Marc Serota / Reuters

Miami's Dwyane Wade celebrates a Game 5 win over New Jersey. Wade and the Heat will play in their second straight Eastern Conference final after the 106-105 victory on Tuesday.

updated 11:56 a.m. ET May 17, 2006

MIAMI - The Heat and Nets alternated blowouts in the first two games, giving every indication these Eastern Conference semifinals could be epic.

Ah, but Dwyane Wade and Miami simply saw no need for unnecessary drama. They made all the biggest plays over the rest of the series, right until the very last second of New Jersey’s season.

Wade stole Jason Kidd’s inbounds pass as the last second ticked off Tuesday night, depriving the Nets of one last shot to extend their year and sealing the Heat’s 106-105 victory to win the series 4-1.

Miami is off to the East finals for the second straight year.

“With one second left, all you want to do is make it tough,” Wade said. “And I was able to get there, get my hand on the ball, and that was all she wrote.”

Wade threw the ball into the stands as time expired. The Heat will face either Detroit or Cleveland in the next series, which won’t begin until at least Sunday.

“We did what we wanted to do,” Shaquille O’Neal said. “We’re focused now on eight more wins.”

The Heat rallied from 12 points down, the biggest postseason comeback in franchise history. Antoine Walker had 23 points, Wade added 21 on 7-for-19 shooting, and four other Heat players were in double figures to offset a brilliant effort by Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson.

Carter and Jefferson each scored 33 points for the Nets, who won the first game of the series.

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It’s a level Wade and his mates handled with aplomb in the last four games.

New Jersey took control early in Game 1 and rolled to a 100-88 win, and the Heat evened the series by jumping to a 25-4 win in Game 2.

The next three games were classics. And Wade found a way to control each at the end.

• In Game 3, the Nets led 64-56 in the third quarter when Wade returned from getting a Carter elbow in the face. He scored 15 points in the final 4½ minutes to seal Miami’s win at the Meadowlands.

• In Game 4, he found Gary Payton for a clinching 3-pointer in the final moments.

• And then Tuesday, Wade beat a double-team by finding Walker for a 3-pointer with 1:56 left to put Miami up by six before getting his arm in to knock away New Jersey’s final touch of the season.

“Dwyane just made a play,” Heat coach Pat Riley said. “He just went for the ball. The ball was in the area, he just went for the ball, got a long arm on it, and that was it. Just had to knock it away.”

Carter, who’d scored three points in the previous 17 minutes, had three baskets from in close over a 90-second stretch toward the end, including a dunk that drew the Nets within 106-105 with 29.1 seconds left.

And after Payton missed a 16-footer, the Nets corralled the rebound and called timeout with 1.4 seconds left. But thanks to Wade, they never got off a shot.

“We’ve got to be able to get a shot in that situation. I let my guys down,” Nets coach Lawrence Frank said. “That’s a poor job on my part.”

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The Heat became the sixth team in 20 seasons to lose the first game of a playoff series, then win the next four to advance.

“It’s just great that we could finish it,” Riley said. “I knew it would be the hardest close-out.”

O’Neal had 17 points on 8-for-10 shooting, Jason Williams scored 12, Alonzo Mourning had 11 and Payton finished with 10 for the Heat — who have never advanced past the East finals.

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Drew Hallowell / Getty Images

Scrappy 76ers force Game 7

A balanced offensive and defensive attack combined with some dreadful shooting by the Boston Celtics helped the Philadelphia 76ers avoid elimination and force a deciding Game 7 in the Eastern Conference semifinals with a 82-75 victory Wednesday night.

Jesse D. Garrabrant / Getty Images Contributor

CSN: 76ers show 'no fear' in win  |  Highlights

CSN: The young and inexperienced 76ers showed no fear with their backs against the wall in Game 6 and earned a final shot against the Celtics on Saturday for a berth into the Eastern Conference finals.

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