Celtics can't handle Heat
<p>Miam's Dwayne Wade looks for a shot while defended by Boston's Kevin Garnett, left, during the first half Wednesday at Miami. The Heat defeated the Celtics 97-87 to win their Eastern Conference semifinals series 4-1.</p>
Behind Boston much of the season. Behind Boston much of the game.
No more.
Not only has the Miami Heat caught the Celtics - they have officially gone past them, and into the Eastern Conference finals.
Vanquishing the team they couldn't beat for so long with a 16-0 run to end the game, Dwyane Wade scored 34 points, LeBron James put the Heat up for good with a 3-pointer with 2:10 left on the way to a 33-point effort, and Miami topped visiting Boston 97-87 to win their East semifinal series Wednesday night in five games.
James added a game-sealing - more aptly, a series-sealing - 3-pointer with 40.4 seconds left, then turned and posed for some fans who screamed in delight.
"They make you fight for everything," James said. "You can never take the foot off the gas. You can never take a second off against that team."
So he kept playing, all the way to the final second.
A steal and two-handed slam 6 seconds later for good measure, followed by a Celtics turnover, got the party started. It was over, the Heat and Celtics knew it, and Boston coach Doc Rivers stood silently near the bench, his arms folded across his chest as James ran down the clock on Miami's final offensive possession of the series.
"It was a series that all of us wanted, really since training camp," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Next up for Miami: Either Chicago or Atlanta, in a series that may start as early as Sunday. Chicago leads the series 3-2 and Game 6 is tonight at Atlanta.
Thunder 99, Grizzlies 72: Kevin Durant scored 19 points, reserve Daequan Cook added 18 and host Oklahoma City followed its triple-overtime triumph with a blowout of Memphis to take its first series lead in the Western Conference semifinals.
The Thunder lead 3-2 heading into Game 6 on Friday night in Memphis. They got there with ease considering what happened two nights earlier.
Marc Gasol had 16 points to lead Memphis, which matched its lowest point total from the regular season and played like it was still drained from an emotional loss in their own building that knocked them out of control in the series.
The Grizzlies shot a season-worst 36 percent.