The Miami Heat stormed back in the NBA finals after their awful blowout loss in Game 3 and the San Antonio Spurs are now on the ropes after the 109-93 defeat and LeBron James looks ready to take over as Game 5 comes on Sunday in Texas.
The win on Thursday night ensures that the series will return to Miami for Game 6 and now things are back in Miami's favor, as the series is a best of three with two games in South Florida. The Heat played their best game as a unit in quite a while, as the Big Three of LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade all played well and scored 85 combined points to take down the Spurs. Tim Duncan and Tony Parker were held in check for most of the game and now they will have to bounce back after the series is tied at 2-2.
James played fantastic and led the team with 33 points, while Chris Bosh had 13 rebounds and Mario Chalmers led the way with five assists, while Wade had his best performance of the playoffs, with 32 points and six rebounds. Wade powered through the front line of the Spurs all game and the Heat showed the style of the team that won the championship last season.
Duncan scored 20 points to lead the spurs, while Kawhi Leonard added seven rebounds and Parker had nine assists in the defeat. The Heat finally have that championship edge they have been looking for and it will be up to the Spurs to get things together to get ahead of the Heat in the series as Game 5 is on Sunday.
Hot on the heels of one of the most lopsided losses ever seen in the NBA Finals, Miami's top players turned in their best game of the championship on Thursday to square the best-of-seven series at 2-2. Aware that no team has ever won the NBA championship after trailing 3-1 in the series, Miami entered Thursday's Game Four knowing a loss would be a death knell on a season that included a franchise-record 66 regular season wins.
The Spurs committed 16 turnovers in their Game Two loss and another 18 on Thursday as a more desperate Heat squad disrupted their flow. Miami's performance did not come as a surprise to Popovich, who said his team was largely undone by their failure to move the ball around the court efficiently. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh had their best game of the NBA Finals, combining for 85 points as the Heat reclaimed home-court advantage in the best-of-seven series.
Tim Duncan scored a team-high 20 points while Tony Parker shrugged off a mild hamstring strain suffered in the previous game to score 15 points on 7-of-16 shooting for the Spurs, but the home side were left chasing shadows for most of the contest. San Antonio's trio of Gary Neal, Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard, who combined for 65 points in the Game Three victory, could only contribute 35 points between them on Thursday.
The Spurs were largely undone by turnovers, giving the ball up 18 times and failing to contain James, Wade and Bosh the way they did in Game Three when the All Star trio were limited to 43 points in Miami's 113-77 loss.
"When Bosh, Wade and James score the way they did tonight and shoot it the way they did tonight, teams are going to have a difficult time," said Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich.
"When those guys play like that, you better be playing a more perfect game. You can't turn it over that many times. It's a bad combo."
(Reuters Quotes)