The Miami Heat are headed back to the conference finals for a fourth straight year after their 96-94 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday.
Dwyane Wade started the game off hot and stayed that way for much of the first half. In less than four minutes of play, Wade had six points. In fact, it took until the 7:14 remaining mark for anyone on the Heat to score outside of Wade.
It was James that ended the Wade solo run but only for a short while. Less than a minute later, Wade continued his scoring. By the time that the quarter ended with two Ray Allen free throws, it was 23-22 Heat. Wade was responsible for 12 of those points as he outscored his teammates combined.
The second quarter had Wade adding to his totals more and showing no signs of slowing down. Wade quickly made a driving bank shot less than two minutes into the quarter. Between free throws, jump shots and a fadeaway,
Sports
Wade had 20 points with 6:45 left in the half. Besides one basket each from Allen and Rashard Lewis, Wade also had all the points for the Heat in the quarter with 5:34 left. Wade sat for most of the final six minutes and the Nets ended the half with an 8-0 run. At halftime, the score was 49-42 Brooklyn.
The Heat began the third quarter with a 7-0 run to tie the game after a Chris Bosh three-pointer from the corner. Brooklyn would answer right back with a 7-0 run of their own in the third straight run for the teams dating back to the end of the second quarter. With 6:22 left in the quarter, the Nets extended their lead to ten.
After that Wade took over again making a jump shot and a dunk to cut it back to six before the Nets took a timeout. With a Joe Johnson tip shot at the 1.1 remaining mark, the Nets took a 75-66 lead to the fourth quarter.
Lewis hit a three within the first minute of the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to six quickly. James then sank a three of his own about 40 seconds later to make it a three-point game. Bosh soon after tried to tie the game with a three of his own but missed. Brooklyn went on another 7-0 run leading up until the 8:11 remaining mark to put it up nine once again.
With 2:48 left in the game, James hit a three-pointer which was assisted by Wade to make it a five point deficit. The Heat were on their own 7-0 run leading into the final minute and it was a one-point Nets lead with 43 seconds left.
Allen then hit a three-pointer with 32 seconds left to give Miami a two-point lead. Allen was fouled intentionally and made it a four-point game with 21.6 left. Johnson hit a trey for the Nets to make a one-point game with only 10.4 seconds left. James was then fouled and hit one of two to make it a two-point game.
The Nets were unable to get a shot off on their possession.
The Heat will now await the winner of the Indiana Pacers and Washington Wizards series.
