2014 NBA Finals, Game 4: Home Away from Home

I wrote in my Game 3 review that, although the Spurs led the Heat for most of the game by double digits, it never truly felt like Miami was finished until there were two or three minutes left and Greg Oden checked in. The Heat are a dynamic and just plain great team, and they rarely count themselves out of games, so the Heat's opponents' lead often does not feel safe. That spirit extends to coming back from playoff losses: Miami had not lost back-to-back playoff games in two calendar years, which is a good way to get yourself two titles. This, I think, led the basketball fan to one conclusion going into Game 4: the Heat should win, since they're at home and coming back from a loss. And even if they don't, they'll make the Spurs earn it going against a very talented and very motivated team.

No one counted on the Monstars stealing the basketball skills of every single Heat player not named LeBron James in preparation for their own game against the Tune Squad (technically, the Nerdlucks steal skills and become the Monstars, but that's really not important). Bosh looked at times in the first half like he was in for a vintage Bosh game, making some driving layups that attracted most of the Spurs D to no avail. Ray Allen was himself, hitting shots from the arc and nowhere else (I'm convinced he's getting to the point where if the basket is any more or less than 25 feet away, he has no idea how much strength to put on the shot). Every other Heat player at every other time of the game looked lost. Lewis finished with two, and Wade got outscored by James Jones. On the other end, the Spurs weren't shooting at ludicrous levels like they were in Game 3, but the defense simply couldn't keep up with the movement. By the fourth quarter, Spoelstra was trying anything to stop the San Antonio's offense. Consider this bizarre two-PG lineup that logged serious minutes towards the end of the game: Cole, Haslem, Bosh, Wade, Chalmers. Miami went super-small against the Spurs in an effort to change the style of play. That said, the San Antonio big men weren't exactly relying on their size to contribute, especially in Diaw's case. He only finished with eight points, but he also assisted on nine baskets leading to 22 Spurs points, including this absolute behind-the-back beauty to Splitter:

Diaw was one of the more valuable cogs in the Spurs' machine-like offense in Game 4, but he was just that: a cog. Part of the problem that the Heat D faced was that San Antonio essentially played out the platonic ideal of their basketball philosophy. Every one of Pop's boys was on his game. Nine Spurs scored in the first quarter, and they had an astounding 25 possessions with at least 6 passes during the first half. The incredible movement and equally incredible even distribution created serious headaches for defenders, and the Spurs subsequently shot 55.6% from the field.

Obviously, the Spurs deserve some credit for this convincing win, their biggest of the series in which they're outscoring their opponent by 53 total points. But their opponent is not the Miami Heat that made their fourth consecutive NBA Finals looking for their third straight title. This is a Miami Heat that is dazed, confused, and apparently ready to admit that they have no answer. James was as much of a crutch as he's ever been, scoring 19 of Miami's 21 third quarter points (Rio Chalmers, of all people, had the other two). As a result, as many as four minutes passed between Heat FGs, during which time San Antonio had no problem expanding on their lead. At halftime, the Heat were shooting just over a painful 35%, a far cry from the 56% shooting Miami had in the first half of Game 3. In that game, the Heat gave the impression that they might catch up, because the Spurs' 75% shooting was unsustainable, and the Heat were actually playing very well, and might just have to keep doing what they were doing (at least on offense) to win. In Game 4, they were just plain bad.

And the fans sure let them know. The defining moment of the game was a Patty Mills trey that bounced high off the rim, allowing KAWHI to leap over Bosh and slam it back, giving San Antonio a 22-point lead.

In a home Finals game, the Heat fans booed their own team!! They suck!! 

This is the game's defining moment for a few reasons. First, the ball movement on this play is stellar. The Heat always seem to forget someone, and they frantically rush to cover him as something opens somewhere else. Duncan is a constant target down low from the pick and roll onward, but they prefer to keep the defense on their toes by swinging it cross-court to Parker. Parker, with excellent vision, drives and knows for a fact that Chalmers will collapse and leave Mills in the corner. Every Heat player realizes the mistake too late, and basically lets out a collective "fuck it" as he prepares to shoot. Mills misses, but the play is there, and its end in a Heat team-wide "fuck it" is a major trend throughout Game 4. Second, James tries to take the game into his own hands and go coast to coast, but he's slowed by KAWHI and Parker's defense, knowing full well that he is far and away the most credible threat that Miami presents (and perhaps, at this point, the only credible threat they present). Third, the Heat fans boo their own team! What kind of people are they? They are at once representing and contributing to the general malaise that surrounds this team, one that only threatens to get worse as the reality of how overmatched the Heat are is accepted as gospel in South Beach.

The next game is in San Antonio, but the environment wouldn't be much different if the league hadn't switched away from the 2-3-2 format: both Miami and San Antonio feel like the Spurs' home court at this point. No matter what colors the fans in the seats are wearing, they share the conviction that Game 5 will end with silver and black confetti falling around the Larry O'Brien trophy.