Mario Chalmers gives Miami Heat a chance to play for the Championship – NBA Feature
Mario Chalmers had one of the best games of his life in Game 4 of the NBA Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Down 1-2 in the series, the Thunder were anticipated to step their game up to a different level and they did just that as they started hot from the field and built a large lead at the end of the first period.
Miami needed someone else to step up besides the usual suspects in LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. And Mario Chalmers became that person. After making no significant impact in the first three games, Chalmers went 9 of 15 from the field and ended the game with 25 points. He had 12 points in the 4th quarter alone, and made some big plays that ensured Miami kept the lead late in the game.
“No matter what, no matter how tough we are on him, he actually thinks he's the best player on this team and that's a gift and a curse. But tonight it was a gift for us because he never gets down on himself, he always believes, `Find me, I can make a shot. I can make a play.' He was huge for us,” said Heat guard Dwyane Wade after the game about Chalmers.
Chalmers was enjoying himself out on the court as he pulled off one big shot after another. He took over in the final period to give Miami a third consistent scoring option after LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, upsetting the Thunder game plan.
On a night when James had 26 points and sat out the final few minutes of the game due to leg cramps, Chalmers first made a crucial layup with 44.6 seconds left that gave Miami a 5 point lead and halted any chances of an OKC comeback. He then scored on both free throw attempts with 13.8 seconds left to seal the victory for the Heat.
It was a night when Russell Westbrook seemed to be in a completely different zone, scoring 43 points out of which only 3 came from free throws. He was an amazing 20 of 32 from the field and could have single handedly won the game for the Thunder had it not been for the heroics of Chalmers late in the game.
He was 7 of 10 from the field in the second half and stepped up at a moment that could very well become the moment that changed the fate of the NBA Finals.
"I didn't lose any confidence. I was just picking my spots better. I think I was rushing my shot, not squaring up to the basket. I watched a little bit of film on my shots, and I made the correction,” said Chalmers.
The now Heat prepare to play Game 5 of the series on Thursday night with a chance to win the championship on home court. However, the task is not done as there is still 1 more game to win and the Thunder have a tendency of resurrecting a series in which they are down and out.
They did so not long ago in the Western Conference Finals against the San Antonio Spurs. After losing the first two games against the Spurs, the Thunder bounced back to break the Spurs 20 games winning streak and win 4 games in a row to finish the series in 6 games. But if Chalmers can put up another performance like his game 4 at the American Airlines Arena, we might be looking at new NBA champions as early as Thursday.
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