NBA FINALS Games 3 to 5 move to San Antonio tied at 1-1
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 11 Jun 2013
The 2013 NBA Finals shifts the next three games to the homecourt of the San Antonio Spurs at the AT&T Center. When the series were played at the Miami Heat's American Airlines Arena, it ended at one win apiece when LeBron James and company evened the encounter with a 103-84 Game 2 rout over Tim Duncan and company.
In the history of the Finals, no team has lost the first two games at home and recovered to win the title. So it was win or nothing for the defending champions as the bench provided the needed fire to ignite the Heat to equal the series. Mario Chalmers scored the game high 19 points, Rey Allen chipped in 13 and James had 17 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists.
In the 2012 NBA Finals, the Heat lost the first game but went on to win the next four games against the Oklahoma City Thunder to capture the title. But the Thunder had the homecourt advantage that time and the first two games were in Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma and the next three games at the Heat territory where they took the crown in consecutive wins before their fans.
Bu the Spurs are different from the Thunder since they have four Finals exposure and won four titles in the process, unlike the inexperienced Oklahoma team. And the next three games will be played at the San Antonio place, a hostile crowd for Miami.
When the 2-3-2 format was adopted, the team that won Game Three went to win the series 11 out of 12 times. But in Game Two, the Spurs Big Three - Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker - shot only a combined 10 of 33 from the field because of the pressing Miami defense.
The Spurs won Game One 92-88 probably because of their long rest and the Heat burn out due to the taxing conference finals with the Indiana Pacers which went a full seven games. But the Big D - for tight defense -also paralyzed the spurs of the heels of their marquee players to deliver the goods for the four-time champions.
Also moving James away from the ball and concentrating on the other aspects of the game aside from scoring proved to be very effective as the Miami offense became more unpredictable in the second game, rather that relying too much on the four-time MVP for point production.
But it will still be a hard climb for the Heat as the next three games will be played before an unfriendly crowd. They have to bring the series back to Florida for Games Six and Seven if necessary. Or else the Spurs will win the title for the fifth time in five Finals appearances, a feat only accomplished by the Chicago Bulls of Michael Jordan and company who won 6 of 6.
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