Heat Out Executed Celtics
MIAMI (CBSMiami.com) – Throughout the regular season, critics of the Miami Heat's Big Three said they couldn't win the big game. They cited numbers the Heat struggled to win games in the final minutes all season long.
Consider the critics silenced.
When it counted the most in Games 4 and 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Boston Celtics, the Big Three of the Heat completely torched the Celtics' Big Three of Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett.
In Game 5, LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade outscored the Celtics' Big Three by a score of 23-2. The Heat's stars shot 8-13 from the field compared to 1-9 for the Celtics.
In the final three minutes of Game 5, the Heat was 3-3 from 3-point land and 3-4 within ten feet of the rim.
Combining Game 4 and Game 5, the Heat's Big Three outscored the Celtics' Big Three by a score of 40-9 in the fourth quarter.
Boston was expected to be able to out-execute the Heat. But when it came to crunch time in the series' two biggest games, the Celtics couldn't match the Heat on the offensive or defensive end of the floor.
The best example of what the Heat did to the Celtics' stars comes by looking at Kevin Garnett.
The Big Ticket couldn't get his game going against the Heat's defense in any of the four losses, combined he shot under 35 percent in the four losses including an ugly 1-10 performance in one game.
There's really only one thing that needs to be corrected before the Eastern Conference Finals begin for the Heat, and it actually applies to the fans courtside of the AmericanAirlines Arena.
If you're courtside and you see Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, or LeBron James diving into you, try to catch them, not get out of the way and let them crash to the floor. You don't want a franchise player crashing to the floor. So remember, catch them.
But even with the star power of D-Wade, Bosh, and LeBron, if Chicago is the Eastern Conference finals opponent, they can't overtake Oprah.
The retiring talk show queen has rented out Chicago's United Center Monday for the taping of her show.
That means if Chicago is the first round opponent, the series will be played Sunday or Wednesday. It will be Sunday if the Bulls knockout the Hawks Thursday night and Wednesday if the Bulls vs. Hawks series goes to a seventh game.
