adminMIAMI. — For the fourth consecutive time, the Miami Heat earned a place in the final of the Eastern Conference following a 96-94 home win over the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday.The reigning champions used a tremendous defence plan – particularly LeBron James on Nets’ Joe Johnson – in the final three minutes of the game, cutting a 7-point deficit and regain the lead after trailing most of the second half.
Chris Bosh who scored 12 of his 16 points, and Ray Allen who added 13 points off the bench, came up with timely three-pointers for Miami as they won the series 4-1.
James scored 29 points and Dwyane Wade added 28 for the Heat, who and are set to take on the winner of the series between the Indiana Pacers and the Washington Wizards, with the Pacers leading 3-2 ahead of Game 6 last night.
Johnson led all scorers with 34 points, Paul Pierce scored 19 and Deron Williams added 17 for the Nets, but the Heat extended their unbeaten run to nine games in the postseason since beating the San Antonio in final of last season.
The Heat’s three-peat ambition remains alive, as James is to play the Conference finals for the sixth time in eight seasons.
“The big thing is we were attacking, and we had the ball in the right guys’ hands, and we just could not complete the plays, and they did,” Brooklyn head coach Jason Kidd told a postgame media conference, adding: “To get to the second-round is something for us to build on.”
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said: “No 1 key in the series was great mental stability. And you have to have that throughout the course of each game, each possession.” — SuperSport.
Online Reporter