LeBron James scored 32 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, Dwyane Wade scored 10 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter, and the Heat beat the Boston Celtics 93-79 on Monday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
Shane Battier, playing in the conference finals for the first time, had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Heat, who wasted an early 11-point first-half lead, then gave up 35 second-quarter points before running away to break a halftime tie — getting going with a 9-2 run early in the third.
Miami outrebounded the Celtics 48-33, blocked 11 shots and didn’t trail at any time.
Kevin Garnett had 23 points and 10 rebounds for Boston, which got 16 points, nine rebounds and seven assists from Rajon Rondo, and 12 points from Paul Pierce. Ray Allen shot just 1-for-7 from the floor for Boston, which was outscored by 10 in the first quarter and 11 in the third.
Game 2 is Wednesday night in Miami.
Game 1 winners have a decided edge in any best-of-seven series, the conference finals being no exception. In the most recent 10 postseasons, teams with 1-0 leads in conference finals have advanced 15 out of 20 times.
Information from Espn.com contributed to this report.