LeBron Sets Stage For Game 5 Clincher
MIAMI (CBSMiami.com) – It's not quite Linda Blair, but Miami Heat forward LeBron James is close to exorcising his demon, the Boston Celtics.
LeBron has seen the Celtics in the playoffs and his Cleveland Cavaliers teams had trouble overcoming the Celtics' Big Three, even when the Cavaliers were the number one seed in the playoffs.
When the Celtics have made it to the NBA finals in two of the last three years, they beat James' Cavaliers.
It could be argued that one of the reasons LeBron brought his talents to South Beach was so he could finally get past the Celtics and move forward towards a NBA championship.
While LeBron almost blew it at the end of regulation, when it mattered most, James was putting daggers into the hearts of Celtics fans.
If the Heat wins the Eastern Conference, James' game-tying three with just minutes left in Game 4 may be remembered as one of the biggest shots of his career.
"I looked at it as one of the biggest games of my career," James told SI.com. "Me and D-Wade had a lot of conversation after Game 3 all the way to the tip-off today about how important this game is."
Speaking of Wade, he too had some added fight to his game. He had been 0-11 in the TD Garden in Boston before Game 4 Monday night. He too wanted to overcome the Celtics to move on in the playoffs.
And now as the Heat stand poised to move on to the Eastern Conference finals, the Celtics will show just how much fight they have left in the tank.
No one expects the Celtics to roll over and give up the way the Los Angeles Lakers did over the weekend.
"We'll get their best games on Wednesday. And we have to be better. If we're real about what we want to do, we have to beat the Boston Celtics at their best," said Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra.
The Celtics echo the same message Spoelstra was preaching after Game 4.
Celtics forward Kevin Garnett simply says, "When our back is against the wall, that's when we show great resilience. We'll see what we're made of."
