LeBron's creativeness also brought out a 20 point, six three performance from Eddie House off the bench as he provided the scoring punch that Wade normally brings in an extremely efficient fashion. LeBron followed that with a dunk in transition to tie the game at 95 off of a Rudy Gay turnover. Bosh even banked in a three with about 30 seconds left in the game to make it a two-point game after Memphis had seemingly created enough separation with their five-point lead. Chris Bosh added 20 points and 10 rebounds on eight-of-14 shooting, with a lot of his baskets coming on wide open looks created by some screen action by Miami and late rotations by the Grizzlies. LeBron James missed 12 of his 23 shots but finished with 29 points and 11 assists, executing beautifully while also mixing in the now expected forced jumpshot every now and again. But other than the absence of Wade, Miami played some pretty good basketball, making this win even more impressive for the Grizzlies. They only got to the line 12 times as a team and having another playmaker out there makes things way harder on opposing defenses. was benched for being late to shootaround along with Zach Randolph) combined to shoot 7-of-29 from the field. Mayo and Xavier Henry (who got his first career start in this game as O.J. Memphis missed 10 of their 11 shots from three, which is normally the equalizer for the underdog, they had twice as many turnvors as Miami (12 to 6) and Rudy Gay, O.J. Blowing Miami out by 30 would have been more impressive than winning at the buzzer, but the Grizzlies didn't play anywhere close to their best game in this contest and they were still able to come up with the win. No matter how you beat them, if its before they start packing it in near the end of the regular season, its going to be a special game and one that any team can feed off of.Īnd when you factor in the way they got it, this team is going to be so confident going forward. Sure, the Heat were without Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem missed the final quarter of the game after injuring his left foot in the third quarter, but this was the Miami Heat, the team the world hasn't stopped paying attention to since July 9th.
This win is one the Grizzlies can use to motivate themselves going forward. 5 player in the nation in 2004.This was one of those games that a team can feed on for weeks. Considered a five-star recruit by, Gay was listed as the No. He was the Washington Post All-Met Basketball Player of the Year, a McDonald's All-American, and a Parade first-team All-American in his senior year after averaging 21.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3.7 blocks per game. He began playing basketball for Spalding as a junior in 2002–03, earning first team All-Baltimore Catholic League honors as a junior and senior, and was also honored as the Baltimore Sun's co-player of the year as a senior. This prompted the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association to review its transfer rules.
He began his junior year with Eastern Tech, but in September 2002, he transferred to Archbishop Spalding in Severn. Although Eastern Tech was a Blue Ribbon academic institution, Gay's parents were concerned about his college preparation. In his sophomore season at Eastern Tech, the Mavericks earned their first and only trip to College Park for the state semi-finals. Gay played his first two years of high school basketball at Baltimore County's Eastern Technical High School, a magnet school in Essex. At the age of 14, Gay began playing for the nationally known Cecil-Kirk AAU program under coach Anthony Lewis. The 6'8" small forward played college basketball for the University of Connecticut before being drafted eighth overall in the 2006 NBA draft by the Houston Rockets he was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies days later.īorn in Brooklyn, New York, Gay began playing competitive recreational basketball at the age of 12 in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland.
(born August 17, 1986) is an American professional basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA).