LeBron James and the Miami Heat are one win away from the apprized 2012 NBA Championship title as the Miami Heat survives the Thunder in Game 4.
Miami is now up 3-1 in the 7-game NBA Finals series thanks to an almost triple double by LeBron (one assist shy), a spectacular performance by Mario Chalmers (25 pts) and the acrobatics of Dwayne Wade who added 25 points for his team in Game 4.
The following game and perhaps the season's last, Game 5, will be played in the American Airlines Arena at 9:00 p.m. EST.
One can already expect the Heat preparing the hats, t-shirts in addition to visualizing what that victorious moment will look and feel like. But for at least one player in Miami, things won't get easily carried away. For him, Finals' tension will not easily evaporate. He nows better than that after two devastating trips to the Finals (2007. 2011) that left things in the blue. No, for this man, celebration mode starts only after the final whistle blows (in contrast to all Miami Fans who already started partying). LeBron James.
James has not only been dreaming about a title since he entered the league in 2003, but he has been working countless hours towards realizing this goal...which is why Game 5 should be an imperative for all die-hard fans who have been following him ever since (Cleveland, hello?).
Game 4 ended up being a very physical and competitive game which had 12 lead changes (10 in Game 3). It was the Thunders this time that initiated with an early run that left the Heat trailing 14 points, 33-19, by the end of the 1st quarter.
LeBron James and the Heat bounced back in the 2nd quarter and cut the gap to just 3 points with the Thunder leading 49-46 by half time.
By the end of the 3rd quarter it was Miami who was leading 79-75 while during the 4th quarter, LeBron gave Miami fans a scare as he limped his way through to the bench due to a hamstring injury that was apparently caused by a collision with Kevin Durant with few minutes remaining in the 4th quarter.
Mario Chalmers was key for Miami during the game scoring a key lay up as the clock ticked its final seconds. He had 25 points in the game and scored Miami's 5 last points.
Thunder's Westbrook lead both teams in total points with 43 while teammate Kevin Durant added 28. LeBron James finished with 26 and Dwayne Wade finalized with 25 points.
Miami won 104-90 and will try to clinch the NBA Championship game on Thursday.
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