Heat-Celtics Preview

By NOEY KUPCHAN
Posted Mar 31 2012 5:11PM

The Big Three continue to lead the way for the Miami Heat, who seem unlikely to relinquish control of the Southeast Division lead down the stretch.

While Ray Allen has missed the last five games, the Boston Celtics have climbed to the top of the Atlantic behind tremendous efforts from Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.

Looking to continue their recent success in this series, the Heat try to avoid an eighth consecutive regular-season road loss to the Celtics as these Eastern Conference rivals square off Sunday afternoon.

After a dominating performance in last season's conference semifinals, Miami (37-13) improved to 6-1 over the last seven meetings in this series with a home-opening 115-107 win Dec. 27. Allen scored 28 in that game while Rajon Rondo added 22 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds for Boston (29-22), which couldn't keep up down the stretch with Pierce sidelined due to a bruised right heel.

The Celtics could be shorthanded again in this one with Allen's status up in the air due to a sore right ankle. Boston, however, hasn't missed a beat during Allen's absence thanks in large part to Pierce and Garnett.

While Pierce has averaged 22.3 points during the Celtics' 6-1 run, the 35-year-old Garnett has recorded 23.7 per game on 59.3 percent shooting over the last three.

"I hear you all calling me old. I hear you all calling me ... weathered," Garnett told the team's official website after Wednesday's 94-82 win over Utah. "I'm motivated. It doesn't really take much to motivate me, man. I'm older in basketball years, but in life I'm 30-something."

Garnett had a game-high 24 points and 10 rebounds Friday in Minnesota while Pierce posted 21 and nine as Boston surpassed Philadelphia for first place with a 100-79 rout. Rondo dished out 17 assists, giving him at least 10 in 12 straight games.

The Heat, meanwhile, defeated Toronto 113-101 on Friday for just their third win in their last nine on the road. Miami shot 57.1 percent and outscored the Raptors 64-36 in the paint, closing on a 24-12 run.

"I just think the fourth quarter we just know that's winning time for us - it's not saying that the first three quarters we don't play with a sense of urgency - but those last 12 minutes ... we finished it off at the end," said LeBron James, who had 26 points and nine assists.

Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh each had 30 points while Mario Chalmers chipped in 14 as Miami increased its division lead to six over Orlando.

"It's hard to contain (Miami's) offense," said Toronto's DeMar DeRozan. "They move the ball well and they know what they're looking for. When you have three All Stars on your team it makes it tough to cover all of them."

While James and Wade get much of the attention, more big nights from Bosh could be key going forward. Miami is 12-0 when Bosh scores at least 24 points and 17-2 when he has at least 20.

"You got to be fired up to win basketball games. It's a rough league," Bosh told the league's official website. "You just have to bring energy and that's how I have fun, I just bring some energy, play as hard as possible and let it all hang out."

Miami, which is 26-3 when scoring at least 99 points, has been limited to an average of 89.0 during its seven-game regular-season skid in Boston.

Ranking second in the league with 85.5 points per contest surrendered on its own court, the Celtics have outscored opponents by an average of 10.0 points during a season-best seven-game home winning streak.

Miami's Udonis Haslem is expected to rejoin the team Sunday after missing Friday's contest due to personal reasons.

Rondo has triple-double as Celtics rout Heat 91-72

By HOWARD ULMAN
Posted Apr 01 2012 8:08PM

BOSTON (AP) Rajon Rondo got his pregame orders from Doc Rivers. The Celtics coach wanted his point guard to concentrate on scoring.

Rondo did that - and so much more.

He finished with 16 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds, and Boston handed Miami its biggest loss of the season, pulling away with a dominant third quarter for a 91-72 win over the Heat on Sunday.

Rondo had eight assists in that period when the Celtics outscored the Heat 31-12, turning a 49-44 halftime lead into an 80-56 advantage. They stayed ahead by at least 19 the rest of the way for their fifth straight win.

He also had 10 points in the first quarter. Not bad for a sometimes shaky shooter who hadn't scored more than seven points in any of his previous five games.

"We told Rondo that we needed him to be a scorer. Not a playmaker, a scorer," Rivers said. "He set the tone at the beginning of the game by doing that and I thought that loosened it up for everybody."

He reached the triple-double mark for the fifth time this season with 8 1/2 minutes to play. It was his 13th consecutive game with at least 10 assists and another outstanding performance in a marquee game on national television, a scenario in which he seems to thrive.

"Four or five guys came up to me today and told me to be aggressive and show them what a great point guard (I am)," Rondo said. "So I just try to go out there and be great."

The Heat were far from that, making just 34.8 percent of their shots. And LeBron James failed to get an assist for just the second time in his career.

"We didn't make any shots," Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. "You don't get assists off of missed field goals."

The loss continued a couple of disturbing trends for the Heat - seven losses in their last 10 road games and three consecutive setbacks of at least 15 points. Their previous worst defeat of the season came just one week earlier, 103-87 at Oklahoma City, and their last loss of more than 19 points came on March 4, 2011 at San Antonio, 125-95.

Miami has the fewest home losses in the league at 21-2 but is only 16-12 on the road.

"It's definitely a string of issues on the road," James said. "We've got to be more mentally tough."

The Heat, playing their third game in four days, were led by James with 23 points and Dwyane Wade with 15. Chris Bosh, the other member of Miami's "Big 3", scored the Heat's first four points but didn't score again.

The Celtics, combining tenacious defense with outstanding play in transition, increased their Atlantic Division lead to one game over idle Philadelphia.

Paul Pierce scored 23 points, and Brandon Bass added 16 points and 10 rebounds for Boston.

"We know we can play with the best," Pierce said. "It feels great. The crowd is behind you. You're executing. You're not turning the ball over. You're rebounding. That's the type of game we have to play."

Does such a dominant performance against one of the NBA's best teams boost the Celtics' confidence?

"I don't know if it does anything for our confidence," Rivers said. "Our guys are a pretty confident group. They feel they can play with anyone."

Miami scored two of the first three baskets of the third quarter, cutting the lead to 51-48. Then the Celtics outscored the Heat 29-8 the rest of the period, hitting 14 of 23 shots while Miami made only 5 of 19.

"The lead went from five to almost like 20 in the snap of a finger," Wade said. "We got shots. We didn't put them in and they capitalized on it."

It was 55-50 when Rondo's layup began a 17-2 run in which the Heat's only points were two free throws by Wade. James finally hit a field goal, making it 72-54, but the Celtics scored eight of the remaining 10 points in the quarter.

And they kept up the defensive pressure in the fourth quarter.

"The game is a game of runs," Rondo said, "and we know they're a big team that can make a lot of runs, make like a 14-0 run. So we want to continue to get stops defensively and push the ball offensively up the court."

The Celtics led 29-19 after one, led by Rondo's 10 points, four rebounds and four assists. They stretched that to 34-23, then went cold offensively while the Heat scored the next 10 points, closing the gap to 34-33.

Bass stopped the drought with a shot from the top of the key with 4:57 left in the first half, Boston's first points in 4:08.

With the score tied at 40, the Celtics got the next five points on a jumper by Kevin Garnett and a three-point play from Pierce to take a five-point lead.

Notes: Rondo's streak of double-figure-assists games is the NBA's longest since Steve Nash had 14 in March-April 2005. ... Miami's Udonis Haslem returned to the team after missing Friday night's 113-101 win in Toronto, remaining in Florida to attend to a personal matter. ... James scored in double figures for his 407th consecutive game. ... Boston's Ray Allen missed his sixth straight game with a sore right ankle. ... Avery Bradley made a highlight-reel block on Wade in the second quarter that sent the Miami guard sprawling to the floor. "I patted him on the butt and told him he looked like me on that play," Wade said.

Notebook: Celtics 91, Heat 72

Posted Sunday April 1, 2012 8:46PM

By Brian Robb, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Rajon Rondo put on a masterful performance with his league-leading fifth triple-double of the season, as the Boston Celtics blew out the Miami Heat 91-72 for their fifth straight win. The All-Star point guard had 16 points, 11 rebounds and 14 assists, serving as the catalyst for the C's during their dominant third quarter, when they outscored Miami 31-12 and opened up a comfortable 24-point lead. Paul Pierce added a game-high 23 points for the C's, who won their eighth straight at TD Garden. LeBron James had 23 points for the defending Eastern Conference champions, who were dealt their biggest loss of the season. The deficit was largely due to Miami's struggles on the offensive end, as they hit just 34.8 percent of their shots during the contest.

QUOTABLE: "We told Rondo that we needed him to be a scorer. Not necessarily a playmaker; a scorer. And I thought he set the tone at the beginning of the game by doing that, and I thought that loosened it up for everybody else to get into the game. He was terrific."
-- Doc Rivers on Rondo

THE STAT: In the second half, Miami made 26.8 percent of its shot attempts (11-of-41), mustering a mere 28 points over the final 24 minutes.

TURNING POINT: Rondo took charge of what was a tight five-point affair midway throughout the third quarter, jumpstarting the C's to a 17-2 run. The 26-year old guard was nearly involved in every basket in the outburst, scoring four points and dishing out five assists over the pivotal stretch that put Miami away.

QUOTABLE II: "We wanted to play well, but we didn't. They played exceptionally well. It was as good as they've played against us in a long time. Our mental focus wasn't there the whole game. It was an old-fashioned butt whooping tonight."
-- Dwyane Wade

HOT: Rondo -- With his 14 assists, the 6'1'' point guard has now finished with double-digit assists in 13 consecutive games.

NOT: Chris Bosh -- The standout power forward could not get anything going on the offensive end against Kevin Garnett and the vaunted Celtic defense. Bosh missed nine of his eleven shots and finished with just four points overall, 14 below his season average.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Pierce - Boston's captain continued to build upon his tremendous month of March, contributing across the board on both ends with seven rebounds, three assists and two steals to go along with his 23 points.

QUOTABLE III: "This game was unacceptable. We will fix it together, collectively. We're not happy about it, we have not been able to come up with an answer on the road, particularly in the third quarter. We fell prey to that again tonight."
-- Erik Spoelstra

INSIDE THE ARENA: Red Sox President and CEO Larry Lucchino took in the game at TD Garden.

GOOD MOVE: Rivers made a point before the game to tell Rondo he "needed to be a scorer" in order for the C's to be at their best against Miami. The point guard responded to the challenge, leading the C's with 10 points in the first quarter, which helped to open up the offense for his teammates over the remainder of the contest.

ROOKIE WATCH: Greg Stiemsma continues to deliver valuable minutes off the bench for Boston, pitching in with six points, four rebounds and two steals in 24 minutes before fouling out in the fourth quarter. For the Heat, Norris Cole continues to be marred in a slump, missing nine of his 11 shots, and is now shooting just 27.9 percent over his last ten games.

NOTABLE: Udonis Haslem played 24 minutes off the bench for the Heat and finished with eight points and eight rebounds. The reserve power forward had missed Friday's game against Toronto for family reasons, but rejoined his teammates on Saturday in Boston. Ray Allen missed his sixth straight game due to lingering pain in his right ankle. Rivers elaborated on Allen's recent attempts to get back on the floor before the game: "You can see moving around, he's just not ready to play. He literally can't play," Rivers told reporters. Allen could return as soon as Wednesday against San Antonio. Reserve swingman Mickael Pietrus was seen in the locker room wearing sunglasses while visiting teammates for the first time since suffering a concussion in Philadelphia on March 23rd. There is still no timetable on his return to action. James did not record an assist for just the second time in his career. Bass set a career-high with 10 free throw attempts. The Celtics turned the ball over seven times in the fourth quarter. Miami was just 11-of-46 on shot attempts outside the paint.

UP NEXT: For the Heat, Tuesday vs. Philadelphia, Wednesday vs. Oklahoma City, Friday vs. Memphis. For the Celtics, Wednesday vs. San Antonio, Thursday @ Chicago, Saturday @ Indiana.

• Heat: Curry, Miller
• Celtics: O'Neal, Pietrus

• Heat: --
• Celtics: --

• Lead Changes: 2
• Times Tied: 2

• Arena: TD Garden, Boston, MA
• Officials: #17 Joe Crawford, #27 Dick Bavetta, #31 Scott Wall
• Attendance: 18624
• Duration: 2:25