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LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh joined to win a championship. Well, now they have their shot.
James scored 28 points, Wade added 21, and they led a furious rally in the final minutes as the Miami Heat eliminated Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls 83-80 in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals on Thursday.
James and Wade were simply spectacular down the stretch, each scoring eight during a game-ending 18-3 run as Miami wiped out a 12-point deficit to win the series.
Now, the Heat are headed back to the NBA finals for the first time since 2006, and in a fitting twist, they'll be facing the Mavericks. Back then, with Wade leading the way, Miami beat Dallas to capture the championship. This time, it'll be James and Dirk Nowitzki going for their first rings.
The Heat will host Game 1 on Tuesday night.
For Miami's Big Three, this was the plan right from the start. The Heat had their difficulties along the way, but look at them now.
They just knocked off the team that won more games than any other, that boasted the league's MVP in Rose and sent expectations soaring around Chicago in a way not seen since Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen were racking up championships.
Rose led Chicago with 25 points but hit just 9 of 29 shots. He fouled Wade on a key four-point play and missed a tying free throw with 26.7 seconds left.
James had 11 rebounds and six assists. Wade's late surge helped negate his nine turnovers. Bosh added 20 points and 10 rebounds as the Heat pulled out a dramatic win.
The Bulls looked like they were in good shape up 77-65 with about three minutes to go, but Wade started the deciding run with a runner and layup. A 3 by James pulled Miami within 77-72 with 2:07 left. Rose then scored on a spin move in the lane, but fouled Wade as he nailed a 3, resulting in a four-point play.
Then, after a miss by Rose, James tied it at 79 with another 3 with 1:01 remaining, sending a loud groan through the arena.
James buried another jumper to put Miami ahead 81-79 with 29.5 seconds left. Rose immediately got fouled by James, but missed the second free throw after making the first.
Kurt Thomas then tipped the inbounds pass, but the Heat recovered, leading to two free throws for Bosh. The Bulls still had one more chance to tie it, but Kyle Korver got doubled up top and passed to Rose on the wing. His 3-pointer got blocked by James, with Udonis Haslem doubling him as time expired.
Now, James and his gang have their title shot.
He came close with Cleveland, getting all the way to the finals in 2007 but never could win it all. His surge at the end capped a terrific series in which he repeatedly made big shots and helped contain Rose at times.
For Chicago, it was simply a bitter end.
After losing out on their bid to land two of the Big Three in free agency, they built a solid team that leaped to the top of the Eastern Conference with a league-leading 62 wins. That's probably little consolation after they let this one slip away.
They took the opener 103-82, but the series soured for them after that. They were in every game and led this one for much of the way.
Things were looking good in the early going, with Luol Deng scoring 14 points as they built a 45-38 halftime lead. That included a highlight reel sequence late in the first half, when he stole a pass from James and threw down a vicious one-hander over him on the break, getting fouled in the process.
He missed the free throw, but Rose scored on a layup after a miss by Mike Bibby to put Chicago ahead 16-15. And the Bulls outscored the Heat 15-6 over the final four-plus minutes of the period to take a 25-21 lead.
The lead reached 12 midway through the second after a two-plus minute stretch in which Chicago ran off seven straight and the Heat committed four turnovers -- three by Wade. Two of his turnovers led to baskets for Chicago, with C.J. Watson stealing his dribble and feeding Ronnie Brewer for a fast-break layup and Carlos Boozer nailing a jumper to make it a 12-point game midway through the quarter.
Game notes
Not since the Houston Rockets dropped Game 1 to Phoenix in the 1995 Western Conference semifinals had a team won a best-of-seven after dropping the opener by more than 20. Twenty-three teams had lost Game 1's in that situation and gone on to lose the series before the Heat eliminated the Bulls. ... Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau had high praise for rookie center Omer Asik, who missed the game with a season-ending broken left fibula. "He wasn't a typical rookie, in the sense that he had been in a lot of big games (for the Turkish national team) and he had played against a lot of NBA players before. I think he's got that quiet confidence, he's very smart, he's got a great work ethic. And you could see the second time around in the league, how much improvement he'd made, how he studies and prepares himself to play. He's got a great future. He's done a terrific job for us." With Asik out, veteran Brian Scalabrine was active.
Source: AP