The Miami Heat are on a mission to once again win the NBA Championship and they got one step closer on Wednesday night. The Heat defeated the Brooklyn Nets 96-94 to win the second round series 4-1 and advance to their fourth straight Eastern Conference finals.
The Heat had to make a late comeback in the fourth quarter to win this game and win the series. LeBron James scored 29 points while Dwayne Wade scored 28 points in the victory and Ray Allen was crucial for the victory, hitting a huge three point shot with 32 seconds left that gave the Heat the lead reports ESPN.
LeBron James said “It’s always been like that for us. It’s never easy. It’s never easy for us”. He was talking about how since the formation of the “Big Three” that every team will try their hardest to knock off the two-time defending NBA champions. The Heat had to turn up their defense in the fourth quarter to shut down Brooklyn, forcing them to miss nine straight shots while going on a 12-0 scoring run.
CBS Sports learned that this is the sixth trip to the Eastern Conference finals in the past 10 seasons for Miami, who are trying to make it to their fourth straight NBA Finals. The only two other franchises to ever accomplish this are the Celtics and Lakers. The Heat will either be facing the Washington Wizards or the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers are the top-seeded team in the East and lead their current series 3-2.
It has been predicted that a Miami vs Indiana rematch in the Eastern Finals is almost a certainty, and with a bitter rivalry between the two teams, if this indeed is the matchup, it should be a very exciting series to watch.