With its Game Four win, Miami tied the NBA finals series at 2-all.
“They kicked our butts the other night,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. “We were horrible. There was a better response today.”
LeBron James led the way with 33 points and 11 rebounds, but it was Dwyane Wade’s vintage performance that turned things around for the Heat. The 2006 NBA finals MVP played his finest game of the postseason with 32 points, six rebounds, and six steals.
San Antonio committed 19 turnovers, which Miami turned into 23 points.
“Turnovers obviously hurt us. We can’t give them over 20 points on turnovers. They’re too good,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.
Chris Bosh added 20 points and 13 rebounds for the Heat.
Miami looked nothing like the team that was humiliated 113-77 in Game Three as once again they displayed their ability to recover from defeats.
Miami is now a perfect 6-0 following a defeat in the post-season and all six wins have come by double digits. Miami hasn’t lost back-to-back games since January 8 and 10.
Tony Parker had 15 points and 11 assists and Tim Duncan finished with 20 points for the Spurs, who were looking to take a stranglehold on the series after their dominating victory in the last match.
Parker was playing with a sore hamstring he injured in the previous game.
Spoelstra decided to shake up his lineup Thursday by starting forward Mike Miller. James also made good on his guarantee to play better after a dismal performance in the game three loss.
Miami outscored the Spurs 28-17 in the fourth quarter after the teams were tied 49-49 at the half.
James drained a 25-foot three pointer for the last of his 33 points with 23 seconds left in regulation to help seal the win in front of a crowd of 18,581 at the AT&T Center.
James said going into Thursday’s game that he took “full responsibility” for the Heat’s ugly loss in game three and vowed to do better.
He got his first field goal halfway through the first quarter on a driving layup to cut the Spurs’ lead to six points, 15-9.
San Antonio did come out the stronger of the two teams Thursday as France’s Parker scored six points and the Spurs hit three from beyond the arc to jump out to a 15-5 lead in the first five minutes.
But Miami shot 60 percent from the field in the first quarter and Wade made a running eight foot jump shot to give the Heat a 29-26 lead heading going into the second quarter.
The Spurs closed the second period on an 11-2 surge which included seven points from Parker.
Boris Diaw’s driving layup allowed the Spurs to tied the score, 49-49, going into halftime.
Diaw completed a nice give-and-go with Danny Green who got the assist on the final basket of the first half.
Game Five of the series is set on Sunday (Monday Manila time) in San Antonio.
source: interaksyon.com
