News / Sports
NBA Scores: Heat Top LeBron and Cavaliers in Overtime to Clinch Playoff Birth
Shaquille O’Neal scored 20 points and grabbed 8 rebounds while Antoine walker added 20 points and 6 boards to lift the Miami Heat (41-34) past the Cleveland Cavaliers (45-31) 94-90 in overtime. Jason Williams scored just five points for the Heat but three of them came on big free-throws in overtime to help Miami clinch a spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Shaq scored the first seven points for the Heat in the opening quarter and Miami jumped to a 10-2 lead. After just one field goal in the first four and a half minutes Cleveland turned to Sasha Pavlovic who answered the call with 11 points to pull the Cavaliers even 24-24 after one.
With Cleveland up 30-29 in the second quarter Miami dropped three straight three-pointers to grab an eight point advantage with 7:20 left on the clock. Larry Hughes brought the Cavs to within four with 30 seconds left in the half but Antoine Walker hit his third three-pointer of the quarter to boost the lead to seven at the break.
Cleveland struggled in the third and hit just four field-goals in the 12 minute period but Miami could only extend their lead to 13 by the end of the period.
It looked as if Miami would wrap the game up in the fourth as Jason Kapono hit a three-pointer with 3:40 left in the game but that would be the last bucket the Heat would drop for the remainder of the period. LeBron James scores even points over the final 3:30 and Hughes and Pavlovic each hit a pair of free-throws to help extend the game to overtime.
Drew Gooden gave the Cavaliers a two point lead in the extra frame but Kapono nailed another three-pointer to give the Heat a one point lead with 1:23 on the clock. Miami built their lead to four but LeBron hit a three-pointer with five seconds remaining to bring the score to 91-90. After Jason Williams hit both free-throws to put the Heat up three the Cavs had one more chance but a bad pass by Hughes landed in the hands of Eddie Jones and Miami had the win.
LeBron finished with 39 points and 5 assists in the loss.
