CELTICS ADVANCE TO ROUND 2
"The better team won the series." Those are the words of Dwyane Wade following his team's 96-86 season-ending defeat at the hands of the Boston Celtics. And after the Celtics were able to double-team Wade into oblivion as the Miami Heat floundered during a second-half comeback, it became abundantly clear that Wade is right. But to Miami's credit, the team fought through two Boston runs and never folded. "We just talked about not letting it go. We just had so much fight in us that we just continued to fight even when they went on a run," said longtime Heat player Udonis Haslem. "I love each and every one of these guys for how we came together and how we played this season, when the chips were stacked against us and when people never gave us a chance. " The first round was the extent of the expectations for a Heat team full of free agents, but the Celtics were built for this season. They were supposed to advance in the playoffs, and the question is, after struggling with inconsistencies for most of the regular season, did Boston's five-game performance against Miami quiet any doubts? For the most part, yes. "We are playing as good of basketball as we have been playing all season long, and we are ready," Paul Pierce said. "They are coming together at a very opportune time," Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. Lacking a better term, the Celtics managed to be consistently consistent in this series, with only a couple bumps in the road such as a turnover-prone first quarter in Game 4. While quarter-to-quarter slippage plagued Boston during the regular season, its focus was tested and proven against a Heat squad that overcame a 21-point, third-quarter deficit. "So much of it is overstated," Spoelstra said of the concerns surrounding Boston. "They understand what the moment is. That's probably the most mentally tough team of any team we played all year." The contradiction is that Miami came back, using a 19-4 run to claw within three early in the fourth quarter. You could sense the anxiety growing in a TD Garden crowd that had, time after time, seen the Celtics implode in the second half. "I was a little disappointed at the end of the third because I thought it was our focus," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "It's very dangerous." But this run felt different. Miami was testing the limits of the law of averages, using another barrage of 3-pointers -- just as in Game 4 -- to come back. It was not only an unsustainable offense, but the Celtics weren't being outworked, only weathering the final blow from a team on its last gasp. "We pushed the lead, we just didn't step on them like we wanted to," Pierce said. Not only did the Celtics avoid past mistakes -- though still allowing 16 second-chance points -- they were a better team than before, assisting on 28 of their 35 field goals and getting late contributions off the bench from Glen Davis (seven points). They executed their offense, getting Ray Allen the sets he needed to score 10 assisted points in the fourth, and they backed up their frequent trash talk, with Kevin Garnett briefly showing off the now-rare one-man press during a momentum swing. The asterisk on all of this is that it was against a Miami team that lacked the ability to consistently test Boston outside of Wade. The Celtics now have to face a vastly superior Cleveland Cavaliers team without home-court advantage and, in essence, prove everything all over again. "It's a huge mountain we are going to have to climb," Pierce said. "But I think this team is ready to face the test." As for the Heat, well, they're up a creek and it's going to be a couple months before they know if they'll have a paddle or not. A paddle that was visibly frustrated as the season came to an end. "This will be my last first-round exit for a while, I can tell you that," Wade said. "It's tough losing in the first round and, as a competitor like I am, I have to hold back my anger. But I look and understand that these moments make you grow. These moments show the person you are." (NBA.com)