Heat push Celtics to brink of elimination

BOSTON—LeBron James scored 35 points and grabbed 14 rebounds Monday to lead Miami to a 98-90 overtime victory that put the Boston Celtics on the edge of elimination in the NBA playoffs.

Dwyane Wade scored 28 with nine rebounds and Chris Bosh had 20 points and 12 rebounds for the Heat, who took a three-games-to-one lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference second-round series.

The Heat host game five on Wednesday and can eliminate the defending Eastern Conference champions with a victory.

The winner of the series will play either Chicago or Atlanta in the Eastern Conference finals for a chance to face a team from the West for the NBA crown.

That series is tied 2-2, with Chicago hosting game five on Tuesday.

The “Big Three” of James, Wade and Bosh lived up to their billing. The star trio scored 83 of the Heat’s 98 points and had 35 of 45 rebounds.

The three had combined for just 44 points as Miami lost the previous contest in Boston after winning the first two games of the series at home.

James atoned for a turnover in the last minute of regulation with a jump shot to start overtime that gave the Heat the lead for good.

Boston scored just four points in overtime, when they made four of their 18 turnovers.

Paul Pierce scored 27, Ray Allen had 17 and Kevin Garnett had seven points and 10 rebounds for Boston.

Rajon Rondo, who dislocated his left elbow Saturday, played 39 minutes wearing a padded sleeve on his injured arm. He scored 10 points and handed out five assists.

Back-to-back three-pointers by Delonte West and Allen gave the Celtics an 84-81 lead with 2:28 to play.

James drained a three-pointer to tie the score, then added a layup with 48 seconds remaining to put Miami up 86-84.

Pierce drove for a basket to tie it up at 86-86, then James lost control of the ball.

Allen went for the go-ahead basket and was bumped by James Jones. That gave Boston the ball with 19.5 seconds to play.

Pierce got the ball, let the clock tick down then saw his attempt bounce off the rim to send it to overtime.