Celtics and Heat square off in Game 1 of East finals

“Inevitable. It’s the matchup the game of basketball wants,” Heat star Dwyane
Wade said. “Obviously, with the Chicago Bulls being out, this is the biggest
matchup the Eastern Conference can have. So we accept the challenge and we
look forward to the series.”

“It’s great theater for the fans and everybody out there,” Heat coach Erik
Spoelstra added. “For us, it’s great competition. That’s what you want at this
time of year.”

Neither team took an easy route here. Miami got knocked to the canvas by the
Indiana Pacers in the conference semifinals before responding like a champion,
while Boston needed seven games to dispose of a plucky, albeit offensively-
challenged Philadelphia team.

The Heat are headed back to the East finals for the second straight season
after closing out the Pacers with three straight wins. Wade scored 41 points
and James added 28 as the Miami knocked off Indiana, 105-93, in the Game 6
clincher Thursday night.

The Heat, of course, beat Chicago in last year’s East finals but lost to
Dallas in six games in the NBA Finals, missing their first chance to win one
of the “not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven” titles
that James famously predicted after he took his talents to South Beach.

“We’ve made great progress in the last 3 1/2 weeks since this second season
started and hopefully we’ll have an opportunity to do that in the next three
to four weeks,” Spoelstra said.

The C’s, meanwhile, finally eliminated the Sixers with a 85-75 win on
Saturday. When Paul Pierce fouled out with 4:16 remaining, the 76ers had an
opening to repeat their Game 7 magic from 30 years ago in Boston, but Andrew
Toney wasn’t available and Rajon Rondo wouldn’t let the Celtics falter in the
deciding game.

Rondo scored 11 of his 18 points in the final quarter, including nine in a row
for his team right after Pierce left the game as Boston beat Philadelphia.
Rondo, who also had 10 rebounds and 10 assists, recorded his ninth career
playoff triple-double.

In the final seconds, fans at TD Garden turned their attention to Boston’s
next opponent with chants of “Beat the Heat!”

A pair of injuries, one for each team, could loom large in the upcoming
series. Heat big man Chris Bosh has been sidelined since Game 2 of the Indiana
series with a strained abdominal muscle and there is still no timetable for
the veteran All-Star’s return. That could turn out to be a major issue for
Miami since Bosh would have been called on to handle Kevin Garnett much of the
time.

The Celtics, meanwhile, are now without guard Avery Bradley, the defensive
stalwart who was shut down in the Sixers series with chronic shoulder
problems.

“Avery Bradley is having surgery so he’s out for the playoffs,” Celtics coach
Doc Rivers said. “That’s that. When a player goes down, that’s disappointing,
and especially with what Avery has given us this year. He’s become a very
valuable piece to our basketball team. His ability to guard the best
[opposing] guard at [point or shooting guard] has really taken so much
pressure off Rondo, in particular.”

“Rondo doesn’t have a lot of breaks. But that’s the way it is,” Rivers
continued. “We’ve been a team all year when stuff happens, you deal with it
and you just move forward.”

Boston had some success against the Heat in the regular season, winning three
of four, including one in South Florida.

“It gives us some sort of confidence,” Pierce said when asked about the C’s
wins over Miami. “We know we are capable of going in their building and
getting the win. But they’re a different team. They’re in a playoff mindset
team now. You know it’s a lot different from regular season to playoffs. Teams
get a chance to scout you.”

This will be the third straight season that the Heat and Celtics will meet in
the playoffs. Boston won in five games in 2010 in the first round and the Heat
won in five last year in the semifinals.

“Last year is in the past,” Rondo said. “This year we are a totally different
team. We feel we can beat Miami. Obviously we got to this point. There’s no
doubt in my mind that we can, so we gotta go down there and take care of
business.”

Game 2 of the set is scheduled for Wednesday in Miami.