Miami ties
up the series with win.
It took
almost the entire playoffs, but fans finally saw the plan that Pat Riley put in
motion three years ago when James, Wade, and Bosh won Game 4 for the Miami
Heat. The Heat big three played outstanding last night, and helped their team
edge a crucial game in terms of the series. No team has come back from being
down 1-3 in the NBA Finals, and nor will the Heat have to.
LeBron and
Wade took a total of 50 shot attempts, and scored a total of 65 points. Bosh
helped out by scoring 20, and the team’s unofficial sixth man Ray Allen scored
14. Wade hadn’t scored over 30 points since the regular season, and last night
looked like the Flash of old. LeBron and Wade continued to penetrate, and
instead of kicking the ball out to Mario Chalmers or Mike Miller, they played
aggressive basketball and won this game for their team.
Wade, with
a bum knee, played 40 minutes of excellent basketball. His stat line: 32 pts, 6
rebs, 4 asts, 6 stls, 1 blk. The last 2 players to have 30 points, 5 rebounds,
and 5 steals were Allen Iverson and Michael Jordan. Wade played complete
basketball, showing that he is one of the best shooting guards of all time,
both offensively and defensively. Popovich used to hide a big man on defense by
having Boris Diaw or Tiago Splitter guard Wade, so that if need be the Spurs
can pack the paint and prevent easy looks at the hoop. Wade took full advantage
of that miss-match and put up several jumpers that were basically uncontested.
The Heat
defense as well, played aggressively enough to take the Spurs out of the game
mid-fourth quarter. The Spurs committed 19 team turnovers that led to 23
points, as well as 14 in the fast break. The Heat scored 50 points in the paint
while the Spurs only scored 38. The Miami Heat are a well oiled machine, and
although they got pummeled by San Antonio’s three point shooters in Game 3, I
don’t expect that to happen again, but obviously I’m not confident about that.
Gary Neal
and Danny Green didn’t score a total of 51 points like they did Tuesday night,
but they shot a collective 6-9 from downtown, as to show that Game 3 was not a
fluke. The Spurs shooters can be very dangerous, but Popovich and Spoelstra
both know that. What Pop has to deal with now is the turnovers committed by the
big men.
Tim Duncan,
the Big Fundamental, only grabbed 5 rebounds but found a way to turn the ball
over 3 times. Splitter, the supposed 2nd big man, grabbed 3 rebounds
and turned the ball over 3 times. Boris Diaw, the big man off the bench, got 3
rebounds and turned the ball over 2 times. I’m no mathematician, but 8
turnovers from big men, who have the ball the least on the court, are very
upsetting. That type of play from reliable players cost them the game. Of
course, Manu Ginobili not showing up to play didn’t help either. Manu scored 5
points on 1-5 shooting (0-3 from three-point and 3-4 from the stripe). Manu was
also -22 when on the court, the lowest of any player last night.
Obviously
the only promise from last night’s game was that Tony Parker came to play in
the first half. Yes, only the first half, because he scored 0 points in the
second half after scoring 11 in the first quarter alone.
Tony, hey,
Tony, when Miami’s big three take 64 of the teams 85 shots, I think you should
try to score a big more too. Tony is supposed to be the team’s leading scorer,
but has not found a way to play a complete game for this team this series. He
does good things, such as his 9 assists or his mere 3 turnovers, but this team
needs him to have superstar like performances every night. I guess with a
hamstring strain it’s a bit difficult.
I expect
after watching last night’s game, this series will inevitably go 7 games.
However, that being said, I wouldn’t put it past Miami to win games 6 and 7 at
home and take the series.
Heat in 7.
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