<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Four teams. That's all that will remain the next time the Miami Heat plays. Twenty-six teams will be out of basketball life. Finished. Short-circuited. Expired. Only four will remain alive. Miami will be one of them. Four teams. One throne. Miami put a merciful end to New Jersey's season Tuesday, pushing back the desperate fury of the Nets, 106-105, while becoming the first NBA team to advance to the conference finals. Now the Heat will rest weary bones and nagging injuries while watching the remaining six teams bludgeon each other down to three -- and win the right to advance to a place where Miami arrived Tuesday. Four teams. One throne. This was an impressive triumph for a number of reasons. First of all, Miami withstood New Jersey's best and most desperate effort -- 33 points each from Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson, plus 54 percent shooting by a team with crooked marksmanship. The toughest victory to get is always the one where the other team is fighting to preserve its season for one more night, one more game, one more breath. Miami, in other words, beat a New Jersey team playing as well and as passionately as it could.</div> Source
