Well, we knew that it was possible that Wade could win a game all by himself and today, that's pretty much what happened.
What an amazing up and down game. Backed into a corner, the Heat roared out to a big lead. They had leads of 17 points and 18 points that the Celtics overcame. Unfortunately they had one more fun in them and the Celtics couldn't come back a 3rd time.
- The zone the Heat threw at the Celtics worked to frustrate the C's offense and forced 9 turnovers in the first quarter alone.
- Quentin Richardson was very hot early on, hitting a few 3s and talking trash to his buddy Pierce.
- Of course Pierce responded with something that looked a lot like "do you know who I am?"
- Tony Allen's nickname was listed as Gucci. Why was I never informed of this?
- Heat got up by as much as 18 points in the first half, but the C's got it down to 6 at the half.
- Celtics took their own lead in the 3rd, but that's when Wade took over.
- Wade just would not be denied, knocking down several 3's, singlehandedly pushing them to an 11 point 4th quarter lead.
- A few missed shots late in the 4th cost the Celtics a chance to come back one last time. Rondo blew a wide open layup and Ray missed 3 free throws (unbelievable) and KG missed 2 free throws. After that, there just wasn't enough left in the tank. Can't win when that happens. Still, I call that a fluke, not a choke.
- Wade's final tally: 46 points, 5 reb., 5 assists, 2 steals
- Other than that late layup, a very solid game by Rondo. In fact, you always know he's on his game when the Big 3 are all contributing - which was the case tonight.
- Not much help from the bench tonight though. Tony and Baby didn't provide the same spark that they have in the past and Sheed was about what we've (sadly) come to expect. When Finley is your leading scorer with 7, the bench is not doing well.
- But hand this one to the Wade. It was all him. Hats off to him.