Heat One Win From Title

    The Miami Heat are one win away from their second NBA title as they got by the Oklahoma City Thunder 104-98 in game four of the NBA Finals Tuesday night at American Airlines Arena. The Heat now lead the best-of-seven series 3-1 and look to wrap up the championship on Thursday night. No team has ever come back from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals to win a championship.
    Mario Chalmers and Dwyane Wade both had 25 points each for the Heat. LeBron James fell short of a triple-double with 26 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds. Russell Westbrook dropped 43 points while Kevin Durant added 28 points.
    With the Thunder leading 94-92, the Heat finished the game on a 12-4 run in the final four minutes as Chalmers made the last five points for his team in the victory. Following a jump ball with five seconds left on the shot clock, Chalmers was fouled by Westbrook who did not realize the situation. He sank two foul shots with 13 seconds left to increase the Heat margin to 103-98.
    The Thunder began the game with a 13-3 start for a double-digit lead just 4:50 into the contest. They were able to get it up to 27-12 with 2:30 left in the quarter. OKC led 33-19 at the end of the first quarter. It was the first time in the series that they were ahead after the opening frame. Norris Cole had eight points and was the leading scorer for the Heat.
     Miami scored 16 consecutive points, which included the first 13 points of the second quarter, to cut the margin down to 33-32 with 8:30 left in the first half. They tied the game at 35-35 on a three-pointer by Wade at 7:56. Oklahoma City would be up for the rest of the stanza and lead 49-46 at halftime, although they were outscored by 11 points in the quarter. Westbrook led all scorers after two quarters with 18 points while James and Wade had 10 points each.
    Both teams exchanged the lead several times in the third quarter. The Heat had a minor rally of 11-6 late in the frame to get a larger lead of seven points at 77-70. Miami had a 79-75 lead after three quarters.
    The Heat maintained their lead for the first six minutes of the fourth quarter until the Thunder scored seven straight points to tie the game at 90-90. The Thunder took the lead 94-92 on a Durant field goal with 4:20 left. The Heat never relinquished the lead again as they compiled a 7-0 run to make it 99-94 with a James three-point shot and a Wade lay-up.