Heating Up: Miami Evens Series; LeBron, Wade Take Charge

Sunday’s third quarter was quite a bit different for Wade, however, as he overcame a sub-par first half to look like the Wade of old on his way to 30 points, nine rebounds, six assists, two blocks and nary a turnover before all was said and done.

Greg Cote of the Miami Herald compared Wade’s performance in Game 4 to that of Game 3, noting what a difference a few days can make.

James got quite a bit of credit for his performance that included 40 points, 18 rebounds and nine assists -- and was well-deserving of all of it, mind you -- but he and Wade probably deserved equal praise in helping Miami to tie the series.

At least that’s the way our friends at Peninsula Is Mightier, SB Nation’s Miami Heat blog, saw things:

Miami entered halftime down by a score of 54-46, but exploded with a spectacular run in the third quarter, outscoring Indiana 30-16 to pull ahead. They locked down in the fourth quarter and held onto their lead.

The weird thing is, the beef between Howard and Stephenson goes back further than this. From Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star:

I’m not really sure where this stems from -- Howard is a 17-year veteran, while 21-year-old Stephenson is best known for his high school career at Lincoln in New York. Either way, they won’t affect the series -- they’ve played a total of 14 combined playoff minutes, so this doesn’t really matter.

However, a 2-1 deficit is quite a long way from insurmountable. Surya Fernandez of SB Nation’s Heat Blog The Peninsula is Mightier took a look at how Miami can get back to its Flying Death Squad ways.

For more on the Heat, check out SB Nation Tampa Bay. For more on the Pacers, head over to SB Nation Indiana.