MIAMI — Finishing off playoff opponents is nothing new for the Heat.
Fighting to stay alive in the playoffs is nothing new for the Nets. But each can review vastly different results as they approach Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals here Wednesday when the Heat seek to eliminate the Nets.
The Heat are 22-18 all-time in close-out playoff games, 12-4 since LeBron James traded the chill of Cleveland for the warmth and titles of Miami. The Nets are 9-17 all-time when facing playoff elimination games, 4-6 with Jason Kidd on their side as a player or coach. That includes 2-0 against Toronto in this year’s first round. And the Nets never have won a series in three tries after falling down 3-1. League-wide, 96 percent of teams who fall behind 3-1 fail to advance.
“Close-out games are always tough. We just have to make sure we use the home crowd energy. We need to come out and have the same, if not better disposition on defense,” said Chris Bosh, who hit the single biggest shot — although James scored 49 and was the story — in Miami’s 102-96 Game 4 victory in Brooklyn on Monday. “We need to play a little bit better offensively. I think they’re still getting us into their game. We’ve got to do a little bit better job with them.”
And the Heat are looking at Game 5 as another way to do what they do.
“The wise money knows you don’t go into it thinking, ‘This is it,’ ” Ray Allen said. “You have to go out there and get better.”
The Nets were behind Monday, rallied and couldn’t finish as James set a Nets’ opponent-playoff scoring record, topping the 40 done by four previous players. The Heat’s Shane Battier said it would have been a “travesty” to waste James’ huge performance.
So they didn’t. And now they just want to waste the Nets.
“The only easy game is the last game you played. There all tough,” Battier said. “We know we’re going home, but going home isn’t enough. Two years ago, Boston came in and beat us in Game 5. So going home doesn’t mean anything but we’re sleeping in our own beds.”
Yeah, but the Nets won’t be.
“We’re a pretty good home team. We have to go back home but we’ve got to play a good game. This team is not going to give us the game. This series is long from over,” said Dwyane Wade, who acknowledged he suffered a hand injury in Game 3 but would not elaborate.
And all that has occurred doesn’t matter. The Nets’ torrid-then-arctic 3-point shooting, James’ 49 points, Paul Pierce’s words, all are secondary to Miami. The Heat have only one thought.
“Win,” James said. “That’s the mentality going into every postseason game. Play with a sense of urgency defensively, help one another, communicate and try to get the ball moving from one side to the other and attack. We do those things with a clear mind and at the same time, an aggressive mind, we give ourselves a good chance to win.”
They’ve done it in the past.