The NBA playoffs standings has the Miami Heat into the conference finals and they could play the Pacers or the Wizards after winning 4-1 over the Brooklyn Nets and they took Game 5 with some great play from LeBron James and Ray Allen and now they advance to the next round.
The Indiana Pacers are up 3-2 in their series against the Washington Wizards and many are predicting that the teams will meet in the Eastern Conference finals for the second straight season and that could start tonight, as the Miami Heat have the chance to win their series 4-1 with game 5 against the Nets in South Florida.
The Brooklyn Nets and Wizards are likely done, as the percentages have teams down 3-1 losing the majority of the time, but the Wiz showed they will not go easily and they forced a Game 6. The Miami Heat would love nothing more than to get some rest and that would mean they played just nine games heading into the conference finals if they win tonight, as they swept out the Bobcats and now have Game 5 against the Nets after they won the last matchup.
For any chance at winning the series the Nets needed to win the last game to make it 2-2, but now that they are down 3-1, they simply do not have enough to beat Miami. LeBron James "LeBron-ed" the Nets in the last game with nearly 50 points and he was seemingly unstoppable. The game was close the whole way and at the end the Nets had some chances, but they couldn't stop James and when they finally did, he passed the ball to Chris Bosh and got the killer 3-point shot to clinch the game.
The Heat were just too good on Monday night for the Nets and while the game was close, they never could quite get over and that was in part due to the 49 points from James. Ray Allen was a huge part of the win as well and he had seven rebounds to lead the way and that was another impressive performance from the veteran.
Mario Chalmers got into it with seven assists and he had the biggest one of the night, as the guard was the player to get the pass from James late before dishing it to Bosh for the breaker three pointer that basically sealed the game for the Heat. Making it even more impressive was that Bosh had missed his previous two shots from long range, but he made the one that mattered. The Heat now have the chance to advance to the next round.
The Spurs can close out their series on Wednesday as well and that comes as they are up 3-1 over the Blazers and they are guaranteed to make it through, as San Antonio was up 3-0 in the series. The Pacers and Wizards play again on Thursday and while the Pacers are likely going to win this series, the Wiz may force them to play a Game 7 after winning handily in Indiana for Game 5. The Clippers and Thunder have been playing a crazy series and now they could end up in Game 7 as well after OKC won the last game and now things head to LA for Game 6.
