THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, JUNE 11, 2012
NBA
PAGE 15
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Miami Heat's Chris Bosh, center, Mario Chalmers and LeBron James congratulate each other during the second half of Game 7 of the NBA basketball playoffs Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Celtics. The Heat defeated the Celtics 101-88.
Heat beat Celtics in 7, go to finals
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MIAMI — LeBron James had 31 points and 12 rebounds, Chris Bosh hit a career-best three 3-pointers the last sparking the run that put it away and the Heat won their second straight Eastern Conference title by beating the Boston Celtics 101-88 in Game 7 on Saturday night.
Next up, the NBA finals — and James' third try at that elusive first championship. A year after watching someone else celebrate on their home floor, the Miami Heat were the ones dancing at midcourt.
Miami opens the title series against the Thunder in Oklahoma City on Tuesday night. The Heat got there by outscoring Boston 28-15 in the fourth quarter, with the "Big Three" of Dwyane Wade, Bosh and James scoring every Miami point.
Rajon Rondo finished with 22 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds for Boston, which got 19 points from Paul Pierce in what might be the last game of the "Big Four" era for the Celtics.
"We decided to come together and play together for a reason," Wade said.
Down by seven at the half and eight early in the third quarter, Miami started clawing back. An 8-0 run tied it at 59-all, capped by Wade hitting a jumper.
There were six lead changes and five more ties in the final 7 minutes of the third. Bosh scored with 29 seconds left for the last of those ties, and it was 73-all going into the fourth.
But then Bosh hit his third 3-pointer with 7:17 left. James made a runner on the next Miami trip, and suddenly the Heat had their biggest lead of the night to that point, 88-82 with 6:54 remaining.
"He was big time — every shot, every defensive play, every rebound — we missed him," James said of Bosh. "We're just happy to have him back at the right time. If it wasn't for him and the rest of the guys that stepped up, we don't win this game."
They were on their way.
"We had nothing left," Rivers said. "That's how it felt, as a coach... But overall, I don't know if I've ever had a group like this."
"Give them credit," Rondo said. "They spread the points out as a team tonight."
"That's what we talk about," said James, who lost Game 7 appearances with Cleveland in 2006 and 2008. "It has to be a collective group to win the championship. Everybody was in tune today. We wanted to give our fans a big win. We look forward to the next challenge."
ACADEMICS
Kansas athletes on the honor roll
Nine Kansas Athletic teams achieved a grade point average of 3.0 or better, while the athletic department overall had a GPA of 2.99, its fourth highest in history.
209 student athletes earned a spot on the Athletic Director's Honor Roll during the spring semester, which is 53 percent of students on active rosters. Of the 209 student athlete's 35 posted a GPA of 4.0 while the remaining 174 earned a GPA between 3.00-3.99.
Viraj Amin
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