Heat Take Series Against Nets

     The Miami Heat finished the Eastern Conference semifinal with a 96-94 victory over the Brooklyn Nets in Game 5 at American Airlines Arena on Wednesday night. Even thought the Heat were swept by the Nets 4-0 in the regular season, they won this best-of-seven series 4-1 and await the winner of the Indiana-Washington series in the next round. It will be the fourth consecutive appearance for Miami in the Eastern Conference finals.
     Brooklyn sprinted out 11-4 in the first three minutes of the first quarter, but Miami responded and were ahead 23-22 at the end of the period. Neither team led by more than three points for the entire second quarter until 32.8 seconds left when Joe Johnson hit a field goal to make it Nets 47-42. Brooklyn scored the last eight points of the first half and were up 49-42 at halftime.
     The Heat scored the first seven points of the second half to tie the game at 49-49, however the Nets roared back with a 10-2 tear and got a ten-point cushion 61-51 with 6:22 remaining in the third. Miami fell behind and trailed 75-66 after three quarters.
     The Nets had a 91-83 margin with 4:48 to go in the fourth quarter. The Heat would scored the next ten points and regained the lead 93-91 with 32 seconds left when Ray Allen drained in a three-point shot from the left corner. After Allen made two free throws with 21.6 seconds remaining, Johnson put in a three-point shot at 11.5 seconds to close the gap to 95-94. LeBron James converted one of two free throws with 9.5 seconds to go and made it 96-94. Miami finished the game on a 13-3 run and wrapped up the series.
     Dwyane Wade, who had 20 points at halftime for the Heat, ended with 28 points in 37 minutes. James fell short of a double-double with a team-high 29 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Chris Bosh scored 16 points and Allen had 13.
     Johnson compiled a game-high 34 points along with seven rebounds in 42 minutes for the Nets. Paul Pierce got 19 points while Deron Williams pumped in 17 points.