NBA: Miami controls Q4 of G4 to even series at 2

The Miami Heat drew even with the San Antonio Spurs, 2-2, after a 109:93 victory in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Thursday. The Heat got 85 points from their “Big Three”, LeBron James (33), Dwayne Wade (32), and Chris Bosh (20), and won the contest pulling away in the fourth quarter.

San Antonio’s Tim Duncan scored 20 and Tony Parker added 15. Parker was diagnosed with a Grade 1 strain of his right hamstring after Game 3, but based on his play it didn’t seem to bother him during the game.

The second half, I think I got fatigued a little bit. But overall I’m just happy I didn’t make it worse. That was the goal, to not get hurt, because [Spurs coach Gregg Popovich] was not really happy, meaning I wanted to play and took a little risk.
— Tony Parker

Game 5 will be held in San Antonio on Sunday, then the clubs will return to Miami for Game 6 on Tuesday. If Game 7 is necessary, they’ll hit the hardwood in Miami next Thursday.

In a game full of big scoring runs, the Spurs jumped out with the first one, getting up 15:5 after the first five minutes of play. Miami countered with a 6:20 scoring drive that put them up 21:25 with a minute and a half on the clock in the first 12. A Wade jumper with six seconds to play closed out the first quarter scoring with the Heat up 26:29.

Miami got the first four of the second quarter to extend their lead to seven, and pushed it to 10 with seven minutes on the clock in the first half, going up 31:41. San Antonio hit seven unanswered to cut the lead to three, but the Heat countered with six to get back up nine, 38:47. For the next three minutes the Spurs outscored the Heat 11:2, behind seven from Boris Diaw and four from Parker, to knot the score at 49 as the teams headed to the dressing rooms for the mid-game break. Bosh got a dunk as the buzzer sounded, but was clearly a split-second late on the release as the lights went off signaling the end of the frame prior to him putting the ball in the hole.

James started a 3:9 run mid-way through the third with a jumper and ended it with a dunk, to give Miami a 61:67 advantage with just over five minutes to play in the third 12. Triples by Gary Neal and Danny Green pulled the Spurs to within three with just under a minute on the clock, but James took a new aggressive attitude into Game 4, which meant attacking the basket more, resulting in numerous opportunities in the paint. His lay-up that ended the scoring on the 36th minute was his 24th point and gave the Heat a 76:81 cushion to work with as they started the final frame.

I was going to play until the tank was empty. That’s the way it’s going to have to be in the rest of the series.
— LeBron James, on playing 41 1/2 (of 42) minutes in Game 4

Just over two minutes into the last period, Wade decided to take control and dropped in three jumpers and a dunk to tally the next eight points the Heat would register. Bosh then took the reins and scored the next six, putting the Heat up by 13, 85:98. The final piece to the fourth quarter was the last eight points (after another lay-up by Wade), which were all scored by James, giving the “Big Three” 25 of the club’s 28 in the fourth quarter (Ray Allen opened the final 12 with a triple). San Antonio never got on track in the fourth and let the Heat run away with the game, outscoring their hosts 17:28 to pull the clubs even at two games each in their best of seven series.

James was game-high with a 33P/11R double-double; Wade added 32 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists; Bosh contributed a 20P/13R double-double, and Allen added 14.

Duncan led the Spurs with 20; Parker added 15 points and 9 assists; Neal dropped 13 points; Kawhi Leonard added 12 points and 7 assists; Green tallied 10.