Midway through the fourth quarter, chants of "Let's go, Heat!" reached a deafening level at American Airlines Arena. The crowd was in a celebratory mood, and the Miami Heat's place in the Eastern Conference semifinals seemed assured.
The Heat players, benefiting mightily from an injury to Baron Davis, the New Orleans Hornets' leader in scoring and assists, shifted into cruise control, but their overconfidence almost cost them.
PHOTO: AFP
Trailing by 16 points, New Orleans cut the deficit to five on shooting guard Steve Smith's 3-pointer with 3 minutes 17 seconds left. Then, down by six points, the Hornets misfired on two straight 3-point attempts to allow Miami to secure an 85-77 victory in Game 7 on Tuesday night.
The Heat will play the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals today.
"A lot of our games have been like that," Heat guard Eddie Jones said. "We get up and we start celebrating, and the next thing we know, it's a game again. But we had what it takes to hang on."
Davis said: "If I was Indiana I'd be a little nervous. They're young, talented and they play like they've got nothing to lose."
Davis bruised his tailbone 3:06 before halftime when Lamar Odom, driving to the basket, fell on him. Davis left the game shortly after and played only three minutes the rest of the way.
"Baron's been our driver all season long," said Hornets coach Tim Floyd, who added that there was no consideration given to playing Davis after his brief stint in the third quarter.
Forward Caron Butler led the Heat in scoring with 23 points. Odom, who had been held to nine points in Game 6, contributed 16 as the Heat reached the conference semifinals for the first time in four seasons.
Butler studied tape of his play in the series and saw that he had been passing up numerous open shots. On Tuesday, he decided to take them, making 10 of 18 attempts.
"I worked on my jump shot all summer long, so I figured it was time to use it," Butler said. "The guys saw I was making some shots and got me the ball."
The Heat, stoked by a raucous crowd of 20,286, not only seized the early momentum but weathered a New Orleans comeback to take a 25-18 lead after one quarter.
In less than five minutes, Miami sprinted to a 14-4 lead, setting a tone for the quarter that was best exemplified by Davis' grimace after a Butler dunk bounced off his back.
Right when the Heat was beginning to feel it had control of the game, Smith surfaced for the Hornets. A former Heat player, Smith had played in only four of the six playoff games, averaging 1.8 points.
In rapid-fire fashion, Smith made three straight 3-point shots, tying the score on the last one and sending a chill through the crowd. It appeared Keith Askins' worst fear was about to come true. Askins, a Heat assistant, had hoped the Hornets would never be comfortable in the Heat's arena, but he fretted that as a veteran team, they might pull it off. After all, the Hornets had narrowly lost Games 1 and 5 here.
"If they start feeling comfortable, you've got trouble," Askins had said.
The Heat, however, did not flinch too long after the score was tied. Miami scored 10 of the quarter's last 13 points, with only Darrell Armstrong's 3-pointer preventing the Hornets from being blanked.
"Nobody can look at this team and say that there is any fear in them, or any quit in them, or any choke in them," Heat coach Stan Van Gundy said.
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