Celtics beat Heat on Jeff Green’s buzzer-beating fadeaway three-pointer

MIAMI — It didn’t have all the same players involved, but the Heat-Celtics rivalry proved it can still make for quite a game.

Forward Jeff Green hit a buzzer-beating, fall-away 3-pointer over LeBron James as the Boston Celtics stunned the Miami Heat 111-110 on Saturday night at American Airlines Arena.

“I was in the first row because I faded back so far,” Green said. “I ended up on some lady’s lap, but I saw it when it went through.”

While James said before the game that the matchup was no longer a rivalry without former Celtics coach Doc Rivers and forwards Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, Boston won its third in a row after starting the season 0-4.

Green, who scored 43 points in a loss to Miami last season, seems to have a knack for stepping up to the challenge when facing the Heat.

“They are the best team. They won back-to-back championships,” Green said. “You got to get up playing these guys.”

Green led the Celtics with 24 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field.

James hit two free throws with three seconds left to turn the Heat’s two-point lead into a two-possession game that appeared to ice the game against the young, scrappy Celtics.

But forward Gerald Wallace scored on a layup to cut the lead to 110-108 with 1.6 seconds left. Wallace fouled Dwyane Wade, who missed one free throw and then intentionally missed the second.

“Just 0.6 left, I was trying to hit the rim, but it didn’t go as planned,” Wade said.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, “That clearly did not work.”

Rookie Celtics coach Brad Stevens benefited from an NBA rule that would not have worked in his favor last season at Butler — the opportunity to advance the ball to midcourt on a late timeout.

“In college basketball, that game would be over because you have to go the length of the court in .6 seconds; that is almost impossible,” he said. “In this, you have a chance to catch it facing the basket and shoot with .4 seconds or more.”

Wallace made the cross-court inbounds pass and rookie center Kelly Olynyk set the pick that freed Green.

Guards Avery Bradley and Jordan Crawford scored 17 and 15 points, respectively, and forward Jared Sullinger pitched in 12 for Boston.

James played through a sore back and finished two rebounds short of a triple-double with 25 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds. James scored 11 in the fourth quarter as the Heat constantly went to him late.

Forward/center Chris Bosh scored 20 points and Wade had 18.

Green ranked his buzzer-beater as the No. 2 moment in his career, with No. 1 being the driving layup he made as time expired against the Cleveland Cavaliers last March because his heart surgeon was able to witness it.

Miami was outrebounded 39-31 and beaten off the dribble and surrendered driving lanes to the basket and open shots.

“This game has always had … an energy and a karma about it, and we did too many things where we did not deserve to win that game,” Spoelstra said.

Forward Michael Beasley found ways to score against Celtics forward Kris Humphries early. The Heat forward had the Miami crowd frenzied in the second quarter when he scored all 10 of his points in just his second game since his return this season to the organization that drafted him No. 2 overall in 2008.

Beasley was one of three Heat players — along with James and Bosh — to score in double figures in the first half. He did not play in the second half.

“In the second half, I really just didn’t feel that we had to force a 10-man rotation,” Spoelstra said.

Like Beasley, point guard Mario Chalmers and center Chris Andersen each added 10 points.

Crawford scored 11 of his 15 points in the first half, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to send the Celtics up 60-59 at halftime.

NOTES: Despite being bedridden all day with soreness in his lower back, James started in his normal role. “I got out (of) bed twice today,” James said. … The Celtics came to Miami to play on the second night of a back-to-back after winning 91-89 in Orlando on Friday. … Miami PG Mario Chalmers was fined $15,000 by the NBA for his hit on Blake Griffin in Thursday’s 102-97 win against the Clippers … Olynyk got his first career start after Brazilian C Vitor Faverani started the Celtics’ first six games.

source: interaksyon.com

Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett lead Brooklyn Nets over Miami Heat

BROOKLYN — Thirteen straight times, the Brooklyn Nets had fallen short to the Miami Heat.

Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce were not around for any of those games but having battled the Heat in the postseason with the Boston Celtics, they were determined not to extend that losing streak for their new team.

Pierce scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half, helping the Nets build a double-digit lead before they withstood a furious Miami charge in the final three minutes and pulled out a 101-100 victory Friday night in its much anticipated home opener.

“I think we wanted this a little more,” Garnett said. “No disrespect to the champs and what they are trying to accomplish this year, but we knew playing at home, coming from Cleveland that we would play better.

“We watched a lot of film and saw our mistakes, so we were locked into what we wanted to do and we played with that in mind through the whole game.”

Pierce played 31 minutes, made 5-of-10 shots and went 8-of-8 from the foul line. His biggest plays of the night were a 19-foot jump shot with 6:13 remaining that put the Nets up 90-78 and an emphatic block on LeBron James a minute later.

“Whenever you are trying to establish something against the champs it’s going to be like a playoff atmosphere,” Pierce said. “KG really talked about that coming into the game. Expect it to be like the playoffs, don’t expect anything to go our way because they are the team to beat. It’s good that we got a taste of this type of atmosphere to see where we are at. Miami is the measuring stick for everybody so it was good to come out and get the win.”

“I think it was (a statement game),” Nets center Brook Lopez said. “It’s the defending world champs, you don’t want to come out and be soft and give this one away. So we wanted to show we could come out and compete with them.”

Joe Johnson, who also had 19 points, added a pair of 3-pointers to expand the lead to 96-84 with 2:47 left but then the Heat made their charge. They were within 96-94 on a 3-pointer by Mario Chalmers with 18 seconds left but could not complete the comeback

James led all scorers with 26 points and Dwyane Wade added 21 for Miami, which is under .500 for the second time since James and Chris Bosh joined the team in 2010.

“A little bit of unmotivated basketball I thought at the start,” James said.

James scored his final points on a left corner 3-pointer that made it 99-98 with four seconds remaining but Johnson hit two free throws to push the edge to 101-98. Bosh made the free throw and when he sank the second, the Heat had no chance for the comeback and the Nets simply ran out the clock.

“We tried to make it a game at the end,” Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra said. “It’s pretty clear tonight we didn’t play well. We didn’t play consistently or how we need to play.”

The game had a lot of hype for the budding rivalry with two preseason meetings that featured a few hard fouls, criticism from James about Garnett and Pierce going from Boston to the Nets. Garnett responded to James by telling him to mind his business and the MVP seemed to follow declining to discuss the Nets before and after the game.

“I am not commenting on any other team, OK,” James said. “They won and they are 1-1 and we are 1-2.”

The Nets trailed for just 88 seconds and turned a 47-47 halftime tie into an impressive third quarter showing. Pierce scored 11 points and the Nets took a 78-67 lead into the fourth quarter.

NOTES: Garnett played 26 minutes in the victory, leaving him seven behind Wilt Chamberlain for fifth place in career minutes in NBA history. … Lopez’s eight rebounds give him 2,405 for his career, passing Keith Van Horn for eighth place on the Nets’ career rebounding list. … Andrei Kirilenko was a game-time decision with back spasms but played 12 minutes and scored eight points. … Wade remains seven blocks from breaking Dennis Johnson’s career record for blocked shots by a player 6 feet 4 or shorter at 675. … The Nets travel to take on Orlando on Sunday, and Miami returns home to face Washington. … Joe Prunty coached the Nets as head coach Jason Kidd served the final game of a two-game suspension for a DWI last summer in the Hamptons.

source: interaksyon.com