Celtics escape with 92-91 win over Heat

Last night had trap game written all over it. The Celtics came in 7-0 with the whole NBA and media now talking about their great start. The Heat were 1-7 but they had just gotten Wade back in the last game. For 3.5 quarters, the Celtics looked about to cruise to another win at the Garden.

Boston shot 49.3% as a team and 17-18 from the line. Most impressively, the Celtics had 29 assists to Miami's 19. That helped the C's overcome 18 turnovers. Kevin Garnett led the way with 26 points and 11 rebounds. Ray Allen had 19 points and seven assists. James Posey was huge off the bench with 13 points and five boards. Kendrick Perkins chipped in with 10 points and Rajon Rondo had one of his most complete games as a pro: nine points, 10 assists, seven rebounds.

They led by as many as 15 but the Heat fought back and eventually led. Rondo made an open jumper to put Boston up three with 1:30 left. Miami refused to give up though as Ricky Davis made a three-pointer and rookie Daequan Cook made a steal on Ray Allen and converted a layup while getting fouled by Posey. Cook missed the FT which proved to be costly. The C's got the ball with 35 seconds left and went right to Pierce who was one-on-one with Udonis Haslem. Pierce backed him down and scored on a layup but there was plenty of time left for Miami. Everyone in the building knew what would happen at the end of the game as Wade isolated on Posey (his ex-Heat teammate). Wade's jumper was too hard, hit the glass and rattled out before Posey grabbed the ball while time expired. Boston survived and moved to 8-0.

They face their biggest test of the young season tomorrow night as they travel to 8-2 Orlando. The Magic have won three in a row and have been playing especially well lately. Dwight Howard is one of the premier big men in the game, Rashard Lewis is scoring (still not enough to justify that absurd contract he signed in the off-season) and Jameer Nelson is playing well. Orlando looks to be one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference so it'll be interesting to see how the teams stack up (albeit in November). It should be a great warmup act for the Pats-Bills game later tomorrow night.