Nothing gets the city of Miami going better than the fans in the stands after a much needed win at the American Airlines Arena. Not to mention LeBron James hyping the crowd up at the end of the game by standing on a table at half court pounding his chest in celebration. Miami went on to beat Brooklyn 96-94, while also taking the series in a 4-1 matchup.
James scored 29 points; Dwyane Wade added 28 and Ray Allen finished with a strong 13 points. With less than five minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Heat went on a 12-0 run while taking the lead after being down by 8. After an assist from Mario Chalmers with 32 seconds remaining, Allen drilled another one of his classic corner three-pointers to close out the game Wednesday night, sending the Brooklyn Nets packing in game five.
“When we met the first day for prep, we said the No. 1 key, overwhelmingly the No. 1 key in this series, was great mental stability,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
In the final seconds of the game, Allen altered Joe Johnson’s dribble, making it easy for James to swipe the ball out of everyone’s reach causing the time to expire. Johnson finished out strong with 34 points, Paul Pierce scored 19 and Deron Williams had 17 for the Nets.
“Give the Heat credit,” Nets coach Jason Kidd said. “They were attacking there in the fourth quarter. We were attacking. Both teams were attacking. They made plays, they made shots and we didn’t.”
The Nets may lose one of their top players, Paul Pierce, as he becomes a free agent this year. Kevin Garnett has one more year left on his contract; however it’s been speculated that he is considering retirement. The Nets may have some big decisions to make after this year when it comes to replenishing this team.
As for the Heat, they will advance to the Eastern Conference Finals taking on the Indiana Pacers. This time last year during the Eastern Conference Finals the Pacers and the Heat played until Game 7. The Heat won that series winning 95-88. Could this rematch possibly play out the same way it did last year? Or, can the Pacers knock the Heat’s chances of a 3-Peat? We will soon find out Sunday May 18, 2014 at 3:30 pm Eastern time on ABC.
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