NBA Playoffs 2011: Miami Heat vs. Boston Celtics Game 5 Live Blog
For tonight's live blog, we give you a play-by-play of Game 5 between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics.
The Heat are up 3-1 after a thrilling 98-90 overtime win in Game 4, where they got 35 points and 13 rebounds from LeBron James, 28 points from Dwyane Wade and 20 points and 12 rebounds from Chris Bosh.
The Celtics got 27 points from Paul Pierce, but not much help from anywhere else with Ray Allen scoring 17 and Kevin Garnett struggling from the field, scoring only seven points on 1-of-10 shooting.
The game is back in Miami where the Heat took the first two meetings of this semifinals series between two Eastern Conference titans. With a win, the Heat advance to their first Conference Finals since 2006 when they won the championship.
James and Wade are both averaging 25 points per game in the postseason, with Chris Bosh averaging 17 points and nine rebounds.
With a loss, the Celtics reign at the top of the East comes to an end. They have never lost a series in less than seven games since their big three came together, but it seems that it might happen this year. Boston looked weary and fatigued in the overtime period they played in Game 4, where they were outscored 12-4.
Game 5 begins at 7pm ET with the Celtics sending out Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Jermaine O'Neal as their starting five and the Heat sending out Mike Bibby, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Erick Dampier.
Inactives for Miami include Erick Dampier, Jamaal Magloire and Dexter Pittman, while the Celtics sit out Avery Bradley, Shaquille O'Neal and Sasha Pavlovic.
The referees for tonight's game will be Scott Foster, Ron Garretson and Bill Spooner with Zach Zarba as a substitute.
