LeBron James tied his playoff career-high on Monday to help the Miami Heat win Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals over the Brooklyn Nets and take control of the series.
James poured in 49 points, Chris Bosh hit a three-pointer in the dying seconds of the game and the reigning champions sealed a 102-96 much-needed victory to lead the series 3-1, leaving Brooklyn on brink of elimination.
The Nets struggled throughout the game to find answers for James attack mode, although with a second left he fall one point short of his playoff career-high – he scored 49 points for the Cleveland Cavaliers against Orlando in the 2009 Eastern Conference finals.
James ended the night with a successful 16 for 24 from the field, and made 14 of his 19 free throws.
Nets head coach Jason Kidd said his team tried to keep LeBron out of the paint, but he put he put a lot of pressure on our defense.
When the Nets did manage to pull him out the paint, James responded with 3 three-pointers.
Miami haven’t lost two consecutive postseason games since 2012, and head home for Game 5 in total control of the series.
“I feel the need that we needed to win this game,” James addressed the media in the postgame press conference.
He went on saying he just tried to help Miami overcome the adversity the game presents itself. “My teammates delivered the ball to me in the right position,” he said.
Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra said the game was James’: “He was fantastic tonight. It was not anything we talked about. It was just his sense of what we needed.”
Joe Johnson led the Nets in scoring with 18 points, but James came up as the winner
