SAN ANTONIO — LeBron James was the one who took the bulk of the criticism for the Heat’s 36-point loss in Game 3, largely due to a 15-point outing that didn’t include a single free throw attempt.
But Dwyane Wade knew better. He was well aware that for Miami to bounce back and remain in the hunt for a second consecutive title, it would take all three of Miami’s stars to come through in a big way to hold off a very formidable Spurs opponent.
“Obviously it starts with us three,” Wade said on Wednesday. “We have to do a better job of being that quote, unquote, Big Three and leading our team … If us three don’t lead the charge, we’re not going to be NBA champions. Our teammates count on us, so we have to step up.”
Wade personally led that charge on Thursday, and LeBron and Chris Bosh were just as dominant as the Heat evened the Finals at two games apiece with a 109-93 Game 4 victory.
Despite the ultimate margin, this was an incredible game played at the highest level, especially in the first half. Each team held a lead of as many as 10 points, and the game featured dominant performances from several key players.
No one, however, was more important to the final outcome than Wade.
A knee injury has limited Wade for much of the postseason, both in terms of his athleticism as well as his ability to play with his customary level of intensity. But in Game 4, Wade was active from the start. He was aggressive in looking for his shot early, and came away with 10 first quarter points. He was flying around the court defensively, and ended up with six steals. Most critical, though, was his ability to provide a scoring punch that the Heat have been sorely missing.
Wade finished with 32 points on 14-of-25 shooting, to go along with six rebounds and four assists. He hadn’t been great in second halves of games in this series, and the fatigue of the knee issue was likely the main reason why. But with a little under nine minutes to play and the Heat leading by five, he came through on consecutive possessions.
After hitting a jumper in close, Wade reached into the passing lane and grabbed a steal. He headed out on the break, eluded a defender in the open floor, and then exploded for the one-handed slam which pushed the lead back to nine.
Wade’s performance was incredible, but it wouldn’t have been enough against these Spurs without some help from his teammates. And he got more than enough of it from James and Bosh.
LeBron came through on his guarantee to be more aggressive in this one, and once his team was down by 10 about halfway through the first quarter, that’s when he flipped the switch. James not only brought the ball up the floor to initiate the offense, he was running at three-quarter speed and attacking the paint with purpose on seemingly every first half possession.
James often found his teammates after forcing the defense to collapse, and was big on the boards, as well. He finished with 33 points, 11 rebounds, and four assists, to go along with a couple of steals and blocked shots.
Bosh completed the Big Three performance with 20 points and 13 rebounds, but his defense inside is what really gave his team the extra push they needed to complement the offensive prowess displayed by Wade and James.
On the Spurs’ side, Tony Parker showed no ill effects of the hamstring injury he suffered in the previous game, getting to the rim multiple times and scoring with spectacular finishes, or finding his teammates for open looks. But he did almost all of his damage in the first half, and didn’t score in 13 minutes of playing time over the final two periods.
In a game where Miami got top-level performances from all three of its stars on the same night, San Antonio wasn’t flawless enough in its execution to be able to match. The Spurs didn’t help themselves by turning the ball over 18 times, and they were unable to slow even one of the Heat’s three stars, and that made the proposition of coming away with the win virtually impossible.
“When Bosh, Wade and James score the way they did tonight and shoot it the way they did tonight, teams are going to have a difficult time if you help them and shoot poorly from the free‑throw line, as we did, and give over 20 points on turnovers,” Gregg Popovich pointed out afterward. “It’s not going to happen. When those guys play like that, you better be playing a more perfect game.”
On this night, perfection belonged to Wade, James, and Bosh.
