Celtics

BOSTON - The series is tied 2-2, and who has the advantage now becomes the question: The Miami Heat with two of the final three games in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals at home? Or the Boston Celtics, who now have the momentum and seemingly rejuvenation after Sunday night's 93-91 overtime victory at TD Garden? Back even in the series with a sweep of the two games on their court, the Celtics blew an early 18-point lead before coming together in overtime on a night that showed there is still plenty of fight left in the legs of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett.

BOSTON - The games certainly start late enough in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals between the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics. But for Dwyane Wade, the internal alarm clock hasn't been sounding until an hour later. If at all. Through the first three games of this series, which the Miami Heat lead, 2-1, Wade is averaging five points in the first halves. Game 4 is Sunday at TD Garden. Though his overall average is 21, even that is relatively understated considering that Friday's 18-point performance marked the first time in 13 playoff games against the Celtics he failed to score at least 20. Saturday, the Heat returned to TD Garden as much to strategize as go through a light practice.

BOSTON — This time neither the third quarter nor LeBron James could save the Miami Heat. This time Dwyane Wade started slow and never fully found his stride. This time the Boston Celtics got something from their bench, an equitable share of foul calls and something they seemingly always get against the Heat, a homecourt victory. Shaking off Wednesday's overtime loss at AmericanAirlines Arena and surviving a Heat rally from 24 down in the fourth quarter, the Celtics returned to TD Garden and held on for a 101-91 victory Friday night to close the gap in these best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals to 2-1. "They got us tonight," Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said.

Rajon Rondo had the game of a lifetime for Boston on Wednesday night, playing all 53 minutes of the Celtics' 115-111 overtime loss to the Miami Heat and finishing with 44 points, 10 assists, eight rebounds. He scored all 12 of the Celtics' overtime points, giving his team the lead three separate times, and scored more points in a single overtime than anyone else this season. His coach, Doc Rivers, called Rondo's performance "phenomenal. " Even the opposing team's star player, LeBron James, opened his comments to the press by saying Rondo was "amazing.

MIAMI -- At the outset, this hardly had the feel of a comeback for the ages. But against the aged, Miami survived fourth-quarter disaster and had the legs to pull off a 115-111 overtime victory Wednesday night over the Boston Celtics at AmericanAirlines Arena that pushed the Heat to a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals. "This group had resolve," Heat guard Dwyane Wade said. With Ray Allen hitting a three-pointer to tie the score late in regulation and LeBron James missing two shots at the end of the fourth quarter, the Heat had to go an extra five minutes.

MIAMI — An argument could be made that this one was won Thursday, when the Miami Heat finished off the Indiana Pacers in Game 6 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series. By contrast, the Boston Celtics, who had to push through a Saturday night Game 7 against the Philadelphia 76ers in the other East semifinal, arrived at AmericanAirlines Arena with little in the way of legs, and, ultimately, hope. Competitive for one quarter, but not much more, the Celtics fell, 93-79, to the Heat on Monday in the opener of this best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals series, with the question now whether the aging and ailing Celtics can regain their legs in time for Game 2. "We were able to find a way to grind it, and you have to do that against this team," said Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra, still concerned about the Celtics stealing home-court advantage Wednesday.

2. MIAMI (46-20) def. New York, 4-1, in first round def. Indiana, 4-2, in conference semifinals 4. BOSTON (39-27) def. Atlanta, 4-2, in first round def. Philadelphia, 4-3, in conference semifinals Season series: Boston, 3-1. Key stat: In the final three games of their Eastern Conference semifinal series against Indiana, Miami's Dwyane Wade averaged 33 points and 7.3 rebounds and LeBron James...

The Lakers know Game 7s, whether painful or prolific. Do they ever. There have been 24 of them in Lakers history, the latest taking place Saturday against the Denver Nuggets at Staples Center. Their first-round series ended too late for this edition, though the historical odds were in the Lakers' favor . . . mainly because they weren't playing Boston. The Lakers were 15-8 in Game 7s before Saturday, though only 1-4 against Boston in such showdowns. The most agonizing Game 7s in Lakers history are easy to pinpoint, primarily because the Celtics are almost always involved.

Rajon Rondo had a triple-double with 17 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists to lead the Celtics to a 90-84 overtime victory over the visiting Atlanta Hawks on Friday night and give Boston a 2-1 lead in the first-round playoff series. Game 4 is Sunday night. Ray Allen returned after missing almost a month and scored 13 points in 38 minutes. Kevin Garnett had 20 points and 13 rebounds and Paul Pierce scored 21 points one game after leading Boston with 36 points and 14 rebounds.

NEW ORLEANS — Louisville Coach Rick Pitino , after Saturday's NCAA national semifinal defeat, had the courage to compare Kentucky freshman center Anthony Davis to Bill Russell . Sacrilege? "When you see this young man at the collegiate level, you realize why they're so good," Pitino said of Davis. "Not that their other players aren't, but he's so much of a factor. " Davis had 18 points, 14 rebounds and five blocked shots in Kentucky's 69-61 win against Louisville.