Game Four: The Return Of The Big Three

Let's be honest here. The Miami Heat's Big Three of Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and Lebron James has been anything but "big" the past three games, and arguably at any point in this postseason. Regardless if you're on the side that says that Wade needs to be amnestied and Bosh needs to be traded or if you're on the side that was willing to wait things out, there was an air of doubt concerning the super trio of best friends and their collective domination of anuses. Well, if game 4 of this NBA Finals series was any indication, the Heatles are back, baby, and they're taking over America.

Rather than Heat role players carrying the load for Miami like they have all series (besides Lebron, minus game 3), the future Hall of Famers making 17+ million a year stepped it up big time in game 4, a resounding 109-93 victory for the Heat. Dwyane Wade finished with 32 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and SIX STEALS (!!!!) on 56% shooting (which was much higher before Wade started throwing up low percentage shots for the hell of it once the game was in hand), Lebron James with 33 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks on 60% shooting (!!!!), and Chris Bosh with 20 points, 13 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks on 57% shooting. This was a return, all around, to the small-ball Flying Death Machine obliteration the Heat had perfected for the past two seasons, while also proving that this NBA Finals match-up against the San Antonio Spurs is a back-and-forth, most likely 7 game marathon with plenty of ups-and-downs and an ignorance of jumping to conclusions after a single game.

Wade looked as close to 2006 as he can get, if he wasn't there, slashing to the hoop, hitting 18 foot J's, and dishing out dirty, sneaky assists to open teammates in a return to glory despite being chastised for his sub-par, injured play for most of the postseason. Wade looked active on the defensive end as well, closing out on three-point attempts with aggression and collecting SIX Spurs turnovers. It was a classic and memorable night for our favorite MV3, and will go down in his Hall of Fame history, especially if the Heat win this series.

Lebron, despite being chastised for a horrible game 3 by national media and creating excited whispers about the 2011 Finals, came out with a vengeance, scoring from everywhere on the court, grabbing rebounds, setting up teammates, and playing lock-down defense on just about everybody. It was a normal, yet amazing, King James performance in one of the most needed times of the playoffs. But he's not clutch or anything, and Popovich had figured him out. Right.

Boshua Bear also had himself a great night, knocking down jumpers for the first time in FOREVER and playing great defense on Tim Duncan often throughout the night. Christopher was also a beast down low for the first time in REALLY FOREVER, grabbing 13 boards and taking the ball to the rim frequently without regard for anybody.

The supporting cast also played well (Mario Chalmers was 2/3 from the arc and Ray Allen contributed 14 solid points), but this night was all about the Big Three, the Three Kings, the Heatles, the Triad, the Bestfriends of Awesomeness. This is what the Heat was built for, and whatever Bosh and Wade did before the game they better do in three days time, and two days after that. The series is now a best-of-three with two of those games in Miami. That, my friends, is called home court advantage. That, my friends, is called advantage: Miami.

Chris "Birdman" Andersen did not check into the game for the first time in these NBA playoffs, in a surprising but solid move by Coach Erik Spoelstra. Udonis "The Mayor" Haslem and Bosh have both been playing better defense on Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter (well, everybody plays good defense on Tiago Splitter) than Birdman has this series, and the Bird's contributions on offense have dropped since the Pacers' series. Spo also made a great adjustment on defense in putting an emphasis on the Spurs' ridiculously inexplicable three-point shooting barrage, which the Heat were able to control in game 4 to a point where it did not keep the Spurs into the game, which was being dominated by Miami from start to finish. All around it was a great showing despite Danny Green's continued domination from the arc and Gary Neal's continued lucky streak from the arc. Also, Tiago Splitter is becoming a nationwide joke, which is awesome.

If Miami, specifically the Big Three, plays like they did in the next two games, this series is over. But if this one has taught us anything it's that one game does not predict the next, and anything can happen in the next three. But one thing is for sure: despite home court advantage, the Heat have to win two in a row at some point to win the series, either Sunday or Tuesday and Thursday, something they haven't done since the Bulls series. It's going to be a wild run, and a fun one at that. So let's go Miami, #FoW.