Miss any of Thursday's action? Be sure to catch up with our first half recap of Game 4.
This next stat may be the most telling of any regarding the San Antonio Spurs' dominance of the Miami Heat in the first halves of Games 3 & 4 - San Antonio outscored Miami 126-86 in those halves, shooting 75.8% and 55.6% from the field in each game respectively. Spurs up 19, 55-36, as the action started up again with the Miami crowd relatively stunned and silent.
The Spurs had possession coming out of the break, and immediately extended their lead to 21 on a Boris Diaw jumper from the corner.
The Heat would get it back to 19 as they intercepted a Danny Green pass, leading to a LeBron James finish at the bucket.
Tony Parker 20-footer? Good. LeBron James 9-foot response? Also good. 59-40 Spurs with 10:15 left in the third.
That advantage would be trimmed to 17 after a Tim Duncan miss from three, with James driving in for the layup. Parker and Mario Chalmers would each convert on their team's next touches as well, making it 61-44 Spurs with 8:53 left.
Danny Green would miss a 25-footer on the Spurs' next trip, failing to get back on defense afterwards. That would lead to a scrambling foul by Parker on a James shot attempt. Two James freebies and it's 61-46.
Parker would miss a long-range rainbow on San Antonio's next touch, but Danny Green would grab the board. That extension of the possession would be short-lived, however, as a Chris Bosh would give it back to the heat.
LeBron would pick up an offensive rebound on the Heat's next half-court try, and after a Kawhi Leonard loose ball foul (which led to Manu Ginobli coming in for Danny Green), James picked up a feed from Dwyane Wade down low and dropped home the lay-in. Spurs timeout. 61-48 San Antonio with 7:54 left in the third.
With the Miami crowd rocking with chants of "defense," the Spurs pick up a clutch 9-footer from Tim Duncan out of the commercial. 63-48.
After a Kawhi Leonard shot block, Dwyane Wade bricks a contested jumper from just inside the free throw line. He would then pick up his third foul being a little overaggressive on the other end.
Diaw drew it in the act of shooting, hitting one of two. Kawhi Leonard would pull down the miss on the second attempt for his tenth rebound of the game.
The Spurs and Heat would trade misses from there, before Leonard returns to the score sheet with an elbow jumper that extends the San Antonio lead to 18.
Settling into a half-court offensive set, Dwyane Wade tries to cycle the ball around the perimeter, but Manu Ginobli makes a heads-up play - deflecting the pass off a Heat player and out of bounds for Miami's eighth turnover.
As it usually seems to go, that led to San Antonio points on the other end. Boris Diaw breaks down the Miami defense with a great move, driving in for a layup. Heat timeout. Boos making their return from the Miami faithful. 68-48 Spurs with 5:39 left in the third.
Miami was just 38.6 % from the floor at this point, and was out-assisted 13-6 through the first 30 minutes or so.
The Heat fans look to change their tune out of the commercial with chants of "let's go Heat." LeBron would salvage a point out of the Heat's possession coming out of the break, hitting one of two from the line after being hacked in the act of shooting.
A Tony Parker miss for San Antonio would lead to a Dwyane Wade air ball on the other end - after Wade tried, and failed, to force contact from Kawhi Leonard.
San Antonio's next possession would be a work of passing art, ending in a violent Tim Duncan throwdown. Spurs by 21.
Ray Allen would miss a triple on the return trip for Miami, before Kawhi Leonard sent the Miami crowd into a Heat timeout booing vigorously - knocking down a 25-foot three-pointer to give San Antonio their largest lead of the night. 73-49 Spurs at the 3:48 mark.
LeBron broke down the Spurs on iso on the Heat's next play, easily slicing to the hoop to pick up a deuce. 73-51.
After that, we had another Kawhi Leonard sighting. A pretty one-hander through the lane makes it a 24-point lead again.
LeBron James wasn't ready to stop fighting, though. He hit an in-your-face triple from the left-center of the arc to drop the Spurs' lead to 21.
Tony Parker got one of those back by drawing a foul on a drive to the bucket. 76-54 with two minutes left on the clock.
Chris Andersen would pick up a technical for the Heat, turning things from bad to worse after fouling Tony Parker while shooting. Jawing with the refs cost the Heat an extra point, as the Spurs hit all three from the line. 78-54 Spurs.
The Heat would turn the ball over for the tenth time in response (on a bad pass by LeBron), but Leonard would miss a pull-up jumper on the return.
LeBron scored his 19th point of the quarter, drilling a three on the Heat's next touch. That would be answered swiftly on an athletic finish by Tiago Splitter. 80-57 Spurs with 47 seconds left.
Splitter would get it done on defense as well, picking one away from Norris Cole. That leads to Kawhi Leonard trying to break the Internet with a tomahawk dunk. He missed and got fouled, getting his two the easy way at the line. 81-57.
LeBron would miss on the Heat's possession, with Chris Andersen failing to put away the tip-in at the buzzer. San Antonio 81, Miami 57 at the end of three.
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