Spurs Blowout Heat Again, Lead Series 3-1
For the second straight game, the San Antonio Spurs blew out the Miami Heat in their own building to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the series. In Game 3 the Spurs won by 19 points, in Game 4 it was 21 points.
Although a team led by LeBron James cannot be fully written off, the chances of a Heat three-peat are now extremely slim with the series heading back to San Antonio for Game 5—and it’ll return there for a Game 7, should one be necessary.
Miami has dug themselves into a hole that no other team has successfully overcome in the finals. And with San Antonio playing as dominant as they have been, it’s hard to imagine Heat fans will have another game to leave early from.
On Thursday evening, Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard was exceptional with 20 points and 14 rebounds. The 22-year-old continues to be a standout force for San Antonio—he scored a game-high 29 points in Game 3.
Tony Parker added 19 points, and Tim Duncan had 10 points and 11 rebounds, shooting 57 percent from the field. Much has been made about the San Antonio’s agedness, but Leonard’s dominating presence has completely changed the look of this Spurs team.
Leonard played 39 minutes in each of the last two games, which is five more than Parker averaged and almost 10 more than Duncan.
LeBron James did his part for the Heat, putting up 28 points and eight rebounds. Dwyane Wade, on the other hand, was an abysmal 1 of 10 through three quarters and finished the night with just 10 points. Chris Bosh wasn’t much better with 12 points and four rebounds.
The Heat are going to need to bring a lot more on the road in San Antonio if they want to return to Miami with another game to play. If they fall 20+ points behind in the first half again, they might as well skip the second half entirely, because there’s no way the seasoned Spurs will give up such a large lead at home with a championship on the line.
Miami has three days to right whatever they identify as wrong with the ship. Game 5 in San Antonio is on Sunday and tipoff is at 8:00 p.m. EST.
