With emotions running high, Heat top Celtics 99-90

But by day’s end, that hit would seem like a mere love tap. And already, the Miami-Boston series is boiling over with emotion.
Dwyane Wade scored 38 points on 14-of-21 shooting, James Jones set a Miami postseason record with 25 points off the bench, and the Heat beat the Celtics 99-90 on Sunday to open their Eastern Conference semifinal series in a game marked by five technical fouls, one flagrant foul and the ejection of Boston’s Paul Pierce with 7 minutes remaining.
“We’re going to have to fight for every inch, every game we get,” Wade said. “Right now, we won Game 1. We’re supposed to. We’ll go back and focus on winning Game 2. We’re at home, we have home-court advantage. They’re just trying to come in and steal one like they’ve done in the past. So it’s our job to come out with the same mentality in the next one.”
Game 2 is Tuesday.
Within minutes of Sunday’s game ending, workers began turning AmericanAirlines Arena from a basketball facility into one that’ll get used Monday night for a professional wrestling card.
Seemed fitting after Sunday’s show.
There was plenty of hitting and jawing, even a spectacular leap from by one of the stars into the seats — yes, Wade dove headfirst into a sea of Heat fans behind the baseline in the final minutes, an attempt to save a ridiculously overthrown pass by Mario Chalmers.
Pierce wasn’t around to see that play.
He got a pair of technicals 59 seconds apart for taking too much exception to fouls by Jones and Wade, and pulled his jersey over his head on the way to the Boston locker room.
“We can’t worry about other players and if they want to throw dirty shots or anything like that,” Celtics forward Glen Davis said. “Yeah, we want to protect ourselves, stand up for ourselves, but at the same time we have to keep our composure and play the way we need to play.”
That didn’t happen with Pierce.
Jones fouled him hard — his arm ended up around Pierce’s neck — with 7:59 left, and Pierce got a technical for making contact with him after play had been stopped, crew chief Dan Crawford said. On Pierce’s second technical, he set a screen for Wade — who collided with him at nearly a full sprint.
Wade stepped toward Pierce, who Crawford said was guilty of a verbal taunt. That merited the second technical and ejection.
“James Jones was a clear flagrant,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. “He went right for the head and grabbed. And I thought Dwyane Wade’s was an absolute flagrant. He had no intentions … he was just trying to run through Paul. I told Paul, ‘You still don’t react.’”
Ray Allen scored 25 points for Boston, which lost for the first time in five games this postseason. Pierce scored 19 and Delonte West finished with 10 for the Celtics, while Rondo and Kevin Garnett were held to a combined 14 points on 6-for-19 shooting.
“There’s so many things we need to do to get better,” Allen said. “I think everybody in that locker room knows that, just from a small conversation we just had.”
Pierce did not speak with reporters postgame.
After he departed, the Celtics tried to rally. Allen made a 3-pointer to get within 90-82, but Chris Bosh and Wade had Miami’s next two baskets, restoring a double-digit lead that wasn’t again seriously threatened.