Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh
THRICE AS NICE: LeBron James (top), Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh (bottom left) combined for 85 points in the Heat’s 109-93 victory over the Spurs last night. (
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SAN ANTONIO — After the Heat were humiliated by the Spurs in Game 3, Dwyane Wade declared that Miami’s Big Three would respond in Game 4.
Then he, LeBron James and Chris Bosh went out Thursday night and did just that.
The trio, with Wade erupting for 32 points, combined to score 85 points to lift Miami to a 109-93 victory over San Antonio in front of a sellout crowd at the AT&T Center, knotting the NBA Finals at two games apiece and guaranteeing it will head back to South Beach next week. Game 5 is Sunday night in San Antonio.
“My teammates needed this game from me,” Wade said. “They needed me to be aggressive, and that’s what I did tonight.
“It was all about getting a win, and it was all about myself, Chris and LeBron coming out and leading this team on to a victory, which we were able to do tonight.”
After spending much of the playoffs being questioned about the health of his right knee and his diminished play on the floor, Wade turned in a vintage performance just when his team needed it.
Wade cracked the 30-point barrier for the first time since March 4, shooting 13-for-25 from the floor to go along with six rebounds, four assists and six steals. He made several explosive moves to the rim — something that had been lacking from his game throughout the playoffs — including an emphatic fast-break slam dunk early in the fourth quarter that Wade called a “vintage” play with a smile afterward, one that lived up to his “Flash” nickname.
“He went back in his bag today,” said James, who finished with 33 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. “He was ‘Flash’ tonight, and we needed every bit of it.”
Besides their obvious contributions offensively, the trio also made a stifling defensive effort that forced the Spurs into 20 turnovers and numerous missed opportunities at the rim. Wade’s six steals keyed multiple fast breaks that helped Miami’s offense get going, while Bosh, who had 20 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks, led the Heat’s defense, which forced the Spurs into several point-blank misses.
“It’s a little bit of everything, though, that they’ve provided for us,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “All of them provided us great energy defensively, and that got us off to a decent start, and quite obviously they are big components to what we do offensively. We run almost every trigger through them.“This happened to be a game where they were all able to be aggressive. The next game might present a different challenge. But we needed every bit of it tonight.”
Tim Duncan led the Spurs with 20 points, but the Spurs missed plenty of opportunities in close, and got no help from Tiago Splitter and Manu Ginobili, who were terrible.
Splitter finished with four points, had three turnovers, saw his shot get blocked twice and was minus-11 from the floor. Ginobili, meanwhile, was even worse, going 1-for-5 from the field and 0-for-3 from 3-point range to finish with five points, while finishing minus-18.
Ginobli is averaging under eight points a game in the series, and leaving the Spurs to only hope he finally can get on track in Game 5 Sunday.
“Yeah, we definitely need Manu,” said Tony Parker, who finished with 15 points and nine assists, but didn’t score in the second half. “I think everybody needs to help him to try to get his confidence going.
“But I have a lot of confidence in Manu. I’m sure he’s going to break out of that slump. I’ve been playing with him for a long time. I just know he’s going to have a big game soon.”
Parker, who tweaked his right hamstring in Game 3, was brilliant early on, going 7-for-12 in the first half and making some circus shots. But he missed all four of his shots after the break, and admitted he couldn’t quite get going. He finished with 15 points.
“It was just fatigue,” he said. “I just missed shots. I had great shots.
“They are doing the same thing on me since the beginning. Very aggressive on pick and rolls, stuff like that. I just missed easy shots, and hopefully I’ll get more healthy and I’ll be better by Sunday.”