LeBron James in Game 7 Saturday was not the LeBron James of Game 6. At least not for the first three quarters. In fact, at the half his performance pretty pedestrian — he and Brandon Bass had matching point totals.
But with the game tight in the fourth quarter, LeBron put his head down, barreled to the hole, led Miami on an 18-4 run and that was enough to give them a 101-88 win, which sends them on to the NBA finals for the second consecutive year.
If Miami plays half a game like that against Oklahoma City they will get blown out of the water. But that’s the problem for tomorrow. Today, the Heat get to celebrate a win.
What Miami did in the fourth quarter was what they needed to do all series against Boston — play good defense and have their stars attack. In the first half Boston’s offense was clicking as they shot 53 percent and built a seven-point lead at the half. It felt like it should have been more. Miami never pulled away and the first 14 minutes of the second half were a see-saw affair.
But in the fourth quarter Boston scored just 15 points on 39 percent shooting. There were moments Rajon Rondo — 22 points, 14 assists — carried the offense but in the fourth he went dry. Boston could not score and at the other end they struggled to slow Miami’s attack.
In the fourth quarter LeBron (31 points) and Dwyane Wade (23) were able to get in the lane, but for the first time this series Chris Bosh was on the floor to make Kevin Garnett and the Celtics defenders pay for their rotations. He hit two three pointers and had 8 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter. Any defense, even one as good as Boston’s breaks down when you can drive into the paint on it.
Which was an odd way for what might be the last game of the Big Three era in Boston to end. This was one of the best defensive teams of a generation, it was also one of the most selfless, throwback teams we had seen in a long time. They were good for basketball and the NBA.
But it was not enough. Miami’s talent and spurts of execution were enough.
This round.