I managed to catch my first NBA finals game on television live today because I was working from home and the rest of the company went on a trip to Cherating. I set up my laptop in front of the TV and we were in business for Game 4!
Here were my takeaways from the game:
Wade came up huge
Dwayne Wade reminded us of the player he was in his prime. Although he's not that old yet, he does have a bum knee and to put up 32 points with the injury is pretty freaking awesome. His 6 steals also made all the difference because of the fast break chances they created. If he can carry this momentum in the next couple of games, Heat will be very hard to stop because Spurs can't focus all their defensive play around James.
Heat's defensive intensity
Spurs were completely smothered with the level of defense that Heat threw at them. You could feel them lose confidence as more turnovers happened; their passes were less crisp and their movement had less conviction. In total, Heat had seven blocks and 13 steals (of which I believe all seven blocks were in the first half alone). Many of these blocks and steals led to fast break points and the Heat offense was truly built on its defense today. They even out-rebounded the Spurs by five with a far smaller front court.
James starts knocking down shots
We were all wondering when Lebron James was going to show up in the Finals, at least on the scoring front. He had a terrible run of shooting in the first three games to the extent that Spurs were giving him open looks for jumpers and focusing on stopping him driving into the paint instead. 33 points on 15-25 shooting, you could literally see the confidence flow back into his posture. And there's still room for improvement - he only went to the free throw line four times and can still take it harder to the rim in the next games.
Spurs' shooters
Spurs need to create more plays for Gary Neal and Danny Green who shot 3-4 and 3-5, respectively from beyond the three point arc. These guys can shoot, and you can tell that Neal is really feeling it right now. I saw two of his shots just now that were just awesome - one was a fade-away three and the other from two feet behind the line.
Spurs' front court
Tim Duncan needs more support. Tiago Splitter was just woeful today even though Kawhi Leonard did put in a respectable shift. Playing against a team without size in their front court, they should be dominating the boards and more effective in the paint but they were out-rebounded by a noticeable margin. Splitter definitely needs to step up more as the only pure center on the court.
Parker's dodgy hamstring
Tony Parker had a grain 1 strain on his right hamstring in Game 3 and his importance to the team was shown again today. Spurs' offense is built around him (not Duncan) and now, their hopes hinge on him recovering and staying healthy for the series. I'm going to come right out and say that without him, they have no chance. Especially with Ginobili playing as badly as my grandma.
Before the series started, my friend asked me what I predicted and I told him Spurs in six. After watching today's game, I don't know anymore. If Parker is able to recover and get back to full fitness soon, I still maintain Spurs in six but if he's as obviously affected as today or cannot play in future games, it's Heat in six.
