LeBron James drops 35 points, Dwyane Wade adds 28, and the Heat have taken care of home court to open this Eastern Conference semifinal series. The Celtics had their chances, even tying the game 80-80 in the fourth quarter, but they ran out of gas when it mattered.
For what it's worth, Rajon Rondo had a magnificent game in a losing effort for Boston. He finishes with 20 points, 12 assists and six rebounds.
The C's head home for some much-needed rest and some even-more-needed practice. They will host the Heat in Game 3 of this series on Saturday night.
Fourth quarter, 2:47, Heat 94-82: Kevin Garnett finally snaps the 14-0 Heat run with a smooth jumper, but it isn't nearly enough. The C's need six more of those just to tie the game.
What an ugly fourth quarter. Here comes a 2-0 series deficit.
Fourth quarter, 4:36, Heat 92-80: Now it's a 12-0 run. We've gone from a tie ballgame to the biggest Heat lead of the night in a matter of minutes.
The Celtics are imploding.
Fourth quarter, 5:46, Heat 87-80: Bucket, turnover, bucket. It's a 7-0 run. The Heat are pulling away again.
LeBron James has had a monster game. He's now got 29 points on 13-of-23 shooting. He's about to go to the line with a chance for his 30th, and an eight-point Miami lead.
Fourth quarter, 6:22, Heat 83-80: That was a roller-coaster minute for Mario Chalmers. First he knocks down a go-ahead 3 to put the Heat back on top; then he gets the wind knocked out of him, and hard.
Looks like Chalmers will stay in the game. The Heat took a 20-second timeout to check on him, and it appears he'll be OK.
Fourth quarter, 7:41, Heat 80-78: The Celtics just keep clawing away. Delonte West is killing it — first he knocks down a jumper, then he corrals a defensive rebound and fires a bolt of a pass down the floor to Paul Pierce for a transition bucket.
Just like that, Miami's lead gets trimmed down from six to two.
Can the Celtics keep making their push? They're too close now to give up.
Fourth quarter, 10:20, Heat 76-73: It's Rajon Rondo and four backups for the Celtics to start the fourth quarter. Will it keep them within striking distance?
Quite possibly it will. Delonte West just knocked down an open 3 off a Rondo assist. These bench guys are holding their own against LeBron and Bosh.
If they can hold down the fort while KG and Ray Allen rest up, the C's will have a shot at this thing.
End of third quarter, Heat 72-67: LeBron tacks on a nice little insurance bucket on the final play of the third quarter, going iso against Jeff Green and knocking down a long two. The Heat open their lead from three points to five with 12 minutes to play.
In other words, the Celtics are 12 minutes away from being down 0-2 in a playoff series. It's been a long time since we've seen that.
They've got to try to contain LeBron and Wade in the fourth quarter. That's much, much easier said than done.
Third quarter, 2:55, Heat 66-62: Things are getting a little "chippy" again, as Doc Rivers would call it. First Kevin Garnett takes a little poke at LeBron James for hanging on the rim too long after a dunk; then Ray Allen gives LeBron a hard foul in transition. The C's look a little bit peeved, to say the least.
They're still within striking distance, but they've got to slow down LeBron. The Heat forward has dropped eight points in the last two minutes.
Third quarter, 4:00, Heat 64-62: Kevin Garnett comes up with back-to-back buckets, but LeBron James has an answer. Back-to-back 3-pointers. The Heat have their lead back.
Try as they may, the Celtics just can't seem to contest every single Miami jump shot. It's just too much work for them, it appears.
Third quarter, 5:53, Heat 56-55: The Celtics have been trying like crazy to get Kevin Garnett involved in the post, and it hasn't been working. He's gotten a lot of touches and put up a lot of misses.
Perhaps that changes in the second half. KG just got a nice look and put one down. He's now 4-for-13 tonight. Still not good, but he's making baby steps in the right direction.
The Celtics have gotten only 22 points tonight from their Big Three. Dwyane Wade is threatening to eclipse that number all by himself.
Third quarter, 8:10, Heat 54-51: One advantage for the C's so far in this second half: free-throw shooting. Dwyane Wade just missed one for the first time tonight, and Jermaine O'Neal got two shots on the other end and made them both.
The Celtics will need to do a lot of little things right and hope they add up. They've been banged up all night, but smart, efficient basketball can give them a chance to come back anyway.
Third quarter, 10:04, Heat 51-47: The Celtics are trying to make their push. Ray Allen passes up a 3 to drive baseline for a reverse layup, and Paul Pierce follows that up with a bucket of his own. The C's are still within four.
But it still feels like an uphill battle for the C's, who will be hard-pressed to hold off Dwyane Wade and LeBron James in this second half.
It's going to take a heck of a defensive effort, to say the least.
Halftime, Heat 47-42: The Celtics are trying their darndest to get back in this game, but Miami's big three has just been too overpowering. The host Heat are making a convincing case to lead this series 2-0 by the end of the evening.
The Heat get 16 points from Dwyane Wade, 11 from LeBron James and nine from Chris Bosh. The C's just can't contain all three guys right now, no matter how hard they try.
Jeff Green leads the C's with 10 points off the bench, as he played a big chunk of minutes in place of the injured Paul Pierce. Aside from Green, no one else has more than six points for the men in green.
This could be a long night. The Celtics need to get their offense going again, and quick.
Second quarter, 2:55, Celtics 36-34: The Heat are now coming up on five consecutive scoreless minutes. They had a 34-33 lead at the 7:41 mark; they're now down 36-34.
Aside from one Ray Allen 3, it's been a really, really long time since anyone's done anything offensively.
The C's will take that. They're banged up and frustrated right now, but their defense has enabled them to cling to a two-point edge.
Second quarter, 5:42, Heat 34-33: The Celtics' bench did their job, holding their own while Pierce, Rondo and O'Neal were out for various reasons. Now all three guys are back on the floor, and the C's are still within striking distance. Mission accomplished.
The C's starters have underperformed so far in this one, no doubt. Ray Allen has still yet to score a point, for instance. He's 0-for-3. Jermaine O'Neal has also missed a couple of easy ones.
These guys are professionals. They know how to shake off the cobwebs and get going again.
Second quarter, 8:57, Heat 31-29: The Celtics have averaged 16.6 bench points per game in this postseason. So far tonight, they have 13, and the second quarter just started.
They're going to need their bench to be productive. Pierce is out, Rajon Rondo's been sitting a while, and Jermaine O'Neal is in foul trouble.
Doc Rivers is going with five reserves at the same time. That's a surprise.
Second quarter, 9:32, Heat 30-29: Not a bad night so far for the Celtics' bench. Now Delonte West involves, knocking down a 3 from the top of the key.
Nice play by Glen Davis — taking the entry pass from Jeff Green inside, waiting for the defense to collapse, then kicking it to the open D-West.
The Celtics are back to within one, and they've done it with very little help from their starters.
End of first quarter, Heat 27-26: The Celtics are without Paul Pierce for a little bit, but don't forget: Jeff Green knows how to be the starting small forward for a playoff team. Last year, he was one.
Green has stepped up in Pierce's absence, carrying the Celtics offensively. He's got eight points so far on 3-of-4 shooting, including two 3s.
LeBron James leads the Heat with eight points of his own. It's a big night for small forwards.
First quarter, 3:12, Celtics 19-16: The bad news is another man down — besides J.O. in foul trouble, Paul Pierce is now in the locker room getting a look at his strained left foot. He's likely to return.
The good news? The bench is stepping up. The C's have gotten three points from Jeff Green in relief of Pierce, and two from Big Baby Davis backing up J.O.
Those guys have to keep it up. No one wins championships with starters alone.
First quarter, 5:05, 14-14: The Heat get back in the ballgame with a 7-2 run, capped off by a pair of jumpers from Dwyane Wade. Nothing's changed since Sunday afternoon — that guy is still really good.
Meanwhile, Jermaine O'Neal is on the bench early with two personal fouls. The Celtics will need to lean on Glen Davis for some quality minutes in this first quarter.
First quarter, 7:08, Celtics 9-7: Leave it to Mike Bibby to spark the Miami hot streak, taking a kick-out from Dwyane Wade and knocking down a corner 3. Nice pass, nice shot. Miami is back in business.
The Celtics have been the superior team because of teamwork — ball movement on one end, help D on the other. Let's see if the Heat can snap out of this little funk.
First quarter, 10:23, Celtics 2-0: So far, we're looking at another defensive struggle early. Both teams get consecutive stops to open the ballgame before Rajon Rondo finally breaks through with a driving layup in transition.
The Heat are getting good looks, but the shots haven't fallen yet. The Celtics can't get complacent. They've got to keep playing tough team D.
7 p.m.: The national anthem has been sung by tonight's musical guest — everyone. In light of certain patriotic events this week, the Heat had the entire crowd of 19,000-plus sing the anthem together. A nice gesture to honor our country.
Now let's play some basketball, shall we?
6 p.m.: Another day, but still no progress with either Shaquille O'Neal for the Celtics or Udonis Haslem for the Heat. Both are inactive again in Game 2.
Bear in mind, though, that both teams are looking forward to three days of rest after tonight's game. There's lots of time between now and Saturday night for the banged-up bigs to prepare for Game 3.
Not much else to report pregame. It's a quiet evening in both locker rooms. Call it the calm before the storm.
5 p.m.: Welcome to American Airlines Arena, where the Celtics will look to get even before they go home. The C's are down 1-0 and could really use a win.
Still two hours to game time, but Ray Allen has already gotten his shots up, and Dwyane Wade is on the floor doing work now for the host Heat. These guys are doing work. Tonight's a big game.
Stay tuned for updates from both locker rooms leading up to game time.
8 a.m.: The Miami Heat are up 1-0 on the Celtics in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, but they're far from complacent. Quite the opposite, in fact.
"We got the win," coach Erik Spoelstra said. "But now we have to try to get amnesia as quickly as possible and figure out how we can play better."
The Heat aren't content to beat the Celtics just once. Not when their leader, Dwyane Wade, beat the C's just once in a best-of-seven series last year. Not when their other leader, LeBron James, has lost to them twice in the last three postseasons. If they let up now, Boston will pounce again.
The Celtics, for their part, need to recover both physically and mentally. Physically, they were outplayed on both ends of the floor in Sunday's Game 1, losing 99-90; mentally, they lost their composure a little bit in the second half.
Jermaine O'Neal got a flagrant foul. Paul Pierce got two technicals in 58 seconds and was kicked out. Delonte West picked up a tech of his own earlier in the game.
The Celtics have to defeat their own demons. The Heat are merely focused on defeating the C's in the game at hand.
"We're trying to beat them in a game of basketball where our game is better than their game four times," Spoelstra said. "That's what we reminded ourselves in the huddle — they had their run, and we needed to collect ourselves and execute."
The Celtics are hopeful to get Shaquille O'Neal back on the floor before too long; same with the Heat and Udonis Haslem. But healthy reserve bigs or no, both sides will be raring to go for Game 2.
The Celtics and Heat tip off at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
