No Dwyane Wade and two OT's but the Heat survive to clinch the fifth spot in the East.
Heat dig up win in double overtime against Nets
By Chris Perkins, for NBA.com
Posted Thursday April 15, 2010 12:12AM
MIAMI (NBA.com exclusive) -- In a tradition as old as a first grader, Miami guard Dwyane Wade, who has missed the regular-season finale in six of his seven NBA seasons, missed the Heat's season finale Tuesday.
It didn't matter. Miami defeated New Jersey, 94-86 in double overtime.
It's tough to say what was more significant on this night, Miami (47-35) clinching the fifth playoff seed in the Eastern Conference and earning a first-round playoff matchup against fourth-seeded Boston (50-32), or New Jersey ending one of the most miserable seasons in NBA history with a pathetic 12-70 record.
What was apparent to everyone, however, is it was sheer torture for the Nets to have to play an extra 10 minutes in a year they wanted to end months ago.
"It's been a crazy season in many ways, up, down and sideways," New Jersey coach/general manager Kiki Vandeweghe said.
Boston won the season series over Miami, 3-0, including a 112-106 thriller on Jan. 6 at Miami in which Celtics guard Rajon Rondo tied the game at the buzzer in regulation when he converted a layup off an alley-oop inbounds pass from Paul Pierce.
But Miami ends the regular season as one off the hottest teams in the NBA having won 13 of its last 14 games, including a season-best nine-game win streak; Boston has lost seven of its last 10.
"We feel we're a different team now than when we (last) played them," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Miami's 107-102 loss on Feb. 3.
As for Wade, he's only played the regular-season finale once in his seven-year NBA career- in his rookie season of 2004 when Miami was still fighting for homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs and needed the victory. It got homecourt that year and used it to defeat New Orleans in seven games in the opening round of the playoffs. In fact, in the championship season of 2006 and last year, Wade missed the final two regular-season games.
Miami also kept forward Udonis Haslem and center Jermaine O'Neal on the bench for Tuesday's finale.
The Heat had a chance to finish fifth- or sixth-seeded when play began Tuesday. A win by Miami, or a Milwaukee loss at Boston would have put the Heat at No. 5 and poised to face No. 4 Boston. A Heat loss and a Bucks win would have put Miami at No. 6 and facing No. 3 Atlanta. But Milwaukee defeated Boston, 106-95, to give the Heat the No. 5 seed.
New Jersey has a lot to contemplate going into the off-season. It will have a new owner next season, it will have the best chance at the No. 1 pick in the draft (most likely Kentucky guard John Wall) by virtue of having the worst record in the league, and it could have about $23 million in salary cap space.
Still, it'll be tough to wash away the stench was what looked for months to be the worst season in NBA history. The Nets started 0-18 and threatened the 9-72 record of the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers before sprinting to a strong finish.
"It was an abysmal season," guard Devin Harris said. "It was a disappointing season. We have a lot to reflect on as we move forward."
Miami, on the other hand is looking ahead. Way ahead, in some instances.
Tuesday was also Fan Appreciation Day. In the team's game program there was a message from president Pat Riley that stated, in part, him and owner Micky Arison "are in total agreement that we will do whatever it takes to re-sign Dwyane Wade. He's our 'max player' and we want him to spend his entire career in a Miami Heat uniform."
It ended with Riley saying "true contending teams" have two or three key players and he mentioned the Michael Jordan-Scottie Pippen Chicago Bulls, the Larry Bird-Kevin McHale-Robert Parish Boston Celtics and his Magic Johnson-Kareem Abdul-Jabbar-James Worthy Los Angeles Lakers, among others.
"That is our goal for the Summer of 2010: to assemble a team to be judged by those historic predecessors...to construct a team for the ages...a dynasty...your Miami Heat for 2010 and beyond," Riley wrote.
Loading...
2:28
Miami Heat vs Orlando Magic (99 - 98) November 25, 2009by HeatTeo28,219 views
diawaras bank 3 hahaha
gayf96 1 year ago
So my friend #VIDEOPOSTERID# just told me how he started dunking, he s shorter than me, he s only 5 6 but jumps over 8 inches taller! What he used the training plan over at 50inch vertical[dot]com and increased over 14 inches in his vertical leap!
Miami Heat vs New Jersey Nets (94 - 86) 15 April, 2010
benmunoz0640 1 year ago