Kevin Garnett scored 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to power Boston to a 94-90 win over Miami on Tuesday, moving the Celtics to within one victory of reaching the NBA Finals.
Paul Pierce added 19 points as the Celtics took a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Final.
A victory in Boston today will see the Celtics advance to play either Oklahoma City or San Antonio in the NBA Finals starting on Tuesday next week.
Photo: AFP
NBA Most Valuable Player LeBron James scored 30 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, while Dwyane Wade added 27 points, but the Heat superstars, united to bring an NBA title to Miami, were pushed to the brink of elimination.
The Heat reached the NBA Finals last year, losing to the Dallas Mavericks.
Miami’s Chris Bosh returned from an abdominal strain suffered in the opening game of a second-round series against Indiana, but the lanky forward was not on court in the closing minutes when the game was decided.
Miami led 42-40 at halftime before the Celtics pulled back to 50-50. The Heat then scored nine points in a row, only to have Boston end the third quarter with a 15-1 run that put them ahead 65-60 entering the fourth quarter.
The Heat came back with another nine in a row to seize a 78-72 edge, but Garnett sank a jumper to put the Celtics on top 81-80, with Ray Allen adding a free throw to boost the advantage.
Miami’s Mario Chalmers and Boston’s Mickael Pietrus exchanged three-pointers before Wade evened the game at 85-85 with a bank shot over two defenders.
Pierce answered with two free throws and, after a free throw by Miami’s Udonis Haslem, sank a three-pointer while being guarded by James to give Boston a 90-86 advantage.
After Wade and Allen traded two free throws each, James scored on a layup to pull Miami closer, but Haslem fouled Garnett and the Boston big man sank two clutch free throws to give the Celtics a 94-90 edge.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB