---

Miami Heat season on brink after another lopsided home loss to Spurs


The Heat suffers its second home blowout loss in a row to the Spurs to fall
into a 3-1 hole and put its hopes of a three-peat in jeopardy.


On their plane ride from San Antonio to Miami on Monday morning, the Heat’s
players had momentum and home-court advantage, and there was a very real
belief that a third consecutive championship was only three victories away.


The return trip to Texas will have a decidedly different feel.


After losing a pair of games at home in the NBA Finals, the Heat now must win
three consecutive games to accomplish its dynastic goal.


Of all the magic this team has conjured in its past three postseasons, a
comeback from a 3-1 series deficit to these revenge-driven San Antonio Spurs
would be the biggest trick of all.


In Game 3, the Spurs simply couldn’t miss. In Game 4 on Thursday night, the
Heat simply looked ready for the offseason.


For the second game in a row, the Spurs ran laps around the two-time
defending champions in the first half, but this time the Heat didn’t even
give chase. It ended in a 107-86 victory for the Spurs, who now stand just
one victory away from their fifth championship of the Tim Duncan era. The
first was in 1999.


Game 5 of the Finals is on Sunday night at San Antonio’s AT&T Center.


A dunk by Duncan gave the Spurs a 21-point lead in the third quarter, and,
following a missed three-point attempt by Ray Allen, Spurs forward Kawhi
Leonard answered with a demoralizing three-pointer of his own to make it
Spurs 73, Heat 49. The Heat called timeout with 3:48 left in the period, and
Spurs reserve Patty Mills ran onto the court waving a towel in celebration.


Either in protest of Mills’ celebration or just in objection to the Heat’s
poor play, fans began booing as the Heat walked to its bench.


The Heat did a lot of walking on this night.
Miami began showing signs of fatigue during the first quarter. By the fourth,
Dwyane Wade was simply losing his dribble in transition for turnovers.


No one looked particularly sharp for the Heat, but Wade’s struggles were
pronounced. He finished 3 of 13 from the field for 10 points and was subbed
out of the game with five minutes to play.


LeBron James finished with 28 points, going 10 of 17 from the field, 4 of 8
from three-point range and 4 of 6 from the free-throw line. He left the game
with the Heat trailing by 22 points with 3:38 remaining and ripped the
compression sleeve off his arm in disgust. James gave the Heat a momentary
spark in the third quarter with 10 points in four minutes, but the Heat
trailed by double digits for the entire second half.


A three-pointer by Allen cut the Spurs’ lead to nine points with 6:27 left
in the second quarter. That was the only time in the final 36 minutes of the
game that the Spurs’ lead dropped below 10 points.


For the second consecutive game, Leonard led the Spurs in scoring and now
should be considered the frontrunner for Finals MVP. He finished with 20
points, going 7 of 12 from the field and 1 of 3 from three-point range, after
scoring 29 points in Game 3.


On Tuesday, Leonard was the driving force behind the Spurs handing the Heat
its first loss of the postseason at AmericanAirlines Arena. In his encore,
Leonard snapped the Heat’s run of 13 consecutive postseason victories after
a loss.


Spurs guard Tony Parker had 19 points, and Duncan finished with 10 points and
11 rebounds. The Spurs outrebounded the Heat 44-27.


For the Heat, it all fell apart during the second quarter.


“Our main concern is putting our best game forward,” Heat coach Erik
Spoelstra said before the game.
That didn’t happen.


There were many ways to describe statistically the Heat’s ineffectiveness in
the first half, but here are the four best, or worst, depending on the
perspective:

最好or最壞的說來給大家聽聽, 好或壞就看你用什麼角度去看囉
--以下數據都只有上半場嘿--

‧ Stunningly, the Heat was 4 of 15 inside the paint. Combined, Wade and
James were 1 of 7 in the paint and 0 of 4 in the restricted area. That’s
right. They missed every layup they attempted in the game’s first two
quarters.

驚倒人!! 炎弟跟詹皇合計在禁區內只有7中1, 並且籃框下他們4次出手都槓龜!!
是的寶傑, 他們哥倆好在前兩節的每次上籃都沒進

‧ The Heat registered just four assists. The Spurs had three times that
many. Put another way, the Heat had 12 field goals in the first half and the
Spurs had 12 assists.

換種說法, 熱火拿下12分, 而馬刺有著12次助攻會是幾分呢?

‧ The Heat shot 35.3 percent from the field. It was the second-worst
field-goal percentage of any half this season and the seventh-worst of the
Big 3 era.

組團爭冠以來第七爛的

‧ Wade was 1-of-7 shooting in the first half.


--
清晨霧一般的思念, 清新 double, 美麗 double, 捉摸不定 double...

--
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc), 來自: 60.250.135.187
※ 文章網址: http://www.ptt.cc/bbs/NBA/M.1402639354.A.594.html