2013 NBA Finals, Game 4: Dwyane Wade, LeBron James strike back as Heat tie series

All told, the Miami Heat offense did its job in Game 5. The Heat scored 104 points in 93 possessions, which is quite good against a defense as strong as that of the San Antonio Spurs. Miami just couldn’t stop a relentless, varied and potent Spurs attack. San Antonio shot 60 percent from the floor, 40 percent from beyond the arc and 80 percent on free throws. There’s little chance Miami could survive that without doing the same thing on offense.

And a six-minute spell spanning parts of the third and fourth quarters guaranteed that the Heat offense wouldn’t end up with offensive numbers like the Spurs’.

If that wasn’t a blatant flop from Bosh then the man needs to avoid all gusts of wind over five miles per hour.

• Flannery: Big 3 have their night, finally

Whether that “not three, not four, not five” line does down in history as unbridled arrogance or something close to prophetic remains to be seen, but it isn’t a stretch to believe it’s tied directly to Wade. LeBron remains every bit as indestructible as ever; Bosh’s skillset seems unlikely to deteriorate with the passage of time. It’s Wade, then, on which the entire enterprise’s success hinges.

He’s the one who’s already 31 years old after playing three seasons at Marquette. He’s the one who plays a position notorious for feeling the effects of aging. He’s the one who used to dominate the league because of his Earth-shattering first step.

SAN ANTONIO -- Of all the hundreds of questions asked at the NBA Finals there was only one that really mattered: How?

“Yeah, I needed a game like this, but my teammates needed a game like this from me,” Wade said. “Needed me to be aggressive. Needed me to play the way that I’m capable of. Most important, they needed the Big Three to play the way we’re capable of. They depend on us a lot. We love our teammates, and we can’t win without them. We’re not going to win this series if myself, Chris (Bosh) and LeBron (James) don’t show up to play on a consistent basis.”

Wade didn’t just score, though. He also grabbed six rebounds, had six steals and a blocked shot. His transition dunk after stealing the ball at the 8:17 mark in the fourth quarter put the exclamation point on his breakout performance. Wade scored eight straight points in the fourth as the Heat’s lead grew through the fourth quarter.

James cashed in on his promise to play better than he did in Game 3. He shot an efficient 15-for-25 from the field and also tallied 11 rebounds, two blocks and four assists. His three-point field goal with 22 seconds left in the game put the cherry on top for a statement game from Miami.

B) And bigger ups to LeBron for smacking it out of there.

Oh, but wait! It was after the buzzer. Cue the The Price is Right sad horn.

Wade had two steals and one block in the first half to go with his 14 points. He was engaged through the first half and and looked the best he has so far through the series. James went 7-for-11 from the field for 15 points and was not passive on offense.

San Antonio pushed the lead to 10 in the first quarter but Miami weathered the hot start from the Spurs as James attacked the rim in transition and did a good job of picking his spots from mid-range. Miami led the Spurs by three once the first quarter was over. James and Wade combined for 21 of the Heat’s 29 first quarter points.

And here is the music video to go with it. The title translated from French is “The beauty and the bad boy.”

MC Solaar - La belle et le bad boy - Kassded (via Kassded)

We’ve had one blowout in Miami’s favor, with the Spurs turning the ball over and giving James and the Heat too many opportunities to slam in transition on a 33-5 run spanning the third and fourth quarters.

And we’ve had one blowout in San Antonio’s favor, with Green and Neal bombing away and setting the NBA Finals record for most threes by a team in a game with 16, while James was, well, bombing in one of the worst games he’s played in recent memory.