HEATing Up: Game 4 Wrap Up

The Miami Heat took to the Bankers Life Fieldhouse with a grudge against the Indiana Pacers.

No team in the NBA has made the Heat look as flat and ridiculous as the Pacers did in game 3. An uninspiring performance over the last two games left Miami fans wondering if the Heat could rebound in game 4. Speaking of rebounding, an important factor to the Pacers two wins has been out-rebounding the Heat by an average of 13 boards a game in their two victories. It also doesn’t help that Wade struggled in game 3 scoring only five points. Mario Chalmers decided to step his game up in the absence of Chris Bosh scoring 26 points in game 3’s loss. The Heat needed another complimentary scoring threat in game 4 or else they could go home down 3-1. Following a slow start, Miami started to Heat up. After being held to 75 points the last two games, the Heat beat the Pacers 101-93. A colossal win for the Heat will earn them the right to go back home to the Triple-A and home court advantage.

After a pitiful performance in game 3, Dwyane Wade’s heart and motivation was questioned by nearly everyone that watched his performance. Though Lebron James is the reigning MVP, the Heats’ offense revolves around Wade; and he proved it today. Wade had an explosive second half scoring 22 points, 30 for the game, with 9 rebounds and 6 assists. He attacked the basket consistently and had a solid jump shot that rendered defenders useless. His ailing injuries that depleted his energy in game 3 did not affect him one bit today.

Lebron James proved his credentials for his MVP award. His monumental performance is exactly what the Heat needed from him today; scoring 40 points, grabbing 18 rebounds, and 9 assists. One assist short of a triple double, his beastly performance has the Miami fans reminiscing on the old Cleveland days where he used to take games over by himself. To put those stats into prospective, the last player to achieve such number in a playoff game was Elgin Baylor in 1961.

Though Wade and Lebron combined for 70 of the Heats 101 points, they still needed a few more role players to step up and contribute to the offense. Udonis Haslem received enough playing time to show how important he is to the team. Scoring 14 points and grabbing 4 boards, his unmistakable value showed when covering David West in the 4^th quarter. West was shut down to a meager 8 points and 6 rebounds. Another vital factor was shutting down the big 7-footer Roy Hibbert. Hibbert only scored 10 points and brought down 9 rebounds. Hibbert and West registered 5 fouls in the game, causing them to be less aggressive and lose crucial playing time (West-28 min, Hibbert-32 min).

Lebron and Wade showed today why Miami fans consider the Heat to be the best team in the league. The biggest key to victory was the rebounding game. The Heat out-rebounded the Pacers 47-38, which in big part is due to the condensed minutes of Hibbert and West. If the Heat can manage to stay aggressive and continue to bait West and Hibbert into foul trouble, their chances of victory only increase.