East finals:
The Celtics win 94-90 over the Heat in Miami to take a 3-2 series lead.
MIAMI — Paul Pierce watched the shot sail just over LeBron James’ outstretched arm. And when it swished, he turned toward the Boston bench, shaking his head. It left the Heat in big trouble in these Eastern Conference finals.
Kevin Garnett finished with 26 points and 11 rebounds, Pierce scored 19, and the Celtics moved one win from the East title with a 94-90 victory Tuesday, taking a 3-2 series lead. Boston’s core of Garnett, Pierce, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo is 9-0 in Game 5 with a series tied 2-2.
“We’ve done nothing,” Celtics head coach Doc Rivers said. “We’re playing a heck of a basketball team. So just because we’re going to Boston, I told them, we have to play. They’re not going to give it to us. We have to go get it.”
James had 30 points and 13 rebounds for Miami but went eight minutes down the stretch without scoring. Dwyane Wade added 27 points.
“We wouldn’t want to be in this situation, but we never get too high or too low in a series,” James said. “We had an opportunity to come home and take a lead, but we didn’t. So we have to go up to Boston and win a game.”
Pierce’s three-pointer with 53 seconds left put Boston up 90-86. Miami twice cut its deficit to two points twice, and argued that it should have had a steal with 8.8 seconds left. Instead, a foul was called on Udonis Haslem, and Garnett made two freethrow tries.
The Celtics were down by 13 points in the second quarter, then down nine in the third, and answered both times — prevailing on a night in which they shot 41 percent and got outrebounded 49-39.
“Every time we got them down, they made runs,” James said. “They made us stagnant offensively, got stops and got back in the game.”