Heat beat Celtics 109-101 In Final Meeting of Regular Season
By Trey Adell
Apr 12, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; Boston Celtics power forward Jeff Green (8) drives to the basket as Miami Heat power forward Chris Andersen (11) defends during the first half at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
In a game where Boston was without Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, who were both resting injuries, the Celtics put up a pretty solid fight. They played to almost a standstill in each quarter with the exception being the 2nd where they were outscored 41-23, allowing 16-19 shooting from the field by Miami. Miami has now won the season series 3-1 marking the first time that the Lebron led Heat have won the season series against Boston(They are 2-0 in the playoffs against Boston).
Jeff Green had a phenomenal game. He set the tone from the very beginning driving to the rim and making some tough shots. He threw down some pretty exhilarating dunks although unfortunately one of them caused Jeff to injure his left arm in the process. It was reported that Jeff had a bruised left elbow. Hopefully it’s nothing serious and something Jeff can rest until the playoffs so it’s fully healed. The injury was really just a microcosm of the Celtics season. Injuries upon injuries have piled for this team and they’ll literally be limping into the playoffs.
Jeff was the leading scorer for Boston finishing with 25 points on 10-17 shooting. Bass lead the team in rebounds(!) with 9 and Jason Terry’s 3 assists lead the team. For Miami Lebron lead them in scoring and assists with 20 points on 8-10 shooting and 9 dimes, Bosh and Wade tied for the team lead in rebounds with 7. Terrence Williams and Terry were the Celtics leading bench scorers with 6 while on the other side Rashard Lewis lead Miami’s bench with 19 points on 7-11 shooting from the field.
Statiscally I was very disappointed with the Celtics ball movement. On 41 FGs the Celtics only had 15 assists while Miami garnered 28 assists on 39 FGs. It’s not something to really freak out about as Paul Pierce, the main playmaker, wasn’t playing but I expected that without KG or Pierce there would be more of an emphasis on ball movement. Another statistic I shouldn’t be too worried about but still irked me was Miami’s bench outscoring Boston’s 43-14. Again without Paul and KG the bench was almost depleted so it’s nothing to be too cautious about.
Jordan Crawford(Steez) was very good in his starting role scoring 20 points on 7-15 shooting in 36 minutes. Crawford keeps finding ways to entertain me even in these “dark times”.
In the end it’s pretty much a meaningless game. Lebron, Wade and Bosh used this game to shake off some rust they had from sitting the rest of the season and have already clinched homecourt throughout the playoffs. Doc is just trying to get his squad healthy and ready for the playoffs and has surrendered a supposed battle for playoff seeding. With a Milwaukee loss tonight Boston can clinch the 7th seed with just one win in any of their last 3 games assuring they avoid Miami for the 1st two rounds. The rest of the season is pretty much a formality for these teams even though both are heading into two entirely different directions.