Heat's Big 3 Tie Series Against Spurs 2-2

Dwyane Wade had more steals (6) than the Spurs team (5) in falling one steal short of tying Robert Horry’s 18-year NBA Finals record. Kawhi Leonard (left in photo) once again joined Gary Neal and Danny Green to give the Spurs a great boost on seven of 10 three-point shooting, but LeBron James ripped the ball away from him for this offensive rebound and joined Wade and Chris Bosh to outscore the young trio that had matched them for three games, 85-35, to even the Series 2-2 in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Thursday in San Antonio.

The Spurs would finish with their third straight game of hitting at least half of their three-pointers from behind the arc, but this time the Heat defense allowed only half as many looks – 8 of 16 compared to 16 of 32 in Game 3, to fall 109-93.

Miami’s big three scored the Heat’s first 19 points of the game, and 48 of the first 60, but still trailed 61-60 on a three-pointer by Green that made him 14 of 17 on three-pointers over three games. To that point the Heat had not hit a single three-pointer, as James, Wade and Bosh thrashed to the hoop on drives and to put in offensive rebounds.

Wade had his fourth consecutive strong first half, but had only scored eight points total in the second half of the first three games.

This second half he looked like the younger NBA Finals MVP.

With the score tied 53-53 Wade drove through the Spurs defense and drew a foul on Tim Duncan, spinning the shot in while going to the floor. He hit three free throws to give the Heat a 56-53 lead, and that started a second half run in which Wade hit eight of 11 second half shots.

Wade later helped the Heat pull away for good with a stretch of just over two minutes in which he hit a jumper, stole the ball from Green and dunked at the other, hit an 18-footer, and then fired a pass into Bosh to make it 94-83.

His driving layup with 5:16 to play made it 100-85 and capped his 11 of 14 stretch to give him 32 points, six rebounds, four assists, and the near-record six steals. After no Heat player had scored 20 points in any of the first three games, James finished with 33 points and 11 rebounds while Chris Bosh added 20 points and 13 rebounds.

Tim Duncan led the Spurs with 20 points, but had only five rebounds as the smaller Heat outrebounded the Spurs 41-36. Leonard led the Spurs with seven rebounds and a solid 12 points on five of 10 shooting including a three-pointer.