Tag: LeBron James

Miami finds way to get a big leg up

MIAMI — LeBron James better get well fast. He’s about to play for a championship.

Hardly able to move, James returned from a left leg injury to make the tiebreaking 3-pointer with 2:54 remaining, and the Miami Heat held off Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder for a 104-98 victory on Tuesday night and a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals.

With James watching the final moments, Mario Chalmers finished off a standout 25-point effort that matched Dwyane Wade. James had 26 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds, only missing a triple-double because he was on the bench at the end after hurting his leg with a fall to the court.

“Whatever it takes. No excuses,” Wade said. “You don’t want to leave this arena saying you missed opportunities.”

Game 5 is Thursday night, and James will have a chance to finish a championship chase that started in Cleveland before he famously — or infamously — left for South Florida.

Westbrook scored 43 points for the Thunder, who wasted an early 17-point lead but were never out of the game because of their point guard. Kevin Durant had 28 points, but James Harden threw in another clunker, finishing with eight points on 2-of-10 shooting. Westbrook and Durant were the only Thunder players to score in the last 16:46.

James stumbled to the court on a drive midway through the fourth quarter, staying on the offensive end of the floor as the Heat regained possession on a blocked shot, and he made a short jumper that made it 92-90. After Westbrook missed a jumper, the Heat called time out as James gingerly went to the court. Unable to walk off, he was carried to the sideline by a pair of teammates.

He returned to a huge roar with a little over four minutes left, and after Chris Bosh tied it, James slowly walked into a pull-up 3-point attempt — perhaps doing so knowing he couldn’t drive by anyone.

That made it 97-94, and when Wade followed with a layup with 2:19 left, the Heat finally had enough room to withstand Westbrook, who kept coming all night.

His counterpart, Chalmers, scored more points than he had in the previous three games.

“Mario Chalmers is a winner,” Wade added. “He’s due for a big game and he came through for us.”

The Thunder got an epic performance from Westbrook. They ran out to a huge early lead. They watched James get carried off the court in the fourth quarter, and took the lead shortly after he departed.

Somehow, it still wasn’t enough.

“I can guarantee this,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “We have fight in us.”

History says the Thunder are now in deep, deep trouble. No team in NBA history has rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the Finals. No team has even forced a Game 7 when faced with that scenario.

Westbrook took 32 shots, as many as James and Chris Bosh tried combined. He made 20 — half of Oklahoma City’s field goals on the night — and finished with seven rebounds and five assists as well.

Irving doubtful for slumping Cavs vs. Spurs

Rookie guard Kyrie Irving, who claimed his third consecutive Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month award on Monday, might not play tonight when the Spurs visit Cleveland.

Irving has been slowed by a sprained right shoulder. His injury is among the major reasons the struggling Cavaliers have dropped seven straight games and lost 10 of their last 11.

His absence would be critical for the Cavaliers against the Spurs, who will be gunning for their eighth straight victory at Tuesday’s game.

The Cleveland Plain-Dealer reported that Irving after a no-contact practice while wearing a short-sleeved compression shirt that covered his injury. He leads the Cavaliers and all rookies in scoring (19.9 ppg) and assists (6.7).

Irving was injured in the Cavaliers’ loss to Milwaukee Friday night. He did not play in their most recent game, a 91-75 loss at New York on Saturday night.

If Irving can’t play, who would likely be replaced by rookie guard Donald Sloan, who produced 10 points, seven rebounds and four assists in the loss to the Knicks.

The Spurs have claimed three straight victories over the Cavaliers. Their most recent loss came to them on March 8, 2010, in a game during LeBron James’ last season with the Cavs. James did not play in that game.

Spurs intend to hurdle roadblock

MIAMI — Maybe it’s just the jet lag. Maybe it’s a touch of homesickness.

Maybe the mattresses at their luxury hotels have suddenly become too lumpy. Maybe the seats on their charter plane have become too cramped.

Or maybe, as Tim Duncan suggests, there really is no good explanation for the Spurs’ newfound fear of travel.

The fact of the matter is this: The Spurs are 9-0 at the ATT Center this season, 0-4 when they leave Bexar County.

“There’s no rhyme or reason to why we’re winning one place and not the other,” Duncan said. “We just have to play better on the road.”

Having already perfected the art of winning at home, the Spurs figure tonight in Miami is as good a time as any to take their winning act on the road.

The Spurs have not won a road game of any sort — postseason, regular season or preseason — since posting a 97-90 victory at Atlanta last April 5.

This season, they’ve been routed in Houston, Minnesota and Oklahoma City and dropped a three-point game in Milwaukee.

“In a situation like this, home games become even more important, and road games are even tougher to get,” forward Richard Jefferson said. “You have to play better on the road than you do at home.”

On the surface, the back-to-back that begins tonight in Miami and continues Wednesday at Orlando is not the most desirable place to stage a road revival.

The All-Star laden Heat, defending Eastern Conference champions, beat the Spurs by 30 at AmericanAirlines Arena last season (a week after — go figure — losing by 30 in San Antonio).

Meanwhile, the Magic have become a perennial Spurs roadblock, winning the past three meetings in Orlando by a combined 52 points.

Considering NBA schedule-makers will not allow the Spurs to play only in San Antonio, they’d better figure out how to win an away game if they plan on finishing the season better than .500.

For starters, center DeJuan Blair said, “we’ve got to bring more intensity on the road.”

The Spurs could get a bit of a break tonight, with Miami All-Star guard Dwyane Wade expected to miss the game with an ankle injury. Still, LeBron James — Wade’s All-Star backcourt mate — picked up the slack to the tune of 32.5 points, 11 assists and 7.5 rebounds in a pair of games flying solo the week before last.

Wade’s status might not matter if the Spurs can’t find a way to suspend their road-home Jekyll-and-Hyde routine. The sample size is small, but so far the Spurs have been a different team outside San Antonio city limits.

They are averaging 103.4 points at home, 95 on the road. They are allowing 106.3 points on the road and 90.3 at home.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is succinct in diagnosing the difference.

“We suck on the road,” he said. “We’re really good at home.”

This is a relatively novel phenomenon for the Spurs, who have traditionally been one of the NBA’s saltiest away teams. Last season, the Spurs won their first eight road games en route to a 25-16 road record.

The best explanation anyone can offer for the Spurs’ recently discovered ability to impersonate a treadmarked armadillo: an increased reliance on younger players.

Popovich starts a 22-year-old at center (Blair) and a 20-year-old rookie at guard (Kawhi Leonard). His bench includes third-year swingman Danny Green, a pair of second-year players in center Tiago Splitter and guard Gary Neal and another 20-year-old rookie in point guard Cory Joseph.

Winning on the road, Popovich said, is a learned skill younger players take time to master.

“There are always a couple moments in a road game where it can be a five- or six-point game, and all of a sudden it’s eight or 10,” Popovich said. “You sort of lose your mojo.”

Duncan figures it is past time for the Spurs to find it in someone else’s gym.

“We’ve protected our home court,” Duncan said. “Now it’s time to get one on the road.”

jmcdonald@express-news.net