Celtics eliminate Heat, advance to play Cavs

Charles Krupa

Boston’s Ray Allen (middle) sliced through Miami’s Mario Chalmers and Michael Beasley on Tuesday night in Boston. More News

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The Celtics said goodbye to the Heat. Now they’ll say hello to LeBron James and the Cavaliers.



Ray Allen scored 24 points, including five three-pointers in the second half, and Boston eliminated Miami 96-86 in game five of its first-round playoff series on Tuesday night.



With Heat star Dwyane Wade expected to become a free agent — along with James — it could be an eventful summer in Miami.



Boston advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals thanks to 16 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists from Rajon Rondo.



Wade scored 31 points — far short of the franchise-postseason-record 46 he scored Sunday, helping Miami stave off elimination.



Now the Celtics will turn their attention to No. 1 seed Cleveland and their big star.



“I think it’s a great matchup. It’s great for basketball — such a classic series,” said Paul Pierce, who scored 21 points on Tuesday. “They’re the team to beat right now. They showed it through the course of the season the way they played.



“We know this is going to be a tough series, another really, really tough series.”



Boston hooked up with James and the Cavaliers for seven games in the conference semis in 2008 on the way to the Celtics’ NBA-record 17th championship.



On Tuesday, the Celtics led by as many as 21 points in the third quarter before Miami scored 16 of the next 18 points and made it 69-62. Wade scored 13 in what turned into a 24-6 run, cutting the deficit to 73-70 on his three-point play with a little more than 10 minutes left.



Wade scored 20 in the second half in all; he also finished with 10 assists and eight rebounds. But he was just 10-for-24 shooting and two for seven from three-point range in the game. He missed all three of his three-point tries in the fourth quarter as the Heat tried to eat away at the remainder of the Celtics’ big lead.