The Heat was expecting it at least once or twice this series. It happened Wednesday on the Heat’s home court. Rajon Rondo was more than brilliant. The Heat still won.
After thoroughly dominating Game 1 of these Eastern Conference finals, the Heat outlasted and outgunned the Celtics when they were at their best in Game 2 at AmericanAirlines Arena. In the end, the Heat’s 115-111 overtime victory might have been more demoralizing to Boston than the initial punch in the face to begin the series.
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. Dwyane Wade had 23 points, scoring 21 after the first half, and Mario Chalmers had another breakout game, going 8 of 16 from the field for 22 points.
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, Miami made just enough at the free-throw line to hold off the Celtics.
Rondo, who finished with 44 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds, made a three-pointer with 2.9 seconds left to cut the Heat’s lead to 114-111. Wade, who was 7 of 11 from the lien on the game, then made 1 of 2 to ice the victory in the final seconds.
Picture-perfect ball movement gave the Heat a 107-105 lead with 1:27 left in overtime when a pair of passes zipped from Wade to James to Udonis Haslem like a laser reflecting off mirrors. Haslem finished the play with a dunk.
The Heat had two chances at the end of regulation but James missed them both. First, James missed a layup in traffic but wrangled his own offensive rebound. He held the ball for a step-back, isolation jumper at the buzzer and missed.
A familiar clutch-time shot by Haslem, his patented baseline jumper, gave the Heat a four-point lead with 1:08 left. Following a Celtics timeout, Kevin Garnett finished an alley-oop to cut Miami’s lead to two points.
Wade had a chance to make it two-possession game with 47.7 seconds left, but made just 1 of 2 free throws. The Celtics tied the game on their next possession when Ray Allen drilled a wide-open three-pointer. At the beginning of the side-out-of-bounds play, James appeared to be guarding Allen but left him wide open to follow Rondo into the paint.
A three-pointer by Mike Miller gave the Heat an 84-77 lead less than a minute into the fourth quarter but the Celtics fought their way back. A pair of free throws by Kevin Garnett put Boston ahead by three points with 5:43 to play and a skillful bucket by Rondo gave the Celtics a 92-87 lead.
All those times Heat coach Erik Spoelstra talked about the potential of Chalmers â€" he was talking about Wednesday night. With Wade struggling in the first half, Chalmers kept the Heat in the game with three three-pointers and 14 points. Chalmers’ first-half effort included some trash talking with Keyon Dooling and a technical foul.
The Heat outscored the Celtics 35-22 in the third quarter. After an abysmal first half, Wade led the comeback with 12 points. He was 1 of 6 in the first half but made 5 of 7 shots in the first 12 minutes of the second half.
The third-quarter resurgence was part of a larger trend for the Heat. In the past five games, the Heat has outscored its opponents by double-digits in third quarters. Miami’s 35 points was the second highest scoring total for the Heat in the third quarter in the postseason.
James got things kick started in the third quarter with a pair of three-pointers. Spoelstra talked a lot about how the Heat’s “hero ball†ways was behind it but James’ heaves seemed to all but save Miami from a potential blowout. James finished with 11 points in the quarter. Udonis Haslem delivered six important rebounds in the third quarter, including a pair of offensive boards.
James and Wade combined for 14 points, four rebounds and two assists. Meanwhile, Rondo had 22 points, four rebounds and seven assists all by himself.
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