The Miami Heat aren’t ready to pack it in just yet. With a 16-point win over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, they avoided a dangerous 3-1 hole.
‘Big Three’ lead Miami to 109-93 win over San Antonio
In the words of Miami Heat owner Micky Arison, the death of the Big Three was overrated.
That’s the story from last night’s game as the Miami Heat went on to a convincing 109-93 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on the road. The Heat needed a big performance from someone other than Lebron James and got it from stars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
As usual, James starred with 33 points, 11 rebounds, and a handful of assists, steals, and blocks. But he got significant help in Thursday night’s win over the Spurs. Wade had 32 points and played arguably his best game of the postseason. He not only did it on the offensive end, shooting nearly 60%, but hauled in six rebounds and added a whopping six steals. There was also a huge game from the center Bosh, who finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds. For one of the few times this postseason, he was a major contributor at both ends of the court.
When the Heat get that much production from their Big Three, it’s difficult to stop them. And while the production from the rest of the team was fairly limited, Miami also got 14 from Ray Allen off the bench.
The road team also shot a blistering 53% from the field in Game 4 and made 15 of their 17 free throws. That hot shooting, perhaps more than anything else, was the primary reason the series is now tied.
The big move before the game was head coach Eric Spoelstra mixing up the starting lineup. In an effort to get more shooters on the floor and open things up a bit, Spoelstra took forward Udonis Haslem out, inserting guard Mike Miller who has been incredibly accurate in the Finals, making nine of his ten three-point shots heading into last night’s game. Miller was a non-factor, going scoreless in 21 minutes of action, but it will be interesting to see if Spoelstra keeps the same lineup because of the game’s outcome.
Even though Miller didn’t have a big game, having him on the floor opens things up for the rest of the team. He’s another guard that San Antonio has to defend and his presence can cause some disruption on the Spurs at both ends of the court. The move also gives Miami a strong rebounding presence off the bench with Haslem there.
The Spurs got some good news before the game when it was announced that starting point guard Tony Parker would suit up after his hamstring injury. Parker played well with 15 points and a team-high nine assists, but there wasn’t much else to celebrate for the home crowd.
San Antonio was plagued with a whopping 18 turnovers and the starters had 11 of them. Miami had only nine and fed off the Spurs’ mistakes to the tune of 14 fast break points. The Heat got out and ran a little, and also scored 23 points off of the San Antonio turnovers.
Tim Duncan led the Spurs with 20 points.
The pressure’s been on Miami a couple of times in this series. After dropping Game 1, they responded with a home win. And last night’s victory evened the series, avoiding a perilous 3-1 hole that no team has ever recovered from in the NBA Finals. Now, though, it’s San Antonio that faces a game they need to win. Falling behind 3-2 in the series with the final two contests in Miami would be an uphill climb to say the least.
Sunday’s Game 5 at home isn’t a must-win for the Spurs … but it’s close.
