“It’s so quiet in here, crickets could’ve been heard.” (c) Jeff Van Gundy | Spurs Win 107-86 | Lead series 3-1
With their backs against the wall in a must-win situation, the Miami Heat were home once again for game 4 of the NBA Finals. Much like game 3 on Tuesday, the Spurs came out with an aggression in their eyes taking an early double digit lead. Unlike the Heat’s previous outing, Chris Bosh came out putting his prints of the game, totaling more points and shot attempts than he did their last home game. However, Miami couldn’t get going early, which San Antonio’s efficiency continued to poor throughout the American Airlines Arena along Biscayne Bay.
Boris Diaw continued to break down the Heat’s lackluster defense, he contributed brilliant passing to equal Miami’s total assist count at 7 before the final quarter. Tony Parker would also have his first great game of the series scoring double digits early on, to put immerse pressure on the Heat backcourt tandem of Norris Cole and Mario Chalmers, who had been struggling all series. Kawhi Leonard began with a poor start missing some wide open shots, but had an impact in the game attacking the rim for multiple free throw attempts.
In the third quarter, LeBron came out initially with a burst of energy, but that would only last until midway past the period. Miami was in need of their superstar in the team’s darkest hour in the big 3-era yet, but San Antonio would answer back or react to any brief run the Heat would go on with timeouts to prevent momentum and/or force turnovers in transition.
No boxing out leads to Kawhi Leonard’s monster offensive put back dunk! NBA Finals MVP?
The Spurs efficiency would translate to one of the most impressive NBA Finals games we’ve seen in our lifetime, as Miami would visibly show fatigue and even look throughout their entire bench with the except of Greg Oden to find a spark on the court. No Heat player saw more fatigue than Dwyane Wade, who had little rest playing his 3rd game in five days. Miami will now have two days to rest, but they’re heading to River Walk in San Antonio for potentially their last game of the season and maybe final outing for the Heat’s big 3 tandem.
Boris Diaw breaking down the defense at point guard, putting on his best 2005 impersonation from Atlanta.
Prior to tonight, the Heat hadn’t lost consecutive games (48 games in a row) in the playoffs since the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals where the Boston Celtics won 3 straight – before LeBron’s memorable game 6 at TD Garden. An interesting note however is the Spurs hadn’t one more than one road game until their back-to-back route in South Beach this week. While a comeback from Miami this Sunday evening remains to be seen, we’re expecting the San Antonio Spurs to wrap things in 5 for their first title since the 2007 season.