter. Dwyane Wade chipped in 18 points on 9-of-20 shooting.

A James jumper with 2:15 to play in the first quarter had the Heat out front by six at 28-22, but the Heat would go scoreless for the next 6:47 spanning into the second frame. A 15-0 burst had the Celtics out front 37-28 after a Garnett layup. Despite shooting a mere 27.8 percent (5-of-18) in the second quarter, the Heat stuck around a bit before a 3-pointer by Ray Allen right before the half pushed Boston’s lead to a first-half high 13 points (55-42) and prevented Miami from stealing away any momentum. Boston extended its lead in the third quarter with Garnett on the floor, then held on for dear life as Miami trimmed that 24-point cushion to single digits late in the fourth quarter.

Looking eager to upstage Rondo on the heels of his 44-10-8 effort in Game 2, James came out firing. Not only did he put up 12 shots, but he connected on seven as part of a 16-point first-quarter outburst. It could have been worse; he missed 3 of 4 free throws. The Heat shot 61.1 percent (11-of-18) in the first quarter, but Boston hung around at 60 percent shooting (12-of-20) and actually led 30-28 after the first 12 minutes.

— Reported by Chris Forsberg of ESPN Boston

Boston got an unexpected spark off the bench late in the first quarter when Doc Rivers called upon the seldom-used Marquis Daniels.

He only scored two points, but his activity on defense and all-around hustle seemed to be just the spark the Celtics were desperately needing.

And defensively, he was actually able to do something none of his teammates have done up to this point in the series – slow down LeBron James.

After making seven of his first nine shots, Daniels’ defense was instrumental in James missing three of his next four shots.

— Reported by A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE

LeBron finished with 34 points, but that came with a strange asterisk. He had 16 in the first quarter, and it looked like the start of something good for the Heat. Instead, it represented something else.

His teammates stood around watching him. The offense became him only. Wade, as is happening regularly, couldn’t get going in the first half. He had an inefficient six points on nine shots.

And, let’s face it, when Wade isn’t joining LeBron on a big night the Heat has little chance. Wade finished with 18 points, but the game had drifted away from the Heat before most of them mattered.

It was more than that, though. Wade and LeBron had 35 free-throw shots in Game 2 — a fact Boston loudly pointed out between games. They had five Friday night.

— Reported by Dave Hyde of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Rajon Rondo posted a stat line never before seen in NBA playoff history. He was on the court for every second of a game that finished more than three hours after it started. He scored more points in a single overtime than anyone this season.

His night was called incredible, amazing and unbelievable – and that was by the Miami Heat.

And when it was over, Rondo could only express disappointment that the Boston Celtics needed more.

LeBron James scored 34 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, Dwyane Wade scored eight of his 23 points in overtime and the Heat took a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals with a 115-111 win over the Celtics on Wednesday night, overcoming what will surely go down as the best game of Rondo’s career to move within six wins of an NBA title.

”We lost,” Rondo said, shrugging off talk of the historical ramifications of his night. ”Simple as that.”

Rondo’s final numbers: 44 points, 10 assists, eight rebounds. He scored all 12 of Boston’s overtime points, giving the Celtics the lead three times, only to have the Heat answer each of those. And when he finally missed in the extra session – on a play where Rondo said he got struck in the face by Wade – then and only then could Miami put Boston away.

Game 3 is Friday night in Boston, where the Celtics will try to make this a series. No Celtics team has successfully rallied from an 0-2 hole since 1969.

— Reported by Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press

LeBron James led the Heat with 34 points. He was 7 of 20 from the field but made 18 of 24 from the free-throw line to offset his struggles from the field. The Heat was 31 of 47 from the line (66 percent) while Boston was 26 of 29.

“The performance [Rondo] put on tonight will go down in the record books,” James said. “It was exciting to be a part of it and to win.”

Dwyane Wade had 23 points, scoring 21 after the first half, and Mario Chalmers had another postseason breakout game, going 8 of 16 from the field for 22 points.

“It was exhausting,” Wade said. “We never should have dug ourselves that big a hole, but give [Boston] credit.”

It was a steal by Chalmers, perhaps the Heat’s craftiest defender, that set up Wade’s three-point play with 59.7 seconds left in overtime. The acrobatic bucket and continuation free throw put the Heat ahead by five points. From there, James and Wade made just enough at the free-throw line — a combined 4 of 5 — to hold off the Celtics.

— Reported by Joseph Goodman of the Miami Herald

The Celtics lost captain Paul Pierce, who fouled out in the final minute of regulation, and reserves Pietrus and Keyon Dooling fouled out in overtime.

“LeBron James took 24 free throws and our team took 29,’’ Rivers said. “Paul Pierce fouled out of a game where he was attacking the basket. It’s just tough. But listen, we’ve just got to keep playing. I tell my guys, ‘doesn’t matter.’ We can’t get distracted. We will not get distracted in this series.

“I guarantee you right now they’re distracted, in the locker room. But we have to get it out of us and move on. Whatever happened, happened, and we’re just going to move on and play the next game.

“It’s corny, but they’ve won two games at home. And now we go to a place that we’re very comfortable in, and we have to win two games at home. And then we’ll see from there.’’

— Reported by Frank Dell’Apa of the Boston Globe

Rondo played the full 53 minutes, providing a career-high 44 points with eight rebounds and 10 assists — a combination of levels never reached by anyone in a playoff game. Ever.

But Rondo couldn’t provide the Bostonians with the victory that they so sorely needed, and was within their grasp. Miami pulled away for a 115-111 triumph in overtime, leaving Rondo defeated but unbowed.

“It’s irrelevant,” he said. “We lost. It’s as simple as that.”

Not quite, for even in the extra period when he should have had nothing left, he went for 12 points, including a pair of 3-pointers in the final 15 seconds after Paul Pierce and Mickael Pietrus had fouled out.

“I felt fine,” Rondo said. “It was a mental grind for me individually and for us as a team. Kevin (Garnett) played extra minutes (45). We all did. There’s no turning back. It’s the conference finals. I wanted to play every minute. I thought I didn’t hurt my team by me playing every minute. I wanted to go out there and continue to do my best for my team.”

— Reported by Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald