2014 NBA Finals: LeBron James leads Miami Heat to victory in Game 2 to level the series 1-1

The Miami Heat have not lost consecutive Playoff games since the 2012 Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics, and their 12 game winning playoff streak following a loss was on the line in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. After sitting out the final quarter of Game 1 with cramps and struggling in the first quarter of Game 2 (2 points on 1 of 4 shooting) LeBron James went on to knock down 13 of his next 18 shots over the course of the next three quarter to lead his team to a 98-96 victory with a double double performance of 35 points and 10 rebounds.

Highlights of James performance:

 

However despite the dominant performance by the reigning Finals MVP, it was Chris Bosh’s decision making and shot making that sealed the game . James Bosh made a clutch three from the left corner, and threw a bounce pass to Wade who finished at the rim with a layup finishing the game. Bosh sealed the game only because the Heat were given a second chance to survive in the game after San Antonio let the game slip away with some sloppy turnovers and bad shooting. Bosh finished with 18 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists while Dwayne Wade finished the game with 14 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists.

Trailing by 2, the Spurs received two free shots and possession after Miami’s Mario Chalmers was called for a Flagrant 1 foul for elbowing Tony Parker in the chest. Parker missed the two free throws and on the possession, Duncan was fouled. He went to the line with a chance for the Spurs to tie the game, but he missed both of them. If the Spurs had won this game, they would have considered themselves lucky after missing 4 consecutive free throws, but that wasn’t to be as the Heat capitalized in the following minutes.

Earlier in the game, the first quarter was dominated by the Spurs having 8 assists on 9 made field goals, led by Tim Duncan who turned the clock back. The 38 year old future Hall of Famer blossomed in the first period with on put backs at the rim and on excellent passes by fellow starting big man Tiago Splitter. Duncan then struggled in the second half and finished with 18 points and 15 rebounds to tie Magic Johnson for the most career Playoff double doubles. Tony Parker had 21 points and 7 assists and in the process passed Michael Jordan for 2nd all time in Playoff career assists and 13th overall in the post-season all time scoring list.

After the first quarter, the Miami team returned to the floor with adjustments to their game. On the offensive end, the Heat’s Big 3 had made a concentrated effort to drive to the basket for higher percentage shots, and free throw attempts rather than settling for the low efficiency outside jump shot. In the third quarter, James single-handedly turned the game on its head with his  shooting of 6 from 7 from the field including a pair of threes. In the final period of play, Heat put a 1-3 screen and roll to good and efficient use with James being the ball handler and Mario Chalmers being the screener. It reaped benefits in the form of points to the Heat when they needed it the most.

A key useful defensive adjustment that the Heat had made to curb the Spurs ball movement was trapping their traffic coordinator Tony Parker. Miami repeatedly made sure there was a player of sufficiently larger and bigger size on Parker to curb his speed and effectiveness in the paint. Meanwhile, Ray Allen hit his 50th three pointer of his NBA Finals career, just six shy of Robert Horry’s record.

Also Miami Heat is 6-0 in Game 2 of the series when they lose Game 1.  

Two of those instances being the Heat’s two successful Finals campaigns.

Here are the Top 10 plays from Game 2: