Father Time always wins. The Celtics never looked older than they looked at the finish. Boston led, 87-81, with 4:29 left, but was outscored 16-0 down the stretch.
What a field day for the Heat. Miami torched the Green with a closing run of 16-0. Brutal.
It was 87-87 with 2:10 remaining when LeBron James hit a stake-driv ing 3-pointer from the left corner while wearing Pierce. James almost fell into the first row of the stands after releasing the shot. Then he canned another from out top. Then he stole a lazy pass and went in for an uncontested dunk.
Pierce, Garnett, and Allen were on the floor with Delonte West and Jeff Green for the late-game carnage. It made for a sad ending to the once-dominant New Big Three. The Celtics did not score a point in their last eight possessions.
“I’m very proud of them,’’ said Celtic coach Doc Rivers, while indicating he was leaning toward coming back next season. “We just missed shots. We had a couple of turnovers. We didn’t have all the guys in that we wanted.’’
Let the record show that, unlike the Lakers, the Celtics did not lose their dignity as they lost their place atop the conference. The Celtics led for most of the night, but as has happened too often in this series, they didn’t have the legs late in the fourth. James and Dwyane Wade scored 33 and 34 points, respectively. Chris Bosh chipped in 14.
“Miami is a terrific team,’’ said Rivers. “Those three guys are tough. Those two guys [Wade and James] are monsters.’’
“We have the utmost respect for Boston,’’ said King James. “They push us every game, every second … I knew deep down in my heart, I couldn’t do it by myself against that team. I knew that was the team I wanted to go up against. I had to get some guys that could match them.’’
“They have championship DNA that they earned for four years,’’ offered Miami coach Erik Spoelstra.
