Heat stay alive, rally to top Cavaliers 124-121 in OT

As an assistant on Doc Rivers’ teams in Boston and Los Angeles, it was Lue’s job to draw up the defensive schemes for the playoffs.

In James’ second year in Miami and Cleveland, both teams won a title and Miami repeated in the third year and lost in the fourth. This team is much more comfortable with its back against the wall and when everybody says we can’t. Let’s get ready to go. “Portland has the first crack, and (the Blazers) will give it everything they have”. “I feel great. I’m not going backward”. Cleveland will be tested but they will win this series in six games. IN has been in playoff mode for weeks and George carried the Pacers down the stretch go to get them into the postseason by averaging 32.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists during a 5-1 April. LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving – didn’t suit up, fans still got a treat on Fan Appreciation Night as each ticket holder received a black/ maroon polyester Cavaliers bag and a scratch off ticket. But the Cavs lack size up front as starting forward Tristan Thompson has been sidelined for the last four games with a sprained right thumb.

Time moved slower from January to April for the rookie head coach, compared to what Lue called a year that “went by fast”, in 2016-17. Boston, which must defeat Milwaukee tonight to wrap up the No. 1 seed, would play either the Bulls or the Heat, either of which will wind up the regular season 41-41. Noting Paul George’s explosive bursts and Jeff Teague’s craftiness, the Cavs are buckling down for a showdown.

We’ve heard time and time again, LeBron (and the Cavs) can flip the switch any time they want to. The Raptors rested DeMar DeRozan and Serge Ibaka. He scored 43 points in Cleveland’s 135-130 double overtime win over the Pacers on April 2nd. But now the Cavs are a game behind the Celtics in the race for the top seed in the East, and they don’t seem too interested in fighting to get it back.

Milwaukee played well the last six weeks, going 16-7. When J.R. Smith went down, James upped his three-point shooting percentages. And the Pacers might be No. 6, No. 7, No. 8 or out of the playoffs entirely at No. 9. “My fault. I think we underestimated the amount that really mattered”.

Cleveland is on a three-game losing streak, including back-to-back OT road losses.

However, it was anything but easy as the Cavs, who had a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter, had to withstand a strong comeback by the Pacers, who had the ball and a chance to win with 20 seconds left. LeBron and Kyrie Irving didn’t play in the last two games against Miami and Toronto. The Warriors have ruled in 11 of the 13 matchups, sweeping all four games this season. He averaged 2.6 minutes per game, spending the majority of his time with the team’s D-League affiliate in Canton.

We’ve been through more, we’re more hardened and seasoned than we were at this time past year.

But Chicago own the tiebreaker, so if they finish with the same record as the Heat, the Bulls will claim the eighth and final playoff spot.

“Yeah, we were watching a little bit of it”, said Celtics guard Marcus Smart, who scored 13 points against the Nets.

San Antonio and Memphis split four regular-season meetings.

“We were able to come out of this long season with a lot of injuries”.

Memphis is in the playoffs for the seventh straight season.

Our pick: Spurs in five.

The two most likely MVP candidates, James Harden and Russell Westbrook, will square off in the #3 vs #6 matchup, while the Clippers will play host to the Jazz in the #4 vs #5 series. “Honestly, we can’t worry about anything that happened before or in last season’s playoffs”. Adams is the tough guy and defender, and Kanter the rebounder and scorer off the bench. This past regular season, the Wine and Gold went 31-10 at home, which was tied for the second-best mark in the entire National Basketball Association. They may be without key reserve Austin Rivers, however. All are expected to be available for the playoffs, and they will be needed.