LeBron James, Miami Heat dismiss Brooklyn Nets to move to Eastern Conference finals

The Miami Heat continued to steamroll their way through the NBA play-offs, now 8-1 through their first two series, as they advanced to the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday night.

leBron James reacts to the crowd after the Miami Heat win Game 5 against the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday to advance to the Eastern Conference finals. Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images / AFP / May 14, 2014
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Eastern Conference semi-finals

Heat 96, Bets 94 (Heat win series 4-1)

A game, a series, a season, they all would hinge on one shot.

That is, if the shot was taken.

Ray Allen and LeBron James would have none of that. They swarmed Brooklyn sharpshooter Joe Johnson and knocked the ball away – twice, actually – in the final moments, and the Miami Heat reached the Eastern Conference finals for the fourth consecutive year by rallying past the Nets 96-94 on Wednesday night.

Miami led for only 32 seconds after halftime – the final 32 seconds.

“It’s always been like that for us,” James said. “It’s never easy. It’s never easy for us.”

Sure looks easy. It was the 10th straight series win for the two-time defending NBA champions.

James scored 29 points, Dwyane Wade added 28 and Allen hit the three-pointer that gave Miami their first and only lead since the second quarter. The Heat won the series 4-1, a far cry from the 4-0 edge Brooklyn had in the regular-season matchups between the clubs.

“Give the Heat credit,” Nets coach Jason Kidd said. “They were attacking there in the fourth quarter. We were attacking. Both teams were attacking. They made plays, they made shots and we didn’t.”

For much of the night, Brooklyn were making enough plays.

The Nets led by 10 points in the third quarter and got a virtuoso performance from Johnson, a game-high 34 points on 15-for-23 shooting. He just never got that 24th shot off.

Johnson took an inbounds pass in the right corner with 4.4 seconds left, was defended by James as he worked toward the lane, and lost the ball when Allen got his right hand on it with 1.8 seconds left. Johnson grabbed the ball but James knocked it away as time ran out.

“Obviously, we thought this was a game we should have won,” Johnson said.

Chris Bosh scored 16 and Allen finished with 13 for Miami, who are in the East finals for the sixth time since 2005. Paul Pierce scored 19 and Deron Williams had 17 for the Nets, who led by eight with 4:49 remaining – and didn’t score again until the final moments, after the Heat put together a 12-0 run that decided everything.

“Sometimes things have to go perfectly when you play the best team in the NBA,” Pierce said.

Eventually, Miami broke through. And Heat coach Erik Spoelstra kept telling his team it would happen.

“You guys are built for this,” he said in one stoppage.

With the Heat down by one in the final minute, James passed to Mario Chalmers, thinking he would take a potential go-ahead shot. Instead, Chalmers saw Shaun Livingston help off Allen and come his way. So Chalmers passed to a suddenly open Allen, who hit a three-pointer and the Heat wouldn’t trail again.

Brooklyn led 49-42 at halftime, with Miami 1-for-16 from three-point range. The Nets closed the half on an 8-0 run and the lone bright spot for Miami was Wade, who had 20 points on 7-for-12 shooting.

“He’s a play-off warrior,” Spoelstra said.

So was Johnson, who made tough shot after tough shot, even while defended by James. When Johnson hit a contested jumper with 4:49 left, it was 91-83 and the Nets seemed on the brink of victory.

Then Miami scored the next 12 points, and that was enough.

Barely, but enough.

“It was just about getting stops,” Wade said. “We knew offensively that we needed to execute, but we knew we weren’t going to win the game unless we got some stops.”

For the Nets, more than $180 million (Dh661m) in salary and luxury tax was supposed to bring a championship. Instead, billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov got only a trip to the second round as his return on a massive investment. Brooklyn played much of the season without centre Brook Lopez, struggled through the first two months, then turned it on after January 1.

“A lot of people counted us out,” Williams said.

Some big decisions – mainly regarding the futures of Pierce and Kevin Garnett – are looming. Pierce will be a free agent; Garnett has a year left on his deal, though it’s been speculated he will consider retirement.

Garnett left without comment.

“Emotions are too fresh right now,” Pierce said.

Miami’s future is clearer. The East finals, and either the Indiana Pacers or Washington Wizards, await.

Western Conference semi-finals

Spurs 104, Trail Blazers 82 (Spurs win series 4-1)

Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green each scored 22 points apiece as San Antonio cruised past Portland and into the Western Conference finals, where either Oklahoma City or the LA Clippers will await.

While Tony Parker played just 10 minutes and didn’t score any points for the Spurs, Patty Mills came off the bench to score 18 in 26 minutes and Green equalled his scoring total from the first gour games of the series combined. The swingman added nine rebounds as well.

Tim Duncan had 16 points and eight rebounds and Manu Ginobili sored nine points on 4-of-11 shooting off the bench in the win.

Portland once again struggled to get anything out of their reserves, with bench players totalling just 46 minutes, 19 of which were played just by Will Barton – who shot 2-for-9. The Blazers bench went 3-for-16 overall.

LaMarcus Aldridge scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, Nicolas Batum had 10 points, 12 rebounds and five assists and Damian Lillard had 17 points and 10 assists, but none of it was enough to keep Portland close in a series in which they were outscored by 67 points.