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Rondo leads Celtics to win as Heat miss James

Mar 20, 2014 - 5:28 AM Boston, MA (SportsNetwork.com) - Rajon Rondo nearly recorded a triple-double with nine points, 10 rebounds and 15 assists to lead the Boston Celtics to a 101-96 victory over the Miami Heat on Wednesday.

Avery Bradley paced Boston with 23 points behind a career-high six 3- pointers, while Brandon Bass tallied 18 and Jared Sullinger added 14 off the bench to help the Celtics snap a five-game losing streak.

"It was a good win," said Rondo. "We needed a win, we needed to play better at home and we did."

The Heat played without four-time MVP LeBron James because of back spasms and were led by Dwyane Wade's 17 points.

Chris Andersen scored 16 points with eight rebounds off the bench and Udonis Haslem and Ray Allen contributed 14 points each for Miami, which had a two- game winning streak snapped.

Boston opened up the third quarter on a 10-2 run to grab a 63-61 after a layup from Green.

Miami would follow with six straight to regain a four-point edge with just under nine to play in the third. Neither team would lead by more than four the rest of the frame and Bass' jumper with 1:23 remaining capped the scoring and helped the Celtics to an 80-78 lead after three.

A pair of Andersen free throws trimmed the deficit to 85-84, but Bradley answered with a 3-pointer that was followed by a stepback jumper from Rondo to make it a six-point game with just under 6 1/2 to go in the game.

The Boston lead remained six when Miami ripped off six straight in less than a minute to tie the game at 92-apiece after a pair of free throws from Allen.

Green broke the tie with a 3 before Rondo made a runner to push the lead to five with 1:44 remaining. Wade made a putback layup for Miami at the other end, but another Rondo jumper with 18.7 seconds left sealed it for the hosts.

"They started to get on a roll in that second half and get some open jump shots on their pick and roll game," said Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra. "Our execution down the stretch was not where it has been, particularly the last four minutes."

Earlier, Kris Humphries tied the game up at 16-apiece just before the midway point of the first before Haslem bookended a 13-3 run with a pair of buckets to help the Heat to a 29-19 lead.

Sullinger followed with a 3-pointer, but the Heat scored the final five points of the period to go up 34-22 after one.

Boston whittled the first quarter deficit to three, 47-44, after a Kelly Olynyk trey with just under five minutes until the half.

The Heat, however, pushed their margin to 59-53 at the break.

Game Notes

Greg Oden also missed the contest for Miami because of rest ... Green scored 13 points and Olynyk added 10 off the bench in the win ... Michael Beasley netted 12 points and Norris Cole gave 10 in the setback ... Boston shot 39- of-77 (50.6 percent) and Miami made 40-of-81 (49.4 percent) attempts from the field ... Miami outscored Boston, 50-20, in the paint ... The Heat owned a 22-7 edge in second chance points and a 13-0 margin on the fastbreak.