Miss any of Thursday's action? Be sure to catch up with our first quarter recap of Game 4.
The Miami Heat came out with a ton of intensity, but a great shooting first quarter for the San Antonio Spurs (9-for-16, 56.3%) coupled with a rough 12 minutes from the floor for Miami gave the Spurs a 26-17 advantage after one.
That lead would balloon to 14 out of the break, with the Spurs jumping on a 5-0 run - punctuated by Danny Green's third triple of the contest.
Norris Cole cut the lead back to 12 with a great move for the Heat, and then Miami would shave to 11 after hitting one of two from the line following a Patty Mills shooting foul.
Dwyane Wade would miss a short jumper to drop the deficit to single digits, and Boris Diaw would make them pay mightily on the return trip - dropping down a rim-rocking flush off a Tiago Splitter dime. Timeout Heat. 33-20 Spurs with 8:42 left.
After a chess match between the two defenses coming out of commercial, Ray Allen hits an "Allen Special" triple to shave the lead to 10.
Not to be outdone, Boris Diaw would feed Tiago Splitter for a dunk with a highlight reel behind-the-back pass. Simply astounding.
Bosh would get the two back on the other end from the stripe, drawing a shooting foul with one second left on the shot clock.
Tony Parker? Challenge accepted. Parker makes an acrobatic drive to the rim, putting it home through three defenders. Spurs by 12.
Make that nine, as Ray Allen continued to turn back the clock with a 24-foot trey. Timeout Spurs. San Antonio 37, Miami 28 with 6:26 left in the half.
Nine points? More like fourteen, as the Spurs sandwich a Mario Chalmers miss with a Kawhi Leonard short-range missile and a Manu Ginobli 25-foot three-pointer. Timeout Heat, now, with the Spurs leading 42-28. 5:28 left.
Each team trades wasted opportunities to start, as analyst Jeff Van Gundy called out Miami for a lack of passion during the sequence.
The drought continues for both teams for over a minute before Tony Parker throws in a prayer two-pointer while falling down. Spurs by 16 for their largest lead of the night.
After another bad trip on offense for the Heat, Parker drives hard to the lane, kicks it to Ginobli, who finds Tim Duncan in the block. Duncan drew a foul and hit two freebies to extend the lead to 18.
LeBron James would finally put a halt to San Antonio's momentum for a second, aggressively picking up a shooting foul to the left of the basket. He hit just one of two from the line, though, with the deficit moving to 17.
It continued to be a battle from the charity line from there, as Kawhi Leonard drew a Dwyane Wade foul and picked up two at the line. 48-29 Spurs with 3:07 left.
Mario Chalmers finally showed signs of offensive life on the Heat's next trip, drilling a baseline two-pointer. The Spurs missed on their next touch, leading to Dwyane Wade doing everything he could to pick up a shooting foul - and succeeding. Two free throws and the disadvantage is down to 15.
Tony Parker, however, gets to his right hand way too easily on the Spurs' next offensive series, draining a double from the key.
A stellar defensive trip for San Antonio on Miami's next possession sets up a perfect look for Patty Mills on the fast break. Corner three rung up as the Spurs have a 53-33 lead with 1:36 left.
The entire arena? Completely shocked.
It doesn't get any better after a Heat 20-second timeout, as Toney Douglas is hit with a charge.
Then, Kawhi Leonard happened. He flushed a poster dunk on a missed corner three to push the lead up to 22 with about 35 seconds left. The Miami crowd, perhaps justifiably, began to voice their displeasure with a round of boos.
LeBron James turned those boos around for a second, hitting a fallaway three with the shot clock expiring. The Spurs can't convert on the final play of the half, sending us to the half. San Antonio 55, Miami 36. Heat were 12-for-34 from the field (35.33%), looking lost offensively at times.
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