Bosh best of Big Three

MIAMI, (Reuters) – The Miami Heat came back from a  14 point deficit and survived a late rally to beat the  Philadelphia 76ers 97-89 in their opening Eastern Conference  playoff game yesterday.

Chris Bosh scored 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and  LeBron James scored 21 as the Heat recovered from a slow start  to record a victory in the first of the best of seven series –  but they were made to fight for it at the end.

Thaddeus Young made 20 points and 11 rebounds for the 76ers,  who caused the Heat enough problems to suggest this series could  be more of a contest than some may have imagined.

Philadelphia began with energy, pace and purpose and stunned  the entirely white-clad home crowd as they led 31-19 at the end  of the first quarter with Elton Brand and Jrue Holliday scoring  18 points between them and the Heat’s James managing just three  points.

“They changed their scheme from the regular season and they  made a good job of really blitzing us,” said the Heat’s Dwyane  Wade.

Chris Bosh

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra had warned that the match-up would  be a “speed series” and it was the sharpness of the 76ers,  particularly Young, that caused Miami the early problems.

But it was a totally different story in the second as the  Heat switched to a more zonal defense and found both their  rhythm and their shooting touch and they grabbed the lead with a  three pointer from Mario Chalmers to make it 39-38.

Miami led 54-49 at the half, with James scoring 12 in the  second period and from then on the conference’s number two seed  was in charge.The 76ers, scoring 12 points without reply, fought back to  within one point with 2.30 minutes left in the fourth quarter  but the Heat brought back Wade, who despite being on five fouls,  guided them through to victory with five crucial points.“They are a team we know who are going to fight back and  fight back no matter what the stage of the game,” said Wade.Of Miami’s ‘Big Three’, it was Bosh, aggressive throughout,  who was the key man.

“CB’s the most important player on our team,” said James,  “When he shoots the ball well and he rebounds, we’re a very,  very good team and we give ourselves a great chance of winning.” The Heat had 39 free throws to 15 for Philly but visiting  head coach Doug Collins could offer only a wry comment to that  statistic.“My grandkids would lose their college fund, so I’ll have to  dance around that one. I can’t respond to that,” he said.

The last time the Heat came back from 14 points down to win  in a post-season game was in the sixth and final game of the  2006 NBA finals which Miami won over Dallas 4-2.
Game Two is in Miami tomorrow.