MIAMI -- LeBron James leaped onto a courtside table as the postgame celebration was starting, thumped his chest and punched the air. Next stop: The Eastern Conference finals. Again. James scored 29 points, Dwyane Wade added 28 and Ray Allen delivered two huge plays in the final seconds as the Heat rallied to beat the Brooklyn Nets 96-94 on Wednesday night, winning the second-round matchup 4-1. "Its always been like that for us," James said. "Its never easy. Its never easy for us." Sure looks easy, though. It was the 10th straight series win for the two-time defending NBA champions. "When we met the first day for prep we said the No. 1 key, overwhelmingly the No. 1 key in this series, was great mental stability," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "Thats what it was down the stretch ... incredible focus." Incredible defence, too, when it was needed most. Down by eight with less than five minutes left, the Heat forced Brooklyn into nine straight missed shots while peeling off a 12-0 run to take the lead. Allens 3-pointer off an assist by Mario Chalmers with 32 seconds remaining was the go-ahead moment, and the Heat wouldnt trail again. Allen disrupted Joe Johnsons dribble on the games final play, James then swatted the bouncing ball out of everyones reach, time expired -- and the Heat advanced. "Give the Heat credit," Nets coach Jason Kidd said. "They were attacking there in the fourth quarter. We were attacking. Both teams were attacking. They made plays, they made shots and we didnt." Chris Bosh scored 16 and Allen finished with 13 for Miami. Johnson had 34 points, Paul Pierce scored 19 and Deron Williams had 17 for the Nets. Its the sixth trip to the East title series in the last 10 seasons for Miami, which is bidding for a fourth straight trip to the NBA Finals -- something only the Lakers and Celtics franchises have accomplished. James is heading to the East finals for the sixth time in eight seasons, the first two of those trips coming with Cleveland in 2007 and 2009. The Heat will next face either fifth-seeded Washington or top-seeded Indiana. The Pacers lead that series 3-2, one win away from setting up a rematch with Miami that seemed like an absolute certainty for much of the season. "Obviously, we thought this was a game we should have won," Johnson said. Brooklyn led 49-42 at the half, with Miami missing 15 of its first 16 tries from 3-point range. The Nets closed the half on an 8-0 run and the lone bright spot in the opening 24 minutes for Miami was Wade, who had 20 points -- more than any other two players to that point combined -- on 7-for-12 shooting. "He has a way, right? Hes a playoff warrior," Spoelstra said. Eventually, barely, Miami broke through. But it took most of the second half to get there, since whenever Miami tried to put together a run Brooklyn found a way to keep things together. -- A layup from James late in the third got the Heat within three; a minute later, the margin was eight again. -- A free throw from James with 9:03 left cut Brooklyns lead to 77-73; less than a minute later, it was 82-73 after a 3-pointer by Pierce. -- A 3-pointer by Bosh made it a four-point game again; two Brooklyn possessions and zero Miami stops later, it was 86-78 after a sensational step-back jumper by Johnson. And when Johnson connected on another tough shot with 4:49 left, it was 91-83 and the Nets could sense that the night would be theirs. Then the Heat scored the next 12 points, and that was enough. Barely, but enough. "For us, it was just about getting stops," Wade said. "We knew offensively that we needed to execute, but we knew we werent going to win the game unless we got some stops." For the Nets, more than $180 million in salary and luxury tax was supposed to bring a championship. Instead, billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov got only a trip to the second round as his return on a massive investment. Brooklyn lost centre Brook Lopez to a broken foot after 17 games, struggled through the first two months of the season, then turned it on after Jan. 1. "We fought back and hung in there this year," Williams said. "A lot of people counted us out." Some big decisions -- mainly regarding the futures of Pierce and Kevin Garnett -- will have to be made by the Nets. Pierce will be a free agent; Garnett has a year left on his deal, though its been speculated he will consider retirement. Garnett left without comment. "Emotions are too fresh right now," Pierce said. Miamis future is more clear. The East finals await. NOTES: Wade had 12 points in the first quarter, his highest-scoring output from an opening period in his last 179 regular-season and playoff games. ... 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Nathan Shepherd Jets Jersey . -- The Tampa Bay Lightning are disappointed, though not discouraged.COLUMBUS, Ohio -- So much for the undercard. Now No. 3 Ohio State must take on the heavyweights in the main events remaining on its schedule. Lenzelle Smith Jr. scored 17 points and LaQuinton Ross added 15 to lead the Buckeyes past overmatched and undermanned Louisiana-Monroe 71-31 on Friday night. An announced crowd of 18,534 didnt see much drama after the Buckeyes rolled to a big lead -- scoring the first 12 points of the game and the first 15 of the second half -- to turn it into a landslide. Many left before the end. Not even the players really enjoy playing such lopsided games. "The better competition, the more exciting the games are for us," Ross said. "Sometimes during the non-conference as you play some of these teams that are not as good as you are, you actually play down to (their level). Thats not good for teams. Thats not what youre supposed to do. Definitely when we come out in Big Ten play, its going to be teams that are just as good as us and were going to have to play better." Amedeo Della Valle chipped in with 14 points for the Buckeyes (13-0), who have won their first 13 games in a season for the fifth time in school history (1961, 62, 91 and 2011). Ohio State opens Big Ten play on Dec. 31 at Purdue. After not facing a ranked opponent up to now, the Buckeyes will be tested by the likes of No. 4 Wisconsin, No. 5 Michigan State, No. 22 Iowa and the rest of the conferences bullies. "We tell our guys, Youve got 18 battles coming up (and) the wars decided in March," coach Thad Matta said. "Just from the standpoint of the challenges that lie ahead, thats what guys sign up for when they come to play at Ohio State. Theres going to be some tremendous battles every night we take the floor." The Buckeyes won each of their first 11 games by double digits. They had far from an easy time of it in their most recent game. Down by eight points in the last minute, they went on a 14-3 run over the last 48 seconds to beat Notre Dame 64-61 on Dec. 21 at Madison Square Garden in the finale of the BlackRock Gotham Classic. In that game they scored 17 points in the first 19:12 of the second half and 14 in those last decisive 48 seconds. "We got a win but we didnt execute and we didnt do the things that we needed to do in the Garden," Smith said. "Today was about establishing ourselves. We know whats getting ready to come down the pipeline starting in the Big Ten. ... So we just wanted to come out strong, get baack to our system and what works for us, and being on top of our game.dddddddddddd" Smith said if the non-conference season did anything, it marked the Buckeyes as a team that no opponent will overlook. "Everybody else is watching now," he said. "Everybody cant wait to knock us off in the Big Ten." Friday nights game was a mismatch of epic proportions. Jayon James led the Warhawks (3-5), who have lost their last four, with eight points. They hit just 19 per cent of their shots from the field (10 of 54) and 17 per cent on 3-pointers (3 of 18). Ohio State came into the game fifth in the nation in scoring defence (55.9 points) and 13th in field goal percentage defence (.379). They went a long way toward padding those numbers while holding the Warhawks to 20 points on 23.3 per cent shooting in the opening half. The game was never in doubt after Ohio State bolted to a 12-0 lead in the opening 4 minutes. The Warhawks didnt score until Tylor Ongwae hit a baseline drive at the 15:34 mark. Ross got things going early with eight of the first 12 points, hitting his only two attempts from the field, including his lone 3, and adding a perfect 3 for 3 at the free throw line. Up 41-20, the Buckeyes opened the second half the same way they did the first -- on a run. Amazingly, ULM coach Keith Richard benched his starters at halftime and did not play them at all in the final 20 minutes. "The only way to make things happen is by playing hard. Im about tired of it. Its been going on at certain times during different games," Richard, who didnt attend a postgame news conference, said in a statement issued by the sports information office. "Those guys just arent going to play. Were not in a good place right now obviously after the last two ball games, mentally or physically." The Warhawks finally ended a 15-0 Ohio State run and a scoring drought of 9:50 when Chinedu Amajoyi hit two free throws at the 10:40 mark for their first points of the second half. It was all about getting ready for the next game for the Buckeyes. "I wouldnt say we got done everything we needed to get done but we definitely got better every time we stepped on the floor," Smith said, analyzing Ohio States first 13 games. "Just looking back to how we started the season until now, weve come a long way. I know we still have a long way to go. "Thats what we need to work to, getting ready for this game coming up on the 31st." White NFL Jerseys Cheap Youth NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Jerseys 2020 Stitched NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Autographed Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Discount Jerseys ' ' '