Spurs Rout Heat In Game 4

     The Miami Heat played Game 4 of the NBA Finals and were steamrolled over by the San Antonio Spurs 107-86 on Thursday night at American Airlines Arena. The Heat are now down 3-1 and just one loss from elimination in the best-of-seven series with Game 5 to be played in San Antonio on Sunday night.
     The Spurs will have an opportunity to win their first NBA title since 2007 and fifth overall in franchise history. For the first time since 1984, the team with the best regular season record will host Game 5 in the NBA Finals due to the new series format of 2-2-1-1-1.
     San Antonio moved out to a 13-4 margin in the first five minutes of the first quarter. The Heat scored the next six points, but trailed 26-17 after one quarter. They have been behind after the first quarter in every game of this series.
     In the second quarter, the Spurs moved the gap up to double digits at 31-17 as they scored the first five points of the period and later extended their margin up to 19 points at 48-29 with 3:06 left in the first half. San Antonio was up at halftime 55-36 over Miami, who became the first team in NBA Finals history to fall behind at least 19 points at halftime twice in a series.
     Miami bolted out to begin the second half on a 12-6 spurt, however the Spurs pushed the lead up to 24 points as they responded with a 12-1 run to make it 73-49 with 3:48 left in the third. San Antonio stayed ahead 81-57 after three quarters.
     The Heat scored seven consecutive points to cut the deficit down to 18 points at 84-66 with 9:06 to go in the fourth. It would the closest Miami would get to the lead in the final quarter.
     LeBron James compiled a team-high 28 points and eight rebounds in 38 minutes for the Heat. Chris Bosh added 12 points while Ray Allen was brought in early from the bench and had eight points. Dwyane Wade had 10 points and four steals.
     Tony Parker dropped in 19 points for the Spurs and reserve Patty Mills scored 14. Kawhi Leonard put together a double-double with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Tim Duncan, who set an NBA playoff record with the most career minutes at 8,870 as he passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, had 10 points and 11 rebounds in 31 minutes. He also passed Magic Johnson for most double-doubles ever in postseason play with 158.