Tag: Chris Bosh
NBA – Miami Heat dominates the shorthanded Boston Celtics
by Stephen Lars on Apr.13, 2013, under Basketball, Sports News
There was really no surprise that the Celtics would have a very rough time dealing with Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James. Sure enough, because a series of injuries, the Miami Heat´s big three hadn’t been able to play together in a long while. That been said, considering that current situation for the Boston Celtics, not much else was expected from a team that was traveling to South Beach to face the defending champions without Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, who stayed in the bench resting their injuries. As if that was not enough, the Boston Celtics have had to do without the All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo, who´s been out for the better part of the second half of the season and will not return until next season. So yes, by no means was it a surprise that the Heat dominated the Celtics from the second quarter on to take a 109-101 win at Miami.
The Miami Heat started slow. It took them the whole first quarter to find their rhythm, their game. But soon enough, everything kicked in place and there was no stopping these guys. Miami scored 41 points in the second quarter, for the record: that their highest-scoring period of the season, in a phenomenal effort to erase what was an early 13-point lead by the Boston Celtics. LeBron James guided the Heat with 20 points and 9 assists. Rashard Lewis added 19 points coming off the bench. It was a phenomenal effort from the Heat reserves. As a matter of fact, the Heat´s reserves outscored Boston’s 52-14. Now, that sounds overwhelming, but one has to consider that quite frankly, the Heat shouldn’t get too cocky. After all, Avery Bradley, Courtney Lee and Jordan Crawford are by no means the Boston Celtics starters: the starting squad for Boston was already mostly reserves, so there’s that.
Chris Bosh had 17 points for Miami. So did Ray Allen coming off the bench, while Norris Cole chipped in with 12. Jeff Green guided the Boston Celtics efforts with 25 points and 8 rebounds. He was doing all that he could for this team, but the Heat were just too much for the shorthanded Celtics. Jordan Crawford added 20 points, Courtney Lee scored 18 and Brandon Bass had 17 for Boston. The Heat certainly dominated this season head-to-head regular season matchups against the Celtics, winning three of the four games they played this year. That’s not much of a surprise to be completely honest with you guys. After all, the Heat have dominated this season all around the clock. At 63-16 for the season, this team is looking very strong. They could easily end up with a 65-win season. Miami has three games left, two at home, and already has clinched home-court advantage for the entirety of the NBA playoffs.
James was quite thrilled to be able to play next to Bosh and Wade a couple more times before facing the postseason. “Felt good to get back in the lineup with the other ‘Big Two,’ ” James said. “It’s great. We’re just trying to get some more continuity, get our legs up under us.”
NBA – Miami Heat opens up the season defeating the Boston Celtics
by Stephen Lars on Nov.03, 2012, under Basketball, Sports News
The Miami Heat opened up their current season playing against their conference rivals, the Boston Celtics. And this time, the whole thing had a little twist. On the one hand, the Heat were going to put op their championship banner (second for the franchise) and LeBron James would receive his first and long coveted championship ring. On the other, the Heat would come out to the court with their latest acquisitions wich included Ray Allen, the ex-Celtic and member of the Championship winning big three.
Allen spent 5 years with the Celtics. He used to be head coach’s Doc Rivers golfing partner. But the relationship went cold and considering that he had some issues in and out of the field with Rajon Rondo, he opted to leave for Miami for far less money. And the uproar has just been out of this world. Some call it treason and unprofessional. After all, he went on to play with the Celtics archrival, the team that have sent them home in the last two playoffs.
So taking this first game was of vital importance for the Miami Heat. After all, they were playing at home against a revamped Boston Celtics that included Jeff Green, who’s playing for the first time in a game that counts since January 2011 and sharp shooter Jason Terry. Sure enough Green only scored 3 points in 23 minutes and he is still far from been the productive player the Celtics need. But he’s going to get there, all he need is a little more time. Boston once again relied their play on their point guard Rajon Rondo and on the talent of veterans Paul Pierce and Ray Allen.
The squad really never dominated against Miami but they managed to cut down the gap late in the third quarter. It was clear that after suffering from cramps, LeBron James wasn’t going to come back for much of the second half and the Celtics tried to build up some momentum to get back in the game. But just as they were starting to close down the gap, Chris Bosh took over and with a couple of baskets and a nice three-pointer in the last 4 minutes of the 4th quarter, he just closed the deal to guide the Heat to a 120-107 win over the Celtics.
The Heat were guided by James who, despite leaving the game early, finished his season opener with 26 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and two steals. “It was good to cap this night off with a win,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said in the press conference. “It was an emotional time for all of us in our organization.” Ray Allen, who spent five years with the Celtics, had a brilliant night with the Heat. He finished off with 19 points and 2 rebounds. Chris Bosh, on the other hand, close his opening night with 19 points and 10 rebounds for a decent double-double. For the Celtics, Paul Pierce chipped in with 23 points, while Leandro Barbosa gave them 16. Kevin Garnett had 9 points and 12 rebounds but he made the highlights when he refused to acknowledge Ray Allen’s pregame handshake. It was classic KG! Expect big things for the rest of this series.
NBA Finals – The Heat crushes the Thunder to win 2012 Championships
by Stephen Lars on Jun.22, 2012, under Basketball, Sports News
It took him three different trips to the NBA Finals, but it has finally happened: LeBron James has won an NBA Championship. After winning the NBA MVP regular season trophy, LeBron James guided the Miami Heat to its second win in the franchise history. The Heat took a 121-106 win in game 5 over the Oklahoma City Thunder, to make a strong statement, proving that the financial risks they took when signing LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh had paid off. Sure enough, just like it was last year, this was a Championship or Burst situation for the Heat. But this time, they delivered. The 2012 NBA title will be going to LeBron James and the Miami Heat.
The Oklahoma Thunder had a brilliant run this season, working its way into the NBA Finals for the first time since the move from Seattle and supported by a young, athletic cast that includes Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Then again, considering that neither of these three players are not yet 24-year-old, the young team needed a little bit more of maturity. They needed to find a way to shine under pressure, to keep on playing strong when the stakes were high, and to keep their cool when playing under the brightest lights of the NBA. In other words, they needed to learn what LeBron James and the Miami Heat’s Big Three learned last season when they lost against the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 NBA Championship. To bring on their A-game when the Championship is in the line.
The Miami Heat proved they were hungrier, proved that they wanted this more and that they were ready to deliver. Leading the series 3-1, the Miami Heat had a great chance to finish it off in at the American Airlines Arena in South Beach. And before their own crowd, the Miami Heat delivered the results. The Heat simply broke hells loose on the third quarter and outscored the Oklahoma City Thunder, 36-22, to take a 95-71, before the fourth quarter. The Heat went ahead and never looked back. This was simply a flawless demonstration of long-range shooting from the Miami Heat. It didn’t really matter that his back was killing him, Mike Miller played through the pain and finished with 7 three-pointer for the night, for 23 points in 23 minutes coming of the bench.
James scored 26, adding 13 assists and 11 rebounds as Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, the other two-thirds of Miami’s “Big Three,” scored 20 and 24, respectively. The Oklahoma City Thunder gave it a good run, but there was really nothing they could do to stop the Heat from taking over in the second half. Kevin Durant scored 32 points and had a good match. But it was simply not enough to keep the Thunder from losing their fourth straight game following a Game 1 victory in Oklahoma City, that had the Thunder’s hopes flowing. Russell Westbrook had just 19 points in a poor 4-of-20 shooting night. The Thunder were stricken by turnovers and poor 3-point shooting, and a lot of poor plays on defense.
NBA – Miami Heat beats the Boston Celtics 4-3 in Eastern Conference Finals
by Stephen Lars on Jun.12, 2012, under Basketball, Sports News
When there were 28.3 seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Boston Celtics head coach, Doc Rivers, pulled out Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen all at the same time. With a brilliant run from LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, who scored all of the Heat’s fourth-quarter points in a 28-15 run that put the game away. And the veteran Celtics coach made a grand gesture. He was accepting his defeat, yes, that’s certain, but he was giving credit to the core of his group, to the three players that had given this team half a decade of success. Rumor has it, the Celtics Big Three will not be back together next season. At 36-years-old, both Garnet and Allen are now officially free agents and it is not far fetched to expect the Celtics to build a new team around their all-star point guard Rajon Rondo.
The Miami Heat won two games in a row to turn around a 3-2 deficit in the Eastern Conference Finals. At the end, despite Rajon Rondo’s 22 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists, the Heat took an 88-101 win at home. LeBron James finally came out with a victory in a game 7. It took him three chances to get that win, and a 31 points, 12 rebound performance to close the deal. But once again the Miami Heat are up for the NBA Finals. Miami will open up the series against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thuesday night. This has been a highly anticipated matchup. It is still uncertain how the Heat will work out against Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Their explosiveness and game style are far away from what the Celtics gave them.
Dwayne Wade scored 23 points for the Heat. Chris Bosh finished with 19, including a career best three 3-pointers for the game while Shane Battier added 12 to help the Heat win a Game 7 for the first time since 2004. Last year, the party ended a little too soon as the Dallas Mavericks won the NBA Finals in game 6 at Miami. For the Boston Celtics this could very well be the end of an era. Brandon Bass scored 16, Ray Allen finished with 15 and Kevin Garnett scored 14 for the Celtics. “Give them credit,” Rondo said. “They spread the points out as a team tonight. Give them credit. They played great tonight as a team and we just came up short.” And a brilliant game, filled with true teamwork might be exactly what this squad needs to finally give LeBron James his first title.
The Heat had to deal with 3 weeks without Chris Bosh. He proved vital in game 7 and is certainly going to be a reference in the offensive end in the finals. “We all had a pit — even though we didn’t admit it — we all had a big pit in our stomach when we saw him walking off the court in Game 1 of the Indiana series,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Bosh. “We played tough, but we knew that for two years he had been our most important player, because he makes it all work.” Well, the finals are here, it is time for this squad to deliver.


