Final
Heat escape Boston with 23rd straight win
Mar 19, 2013 - 4:59 AM Boston, MA (Sports Network) - The Miami Heat are 10 straight wins away from matching an unprecedented mark that was once thought never to be threatened.LeBron James' go-ahead jumper with 10.5 seconds remaining gave the Heat their 23rd straight victory, a 105-103 triumph over the Boston Celtics.
Miami surpassed the Houston Rockets' 22-game run during the 2007-08 campaign to sit alone in second on the NBA's all-time winning streak list. The 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers are the only team that stands in the Heat's way. They won 33 straight contests.
James tallied 37 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds for the Heat, who overcame a 17-point second quarter deficit.
Coincidentally, the Celtics ended the Rockets' streak on this very day five years ago, but not even a career-high 43-point performance from Jeff Green could help Boston extend its 11-game home winning streak.
Green was 14-of-21 from the field and 5-of-7 from beyond the arc.
Kevin Garnett missed his second straight game. He has the flu and has been dealing with an adductor strain in his left thigh, which forced him to sit out Saturday's contest.
After James hit his jumper, Shane Battier blocked Green's drive down the lane. Paul Pierce came off a screen on the ensuing out-of-bounds play, but his 3- point try from the right wing with 4.9 seconds left was off the mark.
Shane Battier made a heck of a play. You've got to give him credit there but we liked where he was at," said Celtics head coach Doc Rivers.
Boston entered the fourth with an 82-78 lead and that advantage grew when the Celts began the final frame on a 14-5 run to make it 96-83.
Miami, though, countered with an 18-4 burst of its own to take its first edge of the fourth. James had nine points during the surge, which was capped when Mario Chalmers nailed a three from the top of the arc for a 101-100 Heat margin with 2:40 remaining.
Pierce found Avery Bradley in the corner for a wide-open triple on Boston's next touch and he drained it before James' offensive rebound and putback tied the contest at 103-103 with 1:21 to play.
"We just have to continue to stick together. We're a veteran ball club and we all want to win. We got a little emotional, a little fired up on the bench," said James. "But we're all out there trying to do the thing that's right for the team, and it was everybody together in the fourth quarter."
After Green was unable to get his layup to drop, he played great defense on James' left-wing isolation play, which forced Wade into a tough fallaway shot in the paint that was an airball and resulted in a shot clock violation with 45 ticks to go.
Brandon Bass drove strongly to the basket, but his layup attempt was no good and at the other end, James got the best of Green on the same left-wing isolation play. He waited patiently and jab stepped a few times before rising up and rattling home the go-ahead jumper from the left elbow.
Earlier, Green had 10 points during a 17-0 Boston swing to close the opening stanza as the Celtics led 31-19 after a quarter of play.
Green, who netted 14 points in the first, continued his stellar play in the second with 12 more to give him 26 in the half. His three-point play vaulted Boston to its largest lead of 41-24 at the 9:13 mark of the period.
Miami, though, battled back to pull within 59-53 heading into the break and began the third on a 10-3 spurt to take the lead as James' layup made it 63-62 with 7:42 left in the stanza.
Green, however, still had the hot hand in the third and even had the Beantown faithful chanting his name. His three-point play concluded an 11-2 run to up the advantage back to 73-65. He had 12 more points in the quarter to give him 38 after three.
"Jeff was terrific. I thought he played well the entire night. He attacked. You know what I loved about Jeff, I thought the first two minutes of the game, three minutes of the game, he was struggling," Rivers said. "He missed a free throw, missed a couple of shots. And you know the old Jeff may have gone away. He actually just kept going and kept going, and that's all we talked about. And once he realized he had an advantage, he took advantage. And that was great."
Game Notes
Miami's 23-game run began five days after a 100-98 double-overtime loss in Boston on Jan. 27 ... Pierce finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, but turned the ball over seven times ... The Heat scored 24 points of 21 Boston turnovers.
- MIAMI: 105
BOSTON: 103
Final
Mar 18 10:54 PM - Scott Dunstan That was definitely Miami possession anyway.
Heat 105, Celtics 103 4th - 0:05Mar 18 10:51 PM - 277
rootsRUWTbot Added 11 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Heat 101, Celtics 103 4th - 1:26Mar 18 10:40 PM - 241
rootsRUWTbot Added 24 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Heat 98, Celtics 100 4th - 3:09Mar 18 10:31 PM - 212
rootsRUWTbot Added 10 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Heat 94, Celtics 99 4th - 4:36Mar 18 10:29 PM - 202
rootsRUWTbot Added 24 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Heat 94, Celtics 99 4th - 4:58Mar 18 10:28 PM - 178
rootsRUWTbot Took away 29 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Heat 92, Celtics 99 4th - 5:15Mar 18 10:25 PM - 207
rootsRUWTbot Added 24 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Heat 92, Celtics 96 4th - 5:34Mar 18 10:25 PM - 183
rootsRUWTbot Added 8 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Heat 90, Celtics 96 4th - 5:56Mar 18 10:25 PM - 175
rootsRUWTbot Added 27 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Heat 90, Celtics 96 4th - 6:26Mar 18 10:23 PM - 148
rootsRUWTbot Added 28 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Heat 88, Celtics 96 4th - 7:08Mar 18 10:23 PM - 120
roots - 127
roots - 145
rootsRUWTbot Took away 11 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Heat 83, Celtics 91 4th - 9:51Mar 18 10:15 PM - 156
rootsRUWTbot Added 16 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Heat 83, Celtics 89 4th - 10:10Mar 18 10:15 PM - 140
rootsRUWTbot Took away 20 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Heat 81, Celtics 89 4th - 10:32Mar 18 10:14 PM - 160
rootsRUWTbot Took away 10 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Heat 81, Celtics 87 4th - 11:04Mar 18 10:13 PM - 170
rootsRUWTbot Added 10 roots (Close Finish, Individual Performance)
Heat 81, Celtics 85 4th - 11:22Mar 18 10:13 PM - MIAMI: 78
BOSTON: 82
End of 3rd
Mar 18 10:08 PM - 155
roots - 141
roots - 131
roots - 138
roots - 126
roots - 116
roots - 121
roots - MIAMI: 53
BOSTON: 59
Halftime
Mar 18 9:19 PM - Marc C Nichols Boston looking good going in to halftime!! Still have a long way to go!
Heat 49, Celtics 57 2nd - 1:29Mar 18 9:16 PM - MIAMI: 19
BOSTON: 31
End of 1st
Mar 18 8:38 PM - MIAMI: 0
BOSTON: 2
1st Quarter - 11:47
Mar 18 8:11 PM - qwertyui A lot of people are ready to see the Heat's streak come to an end tonight. Should be fun.
Heat vs. CelticsMar 18 7:58 PM - Cassie Here we go, the first epic game of the latter half of the NBA season. Sure, the Finals are in April, but games in early March can make all the difference.
Heat vs. CelticsMar 18 5:12 PM
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