Dwayne Wade threw the ball into the stands to signal the end of New Jersey’s season. Wade stole Jason Kidd’s inbound 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. The Heat will come up against either Detroit or Cleveland by Sunday.

The fifth game on Tuesday was an anticlimax to the start of the series when the three ‘musketeers’, Jason Kidd, Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson set a blazing pace to win game one in Miami, 102 - 88. Miami came back to blow out the Nets, 111-89, setting the stage for a very exciting series in which the fans were convinced that this would be a seven game series where the Nets would give the Heat an epic battle.

But it was Antoine Walker who was the x-factor.

 He had 23 points in the Heat’s 106-105 series-clinching win in Game 5 over the Nets on Tuesday. He made several driving layups to the basket and the clincher was one of the best three pointers taken from the right corner on his tippy-toes, when the Nets left him alone to double-team Dwayne Wade. At that time the Nets had 1:56 left in the game and the writing was on the wall!

“I need one day away from basketball right now,” Walker said in the after game interview. The fans hope that he doesn’t stay away too long.

Walker was acquired at the same time as James Posey, Gary Payton and Jason Williams when Pat Riley made his bold move to stock the team with the right personnel to win a championship. It now seems as if Riley has made the right moves, since in this post season the team of Shaq, Wade and now Walker are now making the right moves. For instance, when Shaq got into foul trouble yet again in the fifth game someone had to step up. Now Antoine is ‘The Man’

“You’ve got to give Antoine Walker a lot of credit,” Nets coach Lawrence Frank said. “He was big in all their wins. We wish them the best of luck as they advance.”

From his coach, the well deserved praises kept coming; Pat Riley said, “Without him, we don’t win”