Miami Heat hold off Oklahoma City Thunder for a 3-1 series lead in the NBA Finals – Part 1
Miami Heat came back from a 17 point first quarter deficit to edge away from the Oklahoma City Thunder with a 104-98 victory in game 4 of the NBA Finals.
Playing in front of a fired up home crowd, Miami had 20 plus point from three players, including point guard Mario Chalmers who had the best game of his life with 25 points including a crucial layup in the final minute to make
it a two possession ball game for the Thunder.
LeBron James was one rebound short of a triple-double with 26 points, 12 assists and 9 rebounds while Dwyane Wade also had 25 points.
Russell Westbrook had a huge night for Thunder. The one guard scored 43 points on the night, out of which only 3 came from free throws. He found his rhythm in a big first quarter for the Thunder and continued to knock down shots
throughout the game.
OKC entered the game charged up and went straight to work on offense by scoring points early, taking a 15-5 lead over Miami.
After Miami had cut the Thunder lead to 17-12, they again went on a 10-0 run to take a 27-12 lead and led 33-19 at the end of the first period. It if weren’t for Norris Cole’s three pointer in the final seconds of the quarter,
the Thunder would have been up 33-16.
Miami came back strong in the 2nd period with a 13-0 start that had them trailing the Thunder 33-32. Miami could not take the lead from the Thunder, even though they remained close for the rest of the 2nd
period.
OKC missed their first five field goal attempts to start the 2nd period which allowed Miami to cut their lead. They went into halftime leading 49-46.
Miami scored the first 4 points of the 3rd period and took a 50-49 lead, their first since the first minutes. After nine lead changes, Chalmers scored 5 straight points for Miami to give them a 66-60 lead over the Thunder.
James then hit a bank shot to extend it to 75-68, but the Thunder cut three points off the lead to close the third period and trail 75-79.
Chalmers had 7 straight points early in the final period and Wade hit a clutch three pointer to give Miami a 90-83 lead with 7:35 remaining in the game. Westbrook was however playing like a man possessed and with his team trailing
by 7 points, he went on to score 7 straight points himself to tie the game at 90.
A pull up jump shot by Kevin Durant had the Thunder up by 2, their first lead of the final period. After Chalmers turned the ball over, OKC had a chance to extend their lead but Westbrook committed a turnover, as the ball hit his
foot and went out of bounds.
Bosh hit a layup and after Westbrook missed a jumper, James scored a clutch three pointer to put Miami up 97-94. Durant then committed a turnover and Wade scored in transition to give Miami a 99-94 lead with 2:19 remaining. The
Thunder never got close after that as Miami showed nerves of steel to hold on to the lead and win 104-98.
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