MIAMI – The biggest postseason comeback in Miami Heat franchise history wasn’t enough.
The Heat needed more and got it, digging deep to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.
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LeBron James scored 34 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, Dwyane Wade scored 23 and the Heat rallied from 15 down to beat the Boston Celtics 115-111 in overtime Wednesday night.
Mario Chalmers scored 22 for the Heat, who won despite an unbelievable night by Rajon Rondo. The Celtics guard played all 53 minutes and scored 44 points, dished out 10 assists and grabbed eight rebounds. The Heat expected Boston’s best and the Celtics didn’t disappoint.
“This group had resolve,” Wade said of the Celtics. “They came out and played a great game. It was physical early. They brought the game to us. That can’t happen. We used our crowd and the energy to get back into the game and we had to play better.”
Paul Pierce scored 21 points, Kevin Garnett added 18 and Ray Allen 13 for Boston.
Rondo finished 16 of 24 from the floor, 10 of 12 from the foul line and made both 3-pointers.
“He was absolutely phenomenal,” Celtics Coach Doc Rivers said. “Put us, put the whole team at times on his shoulders. We had a lot of opportunities to win.”
Allen’s 3-pointer with 34.3 seconds left made it 99-99. James missed two shots, first a layup – he got the rebound of his own miss – and then a jumper on the final possession of regulation.
Game 3 is Friday in Boston.
The Heat had come back from 14 points down in playoff games twice before, first in Game 6 of the 2006 NBA finals – their title clincher – and again last season against Philadelphia.
And this one was slipping away more than once. James missed two free throws 21 seconds into overtime and Miami looked in trouble. But the Heat held on in a game where they took 47 free throws – 24 by James – to Boston’s 29.
The scoring dossier in overtime began like this: Rondo scored, Heat tied it, Rondo scored, Heat tied it, Rondo scored, Heat tied it.
When Rondo missed a layup with 1:33 left, Miami took advantage, with Udonis Haslem getting a dunk to put the Heat up 105-103. And after a turnover on the next Boston possession, Wade drove the lane, hit the deck and watched as his layup bounced on the rim and dropped through.
Garnett stood over Wade and glared, to no avail. Wade hit the free throw, and Miami was up 110-105 with 59.7 seconds left.
On a night where the Heat missed 16 free throws, including at least four by James in crucial situations, they would survive.
Miami was down by 15 in the first half and by as many as 11 in the third quarter before a pair of 3-pointers by James started a comeback.
Wade made consecutive jumpers midway through the third to shake off a slow start and get the Heat within three both times, and set up Haslem for a three-point play with 2:55 left that gave Miami its first lead since the opening minutes, 73-71.
As Haslem’s shot dropped, Wade spun at midcourt and punched the air.
Miami’s lead got to as much as seven in the third after James blocked Pierce’s shot near the rim, sending the ball high into the air and starting a sequence that was capped by a three-point play from Wade, pushing the margin to 78-71. It capped a 12-0 run for the Heat, who took an 81-75 lead into the fourth.
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