LeBron James and Dwyane Wade combined to score 54 as Miami routed Oklahoma City in a 91-85 win.
Game 4 is scheduled Sunday on ABC with a tip-off set for 9:00 pm (ET).
Win Or Go Home.
Check the jump for a full recap as well as video highlights from the game.
Sunday night after a 2 day layoff from hoops action we were back live at Biscayne Bay as the Miami Heat hosted their first home game in the NBA Finals since losing to the Dallas Mavericks in last year’s finals. The 3-time MVP, LBJ would come out setting his teams pace for game 3 as they continued with their game-plan from game 2 attacking the basket. James scored 10 points in the first quarter and 10 of his first 12 points were in the paint as he continued being aggressive shying away from low percentage jump shots. Mike Miller had a decent first quarter scoring 4 points in 30 seconds but would have to leave the game in 7 minutes of play due to back problems. The scoring champion Kevin Durant had went almost the first 8 minutes of the game without a single point but closed out the quarter scoring 6 points. Going into the second, Derek Fisher came up big for OKC midway thru the quarter as he would knock down a trey, initially ruled a two. On the next possession, Kendrick Perkins would draw a foul from Chris Bosh hitting two freebies to give the Thunder their first 1st half lead of the series. Shane Battier who’s been hot from beyond the arc the whole series would come up big for Miami as well hitting 2 pairs of threes in the final two minutes of the half to secure a lead heading into halftime. Dwyane Wade struggled the first half going 5 of 15; but Battier and Udonis Haslem made up for some of the missed scoring. Fast-forwarding to the 3rd quarter, Durant initially started out hot finally seeming to get a shooting rhythm for the first time all series giving OKC their biggest lead of the game at 9; but would soon have to leave to game picking up his 4th foul by the just past the six minute mark. Immediately following that, Scott Brooks would pull a head-scratch-er sending his second leading scorer Russell Westbrook to the bench for rest of the 3rd with Durant already sidelined with 4 fouls. Up by 9 with the 3 minutes left in the quarter, OKC would have to back to back 3 pointer fouls on the Miami giving the Heat 6 free points to Shane Battier and James Jones. With the 9 point lead had quickly evaporated to 3 within 22 seconds, Wade and Bron scored 7 points to close the quarter giving Miami a 2 point lead. Going into the final quarter, OKC would go on a big run led by James Harden to retake the lead by a point at the 7:30 mark but that would be their last lead of the game. Soon after that, Miami’s big 3 led by James would score the final Heat 15 points. Kevin Durant who was guarded by LBJ most of the 4th quarter would encounter trouble on the other end of the court picking up his 5th foul in a questionable call by refs. Miami would soon go up by 7 but OKC would make one last attempt at winning the game led by Thabo Sefolosha who had a key steal on Dwyane Wade as he brought his team to within 3 on a layup. Preceding that bad play, Dwyane Wade would generate another bad play missing an unnecessary taken jump shot with a two minutes remaining. Russell Westbrook would hit a jumper to bring his team to within 1 by the 90 second mark but that would be the last time the Thunder scored in game 3 as they missed two back to back shots and a costly turnover by Sefolosha giving the game away to Miami.
Miami had a horrific shooting night at just 37 percent, but made 31 of 35 freebies at the stripe to make up for the off night. OKC continued their horrible free throw shooting stretch as they only made 15 out of 24 attempts. LBJ led all scores at 29 with 14 boards and 3 dimes while his co-partner D-Wade scored 25 points & had 7 boards with 7 dimes. Chris Bosh had a rough shooting night going 3-12 but had 11 big boards and 10 points. For the Thunder, Kevin Durant finished with a team high of 25 points and 6 boards while Russell Westbrook scored 19 points shooting 8 for 18 (Durant had one more shot than Westbrook). James Harden had an extremely rough night shooting 2-10 with just 9 points. Heading into Tuesdays must win game for both teams, each team will have time now to watch game tapes and make adjustments. OKC has to make sure Kevin Durant stays out of foul trouble and that might mean putting him on Battier. Also, they have to find minutes for Serge Ibaka who didn’t see too much action last night only playing 22 minutes. For Miami, LeBron James has been playing the best basketball of his career this year and nothing should change for him. D-Wade is struggling with knee issues with the public not knowing the severity of the injury but is playing below average to his superstar ability giving his all. Chris Bosh also has to have better production in game 4 if they want to get the W.
Heat Lead 2-1
Game 1: Oklahoma City 105, Miami 94
Game 2: Miami 100, Oklahoma City 96
Game 3: Miami 91, Oklahoma City 85
Game 4: at MIA, Tue. June 19, 9 p.m., ABC
Game 5: at MIA, Thu. June 21, 9 p.m., ABC
Game 6: at OKC, Sun. June 24, 8 p.m., ABC (If Necessary)
Game 7: at OKC, Tue. June 26, 9 p.m., ABC (If Necessary)
Bonus: Tiger/LeBron Woven Together