Clad in their “Eastern Conference Champion” shirts and hats and in the midst of hearty handshakes and hugs, Miami Heat players stopped their locker room celebration so they could watch TV.
It wasn’t that they wanted to see their own highlights from the mystical final three minutes of their stupefying 83-80 comeback victory over the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night. They needed to see them. They had no idea what had happened.
As the plays cycled through, from the gritty defensive stops to the astonishing barrage of 3-pointers from Dwyane Wade and LeBron James, players exchanged looks and laughter as if it wasn’t even them on the screen from just a couple of minutes before.
It was the completion of a collective out-of-body experience that carried the Heat to the Finals after their fourth consecutive win over the Bulls.
“We don’t even know what happened,” Wade said. “I’m not going to lie to you and say we do. I can’t remember all the plays.”
The Heat’s big 3 LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade in a absolutely scintillating display of skill and cunning achieved something on Sunday that has not been done in the last 50 years.
Each of them had 30-10 nights — James with 33 points and 10 rebounds, Bosh had 31 points and 12 rebounds, and Wade shook off a bruised tailbone to finish with 30 points and 11 boards — as the Miami Heat beat the Houston Rockets 125-119 for their eighth win in nine games.
It was the first time since February 1961 that three teammates finished with at least 30 points and 10 rebounds in a non-overtime game.
“Unbelievable,” James said.
“That’s why we get paid the big bucks,” Wade said.
Miami Heat handed the NBA leading Spurs their worst lost of the season and in the same instance took revenge for the hammering they received in San Antonio the last time the two teams did battle. Miami’s Chris Bosh scored 30 points and grabbed 12 rebounds while Dwayne Wade scored 29 for the Heat.
“It’s huge for us, really, just getting even with this team,” Bosh said. “They beat us pretty good and I’m happy that we were able to respond by playing a complete game tonight. But at the same time, it is just one game.”
LeBron James finished with 21 points, eight assists and six rebounds for the Heat, who have won three straight and moved within two games of Eastern Conference front-runners Boston and Chicago.
Miami lost 125-95 in San Antonio on March 4, the midpoint of a five-game slide that now seems all but forgotten after wins over the Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies and now the Spurs.