MIAMI — LeBron James leaped onto a courtside table as the postgame celebration was starting, thumped his chest and punched the air. ADVERTISING MIAMI — LeBron James leaped onto a courtside table as the postgame celebration was starting, thumped his
MIAMI — LeBron James leaped onto a courtside table as the postgame celebration was starting, thumped his chest and punched the air.
Next stop: The Eastern Conference finals. Again.
James scored 29 points, Dwyane Wade added 28 and Ray Allen delivered two huge plays in the final seconds as the Heat rallied to beat the Brooklyn Nets 96-94 on Wednesday night, winning the second-round matchup 4-1.
“It’s always been like that for us,” James said. “It’s never easy. It’s never easy for us.”
Sure looks easy, though. It was the 10th straight series win for the two-time defending NBA champions.
“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.
“That’s what it was down the stretch … incredible focus.”
Incredible defense, too, when it was needed most.
Down by eight with less than five minutes left, the Heat forced Brooklyn into nine straight missed shots while peeling off a 12-0 run to take the lead. Allen’s 3-pointer off an assist by Mario Chalmers with 32 seconds remaining was the go-ahead moment, and the Heat wouldn’t trail again.
Allen disrupted Joe Johnson’s dribble on the game’s final play, James then swiped the ball out of everyone’s reach, time expired — and the Heat advanced.
“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.”
Chris Bosh scored 16 and Allen finished with 13 for Miami. Johnson had 34 points, Paul Pierce scored 19 and Deron Williams had 17 for the Nets.
“Obviously, we thought this was a game we should have won,” Johnson said.
It’s the sixth trip to the East title series in the last 10 seasons for Miami, which is bidding for a fourth straight trip to the NBA Finals — something only the Lakers and Celtics franchises have accomplished.
James is heading to the East finals for the sixth time in eight seasons, the first two of those trips coming with Cleveland in 2007 and 2009.
The Heat will next face either fifth-seeded Washington or top-seeded Indiana. The Pacers lead that series 3-2, one win away from setting up a rematch with Miami that seemed like an absolute certainty for much of the season.
SPURS 104, TRAIL BLAZERS 82
SAN ANTONIO — Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard each scored 22 points, and San Antonio overcame an injury to Tony Parker to beat Portland and close out the Western Conference semifinals.
Patty Mills scored 18 points and Tim Duncan had 16 points and eight rebounds for San Antonio, which had four blowout victories in the five-game series.
Parker sat out the second half with tightness in his left hamstring.
It’s the third straight conference finals appearance for San Antonio, which lost a heartbreaking seven-game series to the Miami Heat in last season’s NBA Finals.
San Antonio, which had the NBA’s best record, will await the winner of the series between Oklahoma City and the Los Angeles Clippers. The Thunder have a 3-2 lead.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 21 points for Portland, while Damian Lillard added 17 points and 10 assists.
By wire sources
