LeBron, Wade, Bosh give Heat 3-1 lead

BOSTON -- Miami's Big Three was assembled for just this purpose: To dominate the bullies from Boston who knocked them from the playoffs so many times before.

LeBron James scored 35 points, Dwyane Wade had 28 and Chris Bosh 20 last night to give the Heat a 98-90 overtime victory over the Celtics and move Miami within one game of the Eastern Conference finals. The Heat leads the best-of-seven East semifinals 3-1, with a chance to close out the series in Miami tomorrow.

"Wednesday night will be our greatest challenge that we've had with this group so far," Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. "We'll get their best games on Wednesday. And we have to be better. If we're real about what we want to do, we have to beat the Boston Celtics at their best."

One game after their worst performance as a threesome, James, Wade and Bosh had 83 of Miami's 98 points and 35 of its 45 rebounds. They scored all 12 of Miami's points in overtime; Bosh and Wade had five apiece after James' fallaway jumper on the Heat's first possession of the extra period gave them the lead for good.

"We're the guys. We're the ones who get all the attention. We're the ones that get all the praise," Wade said. "This team is going to go as far as us three takes it."

Paul Pierce scored 27 points, Ray Allen had 17 and Kevin Garnett had seven points and 10 rebounds for Boston. Rajon Rondo, who dislocated his left elbow Saturday night in Game 3, played 39 minutes with a padded sleeve covering what appeared to be a brace on his left arm, getting 10 points and five assists.

The Celtics would need to win the next three games -- two in Miami -- to have a chance to defend their Eastern Conference championship.

"These are those moments. I look forward to it," Allen said. "Everybody on this team, we know what to do. We can't talk about it; we just have to put our best foot forward. It's not easy. It just makes it that much more special if we're able to do it."

James made up for a turnover at the end of regulation with a fallaway jumper to start overtime and give Miami the lead for good. The Celtics scored just four points in overtime, shooting 1-for-6 and making four of their 18 turnovers.

Boston took an 84-81 lead with 2:28 left after back-to-back three-pointers by Delonte West and Allen, but James hit a three to tie it and then made a lefthanded lay-in with 48 seconds to play to give Miami an 86-84 lead.

With the score tied at 86, James drove to the basket, but lost control of the ball while he was dribbling down the clock.

Pierce missed a high-arcing fallaway jumper in the final seconds that bounced off the rim as time expired.