After spotting the Oklahoma City Thunder a 17 point lead in the first quarter, the Miami Heat slowly and steadily reeled in the Thunder and pulled out a victory in Game 4. The win put the Heat up 3-1 in the series and one victory away from bringing LeBron James his first championship and Dwyane Wade his second.
As much as we like to rag on Russell Westbrook for ill advised shots and appearing to be a less than reputable character … his mistake-foul of Mario Chalmers after a jump ball with 13 seconds left should NOT sully his epic 43 point performance last night. While unfortunate, the no-shows of James Harden and Serge Ibaka (and to a lesser extent, the increasingly pointless Kendrick Perkins) are much bigger issues for the Thunder. Ibaka is a non-factor on defense and Harden seems to have lost his confidence completely. Hard to win when that happens.
As for the Heat, I can honestly say I never held the ill feeling toward LeBron that others did. While he made a mistake with "The Decision" program two years ago, I think he has suffered the slings and arrows a bit excessively. You have to be impressed with the way he has carried this Miami Heat team largely on his back to the precipice of a championship. We can quibble and whine about the superfriends joining forces in Miami, but what's done is done, and I don't think the game of basketball is somehow less relevant because of it.
