As he’s getting fouled by Jeff Green, Wade is able to secure the offensive rebound and throw it in before he falls to the floor. An amazing shot…

On the heels of his (dare I say majestic?) performance in Game 5 — 33 points (5-of-7 from 3PT range), seven rebounds and four assists — which helped to finish off the aging and injured Celtics, LeBron had this to say (ESPN):

“I knew deep down in my heart, as much as I loved my teammates back in Cleveland and as much as I loved home, I knew I couldn’t do it by myself against that team,” James said.

Why, LeBron? Why must you say stupid s#!t like this? You just helped to upend the team that has best represented the East for the last three seasons and then you have to turn around and slam your former teammates for not being good enough when you played Boston in the past.

It’s not even that you said they weren’t good enough. You said, “I couldn’t do it by myself” as if your teammates in Cleveland didn’t even show up for those series against the Celtics, like you were out there playing one on five. (No jokes about Mike Brown’s offense, please.)

LeBron was terrific down the stretch in Game 5, going 4-for-4 from the field (including 2-for-2 from 3PT range) and one assist in the final 3:43. Who knows, had he brought some of that game when he was with the Cavs, they may have won.

It also helped that the Celtics’ bench looked a little like an emergency room, with multiple players working out knee or ankle injuries while others lay prone on the floor, icing their backs.

In the waning moments, the Heat had the look of a team that just won the title, not one that won a Conference Semifinal. Maybe they’ll be able to put that emotion behind them to focus on the Bulls (or the Hawks, if they pull the upset), but that was quite the celebration for a team that has only won two playoff series.

I guess we should expect nothing less from the organization that held a celebration fit only for a title late last summer.

LeBron James scored 24 points over the final 16:35, hitting 8-of-12 shots, which helped the Heat turn a nip-and-tuck game into a snoozer down the stretch. (Miami won, 102-91.) LeBron was so sharp in the third and fourth quarters that it makes me wonder if he was extra-motivated after finding out that he finished third in this year’s MVP voting. For their part, Dwyane Wade added 28 points and eight boards, while Chris Bosh chipped in with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

The Heat were +10 in made free throws, which was the difference in the game. Otherwise, the numbers were pretty even. That’s not an indictment of the officiating — the Heat simply attack the rim more (and better) than Boston, which is at its core a jumpshooting team. Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce combined to go 15-of-38 (39%) from the field for 36 points. That’s not going to get it done.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas and John Wall got into a bit of a dust-up last night. Wall was pressuring Ilgauskas, who had the ball and Z swung his elbow through and popped Wall in the face. Wall, of course, took exception and punched Ilgauskas in his torso.

The best shot of Wall’s punch is at around the 1:15 mark, while the best view of Ilgauskas’ elbow is at around the 1:30 mark. No one likes to get hit in the face, but Wall needs to keep a cool head there. He really hurt his team by getting ejected.

A 14-win team doesn’t have much to play for this time of year, but give the Cavs credit, they showed up on Tuesday night to face LeBron, riding a thirsty crowd to a 102-90 victory.

The Cavs led by 23 points with 5:06 remaining in the third quarter, but the Heat went on a 22-4 run to close the quarter and cut Cleveland’s lead to five at the break.

Mike Bibby’s seventh three-pointer of the game tied the score at 83-83, but the Cavs went on a 12-0 run (sparked by Luke Harangody of all people) that included four points from Ryan Hollins and six points from Anthony Parker.

LeBron finished with a 27-10-12 triple-double, but the Cavs had the last laugh, breaking the Heat’s five-game winning streak and knocking Miami out of a tie with Boston for the #2 spot in the East.

As a side note, Chris Bosh had another clunker, shooting just 5-of-14 from the field for 10 points to go along with four rebounds and four assists. He was thoroughly outplayed by J.J. Hickson (21 points, 12 rebounds) and Hollins (13 points, three blocks). Bosh was coming off seven double-doubles in his last eight games, but his performance in tough environments on the road is something to keep an eye on.

Here are the highlights:

Check out the scoreboard in the background as the Hawks broadcast comes back from commercial. The arena cameraman put LeBron and Dwyane Wade on the Kiss Cam.

Good to see they took it with a smirk.

This is in the running for Dunk of the Year, but the Heat lost to the Thunder, so Perkins gets the last laugh.

I know, I know…when doesn’t Kobe think he was fouled? (ESPN)

“[Dwyane] Wade fouled the s— out of me,” Bryant said with his feet dipped in a bucket of ice water after the game. Bryant was referring to the 3-pointer he attempted with 1:06 left and the Lakers down 90-88.

“It was clearly evident,” Bryant said. “They missed it. … He fouled the hell out of me, they just missed it.”

“I couldn’t make that, he hit my whole arm,” said Bryant, who had made his previous two 3-point attempts at the time, including a long 28-footer to tie the score at 88. “That’s why I went so short. … I should have been shooting three free throws.”

Even with all of his other personality quirks, the thing that most drives me nuts about Kobe is his constant interaction with the officials. Nine times out of 10 if he loses the ball or misses a shot, he’ll have something to say or a nasty look for the ref. It’s almost as if he thinks he’s too good to fail on any particular possession without the defender doing something illegal to stop him.

The league has tried to cut down on all of the griping this season by implementing new “respect the game” rules for technicals, and for the most part I think it has worked. But Kobe is still Kobe and these comments prove that.

Maybe I’m being too nostalgic, but I don’t remember Michael Jordan or Larry Bird constantly complaining to (or about) the officials.

The little things that were going wrong down the stretch for the Miami Heat during their five-game losing streak didn’t go wrong tonight. Dwyane Wade had eight of his 20 points in the fourth quarter and the Heat got a few breaks on the defensive end — Zydrunas Ilgauskas’ non-goaltend, the no-call on Wade’s baseline reach-in on Kobe and LeBron’s box-out flop against Artest — and Miami was able to get one giant monkey off its back.

After a fairly nightmarish game against the Blazers on Tuesday (along with some fairly inappropriate grumbling about the quality of his looks), Chris Bosh came up big, posting 24 points and nine rebounds, outplaying Pau Gasol, who posted 20 points and five boards. Mike Miller (12 points, seven rebounds) was also big off the bench and Mike Bibby (six points) chipped in with two key three-pointers in the second half.

For his part, LeBron James (19 points, nine assists, eight rebounds) didn’t shoot the ball all that well, but his near-triple-double was crucial to the Heat’s success. He made a great decision with 2:49 to play with the Heat nursing a one-point lead. After Wade retrieved his own miss, he kicked it out to LeBron, who had a wide open three, but was 0-for-3 on the night. Instead of taking the open shot, LeBron waited for Wade to get open on the baseline and found him for the easy score. It was a mature play to pass up his own so-so shot to create a great shot for his teammate.

Kobe had 24 points, but after making his first four shots, he went just 4-of-17 for the remainder of the game. Wade did a nice job of staying in his grill and forcing him to take tough shots.

This is a huge win for the Heat, who can finally stop answering questions about why they’re playing so poorly. They host the Grizzlies on Saturday while the Lakers have to visit the Mavericks in Dallas.