San Antonio Spurs overcome Miami Heat’s early 22-6 run to win the NBA Finals, 104-87.
In the history of the NBA, no team has ever come from behind 3-1 in the NBA Finals to win an NBA Championship. San Antonio was looking to keep that historical record pact tonight, when they played host to the back-to-back champion Miami Heat for game 5 of their series. Facing road finals elimination for the first time under the big 3 era, Miami would come out the gate playing intense defense to force multiple turnovers for easy transition buckets.
Prior to tip-off, Erik Spoelstra would make a line-up adjustment removing Mario Chalmers from starter to bench and inserting in Ray Allen for consistency in the shooting department. In an interesting note, Norris Cole was brought off the bench first before Chalmers to provide much needed help at the one position. Miami would increase their lead to 16 points, but San Antonio’spoor shooting wasn’t expected to last the entire first half given their efficiency.
Even with Danny Green and Tony Parker remaining scoreless the entire first half, San Antonio saw a huge emergence of Kawhi Leonard knocking down three treys and Manu Ginobili literally taking the Heat’s soul with 14 points in the 2nd quarter. The problem Miami endured was no bench help, which Ray Allen normally provides that role when the starters need some relief.
The Heat bench didn’t see an entire FG the entire half but only two free throws knocked down by Norris Cole. The third quarter opened up with both teams coming out flat until midway past the 9-minute mark where the San Antonio Spurs would score the first points of the period on Manu Ginobili free throws. Miami was still looking for any scoring, as Michael Beasley and Mario Chalmers would come in for a brief spurt providing some relief, but Patty Mills would go on a flurry of three-pointers – ending any chance of one more rally from the Heat.
Manu Ginobili literally ended the game and Miami Heat’s soul with this dunk.
With the championship prize on the edge of their fingers and champagne on the tips of their tongues, the Spurs would continue from Patty’s huge bench production with even Tony Parker making his first bucket of the game to conclude the quarter. Miami’s cold streak was seen on the scoreboard only scoring a combined 30 points for the 2nd and 3rd quarter.
San Antonio would wrap things up during the early stages of the 4th quarter, as LeBron would hit the bench with 7 minutes remaining in the quarter. The River Walk of San Antonio would soon fill up and a party in Texas was imminent to last the entire Sunday night.
Tiago Splitter gets revenge on Miami Heat with big block Dwyane Wade rim shutdown block.
Heat president Pat Riley has to make a huge overhaul to the roster including convincing talent to come join LeBron and find the right role players. San Antonio now gets to properly rest following their game 6 meltdown last year they all thought about end the Heat’s two-time defending champions for revenge. The future for Manu Ginobili has already made it clear, as he plans to play this season, but all eyes will focus on whether the big fundamental will continue his career past tonight. The NBA off-season holds many questions including the free agency for LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony making a change of scenery, but we’ll find all of this out in the coming days before June 26th’s NBA Draft next Thursday.
Patty Mills had the drop on the Heat during the third quarter raining down threes.
The Miami organization has nothing to be ashamed of winning back-to-back championships and losing to better teams at the time against the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks. The elephant in the room is whether LeBron James will be taking his talents back to Cleveland to pair up with Kyrie Irving and soon-to-be number one pick Joel Embiid waiting draft night.
Enjoy your next couple of days NBA die-hards before the 2014 free agency madness begins. Congrats to the San Antonio Spurs for winning the 2014 NBA Championship.
Men lie….Women lie…. pic.twitter.com/aC3yOMY8bg
— OnSMASH (@OnSMASH) June 16, 2014