2014 NBA playoff schedule: LeBron, Heat take 3-1 lead over Nets; Blazers beat Spurs

PORTLAND -- He’s known around Portland as “The People’s Champ,” but perhaps fans in Rip City should start referring to second-year guard Will Barton as who he really is: The man who saved the Blazers’ season.

“I never got that word,” Barton chuckled. “Sometimes it just happens that way.”

LeBron scored 49, tying a playoff career high. The Nets lost.

It turns out that this isn’t new for Pierce, this “watching LeBron go ballistic in the playoffs” thing. In fact, of all of LeBron’s most prolific nights in the postseason, The Truth has, ahem, witnessed the most close-up. Take a look.

Damian Lillard is out here winning the Skills Competition and the Dunk Contest simultaneously while the rest of y’all are playing a game:

And you get the final prize, Tim Duncan.

LeBron’s playoff career high is 49. He could’ve broken that with a nice, round 50 with a throwaway free throw at the end of Miami’s big Game 4 win in Brooklyn, but...

...nope. Whatever. Round numbers are for losers. Would’ve been nice, though, eh? Stupid ball:

LeBron James may no longer be the NBA’s reigning MVP, but the Miami Heat forward left little doubt that he’s still the best player in the world on Monday night. James scored 49 points to help the Heat to a 102-96 victory in Game 4 at Barclays Center. Miami now leads the series 3-1 and can advance to the Eastern Conference finals at home on Wednesday.

The fourth quarter was back and forth with plenty of lead changes, but Chris Bosh’s three-pointer from the left corner to break a 94-94 tie with just under one minute left served as the final blow to Brooklyn’s chances.

Kevin Garnett only has so much juice left in the ol’ legs, so he’s gotta use it sparingly. Opportunity knocked when Deron Williams rimmed out a floater:

He *can* do that. Maybe only once a week or so, but he can.

Video purported to be Solange Knowles attacking Jay Z in an elevator while Beyonce looks on storming the internet or not, the Knowles-Carter family is present at Game 4 between the Nets and Heat in Brooklyn. And Kenny Smith can’t help but point them out when doing his “Pictures” segment, which means Charles Barkley can’t help but wonder where the third, most pugnacious person in the video is:

Somewhere else, presumably, but we’ll keep an eye out.

That rumble you felt wasn’t an earthquake. Just LeBron doing his thing.

Coach Terry Stotts’ Blazers enter Game 4 at the Moda Center with pride to play for, but in how the Spurs have played through two rounds, there’s nothing indicating that any concessions will be made. Portland will have to do something different, be it changing up the rotations or finding a surprise bench scorer or two -- after the five starters and Will Barton’s 22 points scored in 30 minutes played this series, the other Blazers have combined to score just 21 points in three games.

TV schedule: 10:30 p.m. ET, TNT

Knocking down threes and limiting the Heat’s efficient offensive attack has been a theme of the Nets’ victories this year, so that will likely have to be the order of the day once again if Brooklyn wants to tie up the series.

Game time: 8 p.m. ET