James Jones' late heroics helps Heat clinch second playoff seed in East

Los Angeles - Long-distance sharpshooter James Jones received a late call and rescued the Miami Heat.

LeBron James scored 34 points, and Jones buried back-to-back threes to trigger a decisive 10-2 closing run as the visiting Heat recovered after blowing a 20-point cushion to clip the Atlanta Hawks 98-90 on Monday night.

'He's cold-blooded, he has ice in his veins,' Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Jones. 'When he's needed in the fourth quarter, he's proven that he'll hit big shots.'

Minutes later, Miami secured the second seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, when the lowly Washington Wizards stunned the visiting Boston Celtics 95-94 in overtime.

'It took us 81 games to get to this point,' James said, 'There's a lot more work to do.'

As a result, the playoff pairings in the East are set for this weekend.

The Heat will meet the seventh-seeded Philadelphia 76ers, while the Celtics will face long-time rivals the New York Knicks in a battle of the third and sixth seeds.

Also, the top-seeded Chicago Bulls will tangle with the eighth-seeded Indiana Pacers, and the Orlando Magic will go up against the Hawks in a showdown of the fourth and fifth seeds.

Dwyane Wade netted 21 points while Chris Bosh finished with 15 for Miami (56-24), winners for the 14th time in 17 games, including Sunday's physically and emotionally 100-77 beat-down of Boston.

After building a 76-56 cushion with 3:18 left in the third quarter, the Heat appeared to tire. Playing mostly with a lineup of reserves and using an effective zone defence, the Hawks went on a 31-12 run, capped by Zaza Zaza Puchulia's drive past Zydrunas Ilgauskas to pull within 88-87 with 3:30 remaining.

On the play, he clipped Ilgauskas with an elbow in the face. Ilgauskas retaliated by firing the ball off Pachulia's back as the Hawks big man trotted down court. Ilgauskas was ejected and Atlanta hit the free throw to knot the game at 88-88.

Enter Jones, who replaced Ilgauskas in a move that immediately paid off. He promptly fired in the go-ahead three and added the ensuing free throw after being fouled by Josh Powell with 3:15 left.

After Bosh took a charge on Powell, Jones nailed another from behind the arc, just 34 seconds later. James added the final three points and the Heat escaped with the victory.

'When I came in guys told me, we'll get you some shots, make sure you get them up and make sure you make them,' Jones said. 'I got a good one up and Powell was a little too late recovering for the four-point play. I hit another one that sealed the deal.'



(monsterandcritics.com)