LEBRON JAMES OUTSCORED Philadelphia’s entire starting five in the first half by himself.
So did Chris Bosh.
So did Dwyane Wade.
And that pretty much tells the tale of a night the 76ers would rather forget.
No comeback required for the Miami Heat this time. They went wire-to-wire on the lead, and moved two wins from advancing to the Eastern Conference semifinals.
James scored 29 points, Bosh had his second straight double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds, and Miami took a 2-0 series lead with a 94-73 victory over the abysmally shooting 76ers — who managed their second-lowest playoff scoring total in the last 56 years — on Monday night.
“It was a really complete game for us at both ends of the floor,” James said.
Showing no signs of the migraine that he battled Sunday, Wade scored 14 points for Miami, now 17-3 in its last 20 games and halfway to winning its first playoff series since the 2006 NBA finals.
“I’m feeling a lot better,” said Wade, who wasn’t able to eat Sunday and was very low-energy at times before Monday’s game.
I lost a lot of weight tonight … but I think I did my job, to come out there and help my team get a win.
The 76ers find themselves needing to buck some serious history. Miami has never lost a series after winning the first two games (6-0), and the Philadelphia franchise is winless in 16 tries after falling into an 0-2 postseason hole. And then there’s this — only 14 teams have won after losing the first two games of a best-of-seven NBA series.d let other guys make things happen and it’s good to have him on the court than in a suit.”
Game 3 is Thursday night in Philadelphia.
“The Derrick Rose show”
Two playoff games, two dramatic victories for the favored Chicago Bulls, and all is right in Carlos Boozer’s eyes.
Derrick Rose scored 36 points, Boozer added 17 points and 16 rebounds, and top-seeded Chicago escaped with another comeback victory over Indiana, beating the Pacers 96-90 on Monday night in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.
“Every game will be tough,” Boozer said. “There’s not going to be any easy games in this playoffs in any series. So we look forward to some more tough games. We’re built for that. We’ve had close games all season, and we don’t expect any easy games.”
Rose went wild again, scoring eight points over the final 4 minutes. Kyle Korver, who made a tiebreaking 3-pointer in Chicago’s opening 104-99 victory Saturday, connected from long range to make it 90-85 with just over a minute left.
The Pacers still wouldn’t go away.
A.J. Price drew a foul on Rose and hit three free throws to get Indiana within two with 23.4 seconds remaining. But Luol Deng made two free throws, Mike Dunleavy missed a 3-point attempt at the other end and Ronnie Brewer hit two foul shots to help the Bulls hold on.
Chicago made its last 16 free throws to finish 27 for 34.
“Our play has to get better,” said Rose, who powered the Bulls to an NBA-best 62-20 record in the regular season.
We have to be more smooth, more efficient, especially on the defensive end where we have to try a lot harder. But I feel like we’re going to get things together pretty quickly.
Indiana threw a few more looks at Rose but still couldn’t corral the dynamic point guard, who also had eight rebounds and six assists — and six of Chicago’s 22 turnovers.
“We did a great job on him all night,” Pacers coach Frank Vogel said. “He’s a great player. He made key plays down the stretch to win a game for them.”
Rose, likely headed for his first NBA MVP award, scored 39 points in Game 1, when Chicago closed with a 16-1 run to avoid the upset. He didn’t get to the line quite as much this time but made the most of his opportunities, hitting 12 of 13 free throws after making 19 of 21 in the opener.
“I feel like this was the sequel to the Derrick Rose show,” Indiana forward Danny Granger said. “It really just happened all over again.”
– AP
