Sunday, June 16, 2013

NBA 2013 Finals: San Antonio x Miami Game 4 Recap

NBA 2013 Finals: San Antonio x Miami Game 4 Recap

For the Game 4 of the Finals, Coach Spoelstra changed Miami's starting lineup by benching Udonis Haslem and starting Mike Miller. Chris Anderson didn't play a single minute on Game 4, so the Heat played the whole game with small ball lineups. Miami's adjustments were done in consequence to what San Antonio had done on Game 3, where the Spurs were giving a lot of space to Lebron James and Dwyane Wade to shoot from the outside. On Game 4, Miami's offense was much more aggressive than on the previous games. They pushed the ball, they scored points in transition and not even a poor start of the game (5-15 run) stopped them. Then, Dwyane Wade woke up and played at a great level. 

On the other hand, San Antonio can only produce offensively if Tony Parker plays well. He made some amazing shots and he would penetrate into the basket and then pass the ball to an open shooter on the outside. But Parker was too tired on the second half, with no explosion, so he was only able to make some assists. The Spurs had a lot of problems to outplay the Heat's undersized lineups, who was very quick in double teaming and closing the passing lanes. Tiago Splitter was well defended down low and he lacks the skills to make the right decisions under pressure. Tim Duncan couldn't dominate down low and of course, San Antonio couldn't handle Miami's offensive flow. This change in Miami's style caused the Game 4 to be the fastest paced game of the Finals with a 92.22 pace, after pace factors of 84.19, 82.71 and 85.32 on Games 1, 2 and 3.

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