Dwyane Wade, Heat open with win over Celtics
Heat 99, Celtics 90
MIAMI — Dwyane Wade knew his regular-season numbers against Boston were lacking.
He also knew that wouldn't matter in the playoffs.
And Game 1 — which seemed more like Round 1 — of what's already an emotionally charged series went to Wade and the Miami Heat.
Wade scored 38 points, James Jones set a Miami postseason record with 25 points off the bench, and the Heat beat the Celtics 99-90 on Sunday to open their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
LeBron James finished with 22 points, six rebounds and five assists for Miami, which led by as many as 19 before a fiery finish that saw plenty of players jawing at each other — more than that in some cases. Paul Pierce was ejected with 7 minutes left, after picking up two technicals in skirmishes with Wade and Jones within a span of 59 seconds.
Ray Allen scored 25 points for Boston, which lost for the first time in five games this postseason. Pierce scored 19 and Delonte West finished with 10 for the Celtics, while Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett were held to a combined 14 points on 6-for-19 shooting.
Game 2 is Tuesday in Miami.
It was physical throughout, with West earning a technical and Jermaine O'Neal picking up a flagrant foul along the way, before things really got hot in the fourth. Pierce took offense with a hard foul by Jones, each getting double-technicals there, and Pierce and Wade — who have a bit of history — renewed acquaintances not long after that.
Referee Ed Malloy called both for double-technicals, and Pierce was screaming as he departed.
The Celtics tried to rally. Allen made a 3-pointer to get within 90-82, but Chris Bosh and Wade had Miami's next two baskets, restoring a double-digit lead that wasn't again threatened.
Wade averaged 12.8 points on 28 percent shooting against the Celtics in four regular-season matchups, his worst numbers in both categories against any opponent this season.
Whatever wasn't working then, well, it was fixed for Game 1.
He had nine field goals and 23 points by halftime — while the entire Boston starting five combined for eight field goals and 21 points in the first 24 minutes. He had a steal to set up Mario Chalmers' layup with 0.1 seconds left in the first quarter that put Miami up 20-14, and added a more spectacular buzzer-beater near halftime.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra wanted a 20-second timeout to set up the final possession of the half, only to get overruled — surely without complaint, either. Wade waved it off, then kept waving his arm to clear his teammates away, setting up a drive past West for a bank shot with 0.8 ticks remaining that put Miami ahead 51-36 at the break.
Boston was completely out of sorts, perhaps rusty from sitting around for a week after sweeping the New York Knicks, and partly because Miami's defense bottled up everything the Celtics tried. Rondo was on the bench with three fouls for the final 11 minutes of the half, and the Celtics missed 20 of their first 26 shots from the field.
And then there was the James factor — Jones, that is.
He drew Rondo's third foul on a play where he ended up sprawled out under the Boston basket, grabbing his lower back and writhing in pain. Jones inflicted hurt the rest of the quarter, shooting 4 for 5 from 3-point range in the second period alone.
Miami extended the lead to 19 early in the third, before Boston put together its best stretch of the day, peeling off 12 straight points and getting within 55-48 on a layup by Pierce with 7:20 left in the quarter.
The Heat outscored Boston 21-14 throughout the remainder of the third, going up by as many as 18 on a pair of free throws by James with 40 seconds left before taking a 76-62 lead into the final 12 minutes.
NOTES: Including the April 10 victory, Miami has now won consecutive meetings with Boston for the first time since early 2007. ... Boston was without Shaquille O'Neal (calf) and Miami remained without Udonis Haslem (foot), both still out with injuries, though it seems both could be returning at some point in this series — maybe even Tuesday. ... Plenty of celebrities showed up, including Diddy, Gloria Estefan and rappers Drake and Rick Ross. ... Celtics coach Doc Rivers, on former Boston assistant Tom Thibodeau winning the NBA's coach of the year award: "He came in and did his job."
Grizzlies 114, Thunder 101
OKLAHOMA CITY — Zach Randolph had 34 points and 10 rebounds, Marc Gasol added 20 points and 13 boards, and the Memphis Grizzlies overpowered the Oklahoma City Thunder inside for a 114-101 victory in the opening game of the Western Conference semifinals on Sunday.
Just as they did in a first-round upset of top-seeded San Antonio, Randolph and Gasol provided enough punch to give eighth-seeded Memphis a road victory in Game 1.
Randolph and Gasol each scored 20 points in the same regular-season game only once this season, but did it in Game 1 against the Spurs and again to negate the Thunder's home-court advantage right from the start.
Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 33 points and 11 rebounds. Russell Westbrook scored 29, but the All-Star tandem couldn't overcome a big advantage in the paint for Memphis
The Grizzlies, the NBA's most productive team in the paint with a 51.5-point average, racked up 52 against the Thunder, who had bolstered their interior defense with their trade deadline pickup of Kendrick Perkins from Boston.
That move allowed Serge Ibaka — the league's top shot blocker — to move from center to power forward and give Oklahoma City two top defenders inside. It still wasn't good enough against a front line that helped Memphis win three of four from the Thunder in the regular season.
The Grizzlies let a 16-point lead dwindle to three in the opening minutes of the second half, then regained control with a big charge at the end of the third quarter. Shane Battier hit a 3-pointer from the right wing when Oklahoma City failed to get back in transition, and Gasol added three straight jumpers — the last one coming at the start of the fourth quarter to make it 86-71.
The advantage reached 91-74 when Battier followed O.J. Mayo's 3-pointer with a layup with 10:22 left.
Scott Brooks called timeout and got Durant back in the game, and the NBA's scoring champion immediately hit a 3-pointer to stop the bleeding.
He added a putback on Westbrook's miss and Ibaka had a two-handed slam as Oklahoma City rallied with nine straight points to get within 93-86 after Westbrook's driving jumper with 7:09 remaining.
Mike Conley stopped the comeback with a floater in the lane, and Memphis scored five straight points to bump the lead up to 100-88 after Randolph's jumper with 4:26 left.
The Grizzlies closed it out with 12 free throws in the final 3 minutes.
Ibaka added 16 points and 11 rebounds for Oklahoma City.
Randolph scored Memphis' first seven points to stake his team to an early lead, and the Grizzlies started creating some distance with a 17-5 run early in the second quarter. Darrell Arthur's jumper, Sam Young's putback and Randolph's jumper provided the final six points for a 45-32 edge midway through the second quarter.
Randolph extended the Grizzlies' lead to 54-38 when he answered Durant's two-handed alley-oop slam with a 3-pointer from the left wing — Memphis' only 3 in the first half.
Oklahoma City cut the lead to 10 by halftime by scoring seven of its last nine points at the foul line, then Durant hit a 3-pointer in the middle of a 7-0 burst that got the Thunder within 61-58 early in the third quarter.
NOTES: The series wasn't set until Memphis beat San Antonio on Friday night, giving the teams a little over 36 hours to get ready for Game 1. "Neither team has had a lot of time for preparation. As we go along, the preparation will get better and the game plan will get better because after the first two games, we don't play again until Saturday," Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins said. ... Durant and Westbrook averaged 56.2 points in the first round against Denver, with Durant leading the NBA with 32.4 — 4.8 pts ahead of second place Derrick Rose of Chicago.