Durant feeling heat in fourth

MIAMI — Kevin Durant need not be reminded about the precarious state of affairs for the Oklahoma City Thunder: They must beat the Miami Heat three consecutive games to defeat history.

“Well, everybody in the world knows our backs are against the wall right now — that’s all you guys write,” Durant said Wednesday before practice for today’s Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

“We’re down 3-1 with a chance to try to take it back to Oklahoma City.

“We can’t win three games in a row here in Miami. We can’t win the series by the next game.

“We’ve got to take it a possession at a time, a game at a time, and go from there.”

Since 1980, no team down 3-1 in the Finals has come back to win the championship — or even force Game 7.

As pressure has mounted on Durant, including foul trouble in Games 2 and 3, and as the Heat have forced him into uncomfortable spots late in games, his big-time scoring game has taken a hit.

No question, the fourthquarter production from the NBA’s three-time scoring champion has dipped as the Heat have swarmed the slender 6-9 forward on defense:

-In Game 1, he poured in 17 of his 36 points in the final quarter, shooting 6-for-10 from the floor.

-In Game 2, he scored 16 of his 32 in the fourth, shooting 5-for-9.

-In Game 3, he managed four of his 25 points at crunchtime on 2-for-6 shooting.

-In Game 4, he took three shots from the floor in the fourth quarter, converting two, and finished with 28 points overall.

“Well, he was terrific all night. I thought he was active on both ends of the floor,” said teammate Russell Westbrook, who kept the Thunder in the game with his playoff-high 43 points.

“I don’t know if he’s said this yet, but he cares about winning.”

But Durant was no marksman from the three-point line Tuesday in Game 4, shooting 1-for-5, missing some wideopen looks.

He was not alone. As a team, the Thunder shot 18.8% (3-for-16) from beyond the arc.

“They’re just loading up (to stop me),” Durant said. “They’re fronting (me) and they’ve got somebody sitting in my lap when I’m trying to catch the ball, and there’s a lot of people around me. . . . I’m going to keep being aggressive.”

For Durant, that means knowing where to “pick and choose where I’m going to shoot and where I’m going to pass, try to get to the rim, try to get to the free throw line.”

And try to extend the series one more game at a time.