El Conclusión: San Antonio Spurs 113, Miami Heat 77

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Miami Heat 77 Final
Recap | Box Score		 113 San Antonio Spurs
Tim Duncan, PF 29 MIN | 5-11 FG | 2-4 FT | 14 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 2 BLK | 4 TO | 12 PTS | +18Another fairly ho-hum shooting game from Duncan, but it wasn’t need on this night. The 14 rebounds were important, but at what point should Spurs fans be concerned that Duncan might not have his legs for his shots?
Kawhi Leonard, SF 29 MIN | 6-10 FG | 0-0 FT | 12 REB | 2 AST | 4 STL | 0 BLK | 1 TO | 14 PTS | +29Kawhi’s box score like looks good, but fairly unimpressive. At least, it doesn’t jump off the page or anything. But if you watched the game you know he was all over the floor. Outside of the shooters (we’ll get to them) Leonard had the biggest impact for the Spurs.
Tiago Splitter, C 24 MIN | 3-7 FG | 2-2 FT | 5 REB | 1 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 8 PTS | +26Tiago was more of a force on the boards in Game 3 than he was in previous games and showed no ill effects of the above-the-rim dismantling LeBron put on him in Game 2.
tiago-splitter-spurs-nba-finals-game-3-miami-heat
Tony Parker, PG 27 MIN | 2-5 FG | 1-3 FT | 2 REB | 8 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 6 PTS | +27Parker didn’t score well, but he moved the ball and kept San Antonio’s offense humming along. The ball didn’t stop as much in Game 3 as it did in Game 2 and that’s a testament to Parker and the Spurs’ adjustments. Parker was talking to Spurs trainers in the second half, but Pop said nothing when asked about an injury afterwards.
Danny Green, SG 31 MIN | 9-15 FG | 2-2 FT | 4 REB | 0 AST | 2 STL | 2 BLK | 0 TO | 27 PTS | +23Tried to find a .gif of the “A++++++” scene from “A Christmas Story” for Green and Gary Neal, but alas, nothing to be found. Green is going to fall back down to Earth a bit in his perimeter shooting eventually, San Antonio just has to hope is a gradual decline.
Matt Bonner, PF 12 MIN | 0-3 FG | 2-2 FT | 2 REB | 1 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 2 PTS | +1Among all the good from Game 3, there has to be some concern about Bonner’s shooting in the Finals. That said, for San Antonio to hit as many 3s as it did in this game without Bonner knocking down one is damn impressive.
DeJuan Blair, C 6 MIN | 4-5 FG | 1-3 FT | 2 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 9 PTS | +5Garbage time, baby.
Patty Mills, PG 6 MIN | 1-2 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 0 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 2 PTS | +5#PattyMillsShotCount: 2
Gary Neal, PG 25 MIN | 9-17 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 24 PTS | +21Whoa there. So THIS is why Gregg Popovich has favored Neal over Cory Joseph in this series. Now I see.Okay, even Pop didn’t see that coming.
Cory Joseph, PG 21 MIN | 1-4 FG | 0-1 FT | 2 REB | 4 AST | 2 STL | 0 BLK | 3 TO | 2 PTS | +9With Tony Parker sitting in the second half, Joseph put in a good stretch as San Antonio opened the game up. This series still feels a bit above his pay grade though, and that’s not meant to be a knock on CoJo. Dude’s still young and inexperienced.
Manu Ginobili, SG 23 MIN | 3-7 FG | 1-2 FT | 2 REB | 6 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 2 TO | 7 PTS | +6Manu started to look like the good Manu in Game 3. He played well in spurts, but his production wasn’t all that needed.
Tracy McGrady, SG 7 MIN | 0-2 FG | 0-0 FT | 2 REB | 3 AST | 0 STL | 0 BLK | 0 TO | 0 PTS | +10SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOT
Boris Diaw, C DNP COACH’S DECISION MIN | FG | FT | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PTS | Interesting that Bobo didn’t log a minute…
Gregg PopovichStarting to see why he dusted off Gary Neal for this series. The Spurs made some excellent adjustments to Miami’s defense coming into Game 3.

Four Things We Saw

  1. Spurs fans trolling Miami at the end of Game 3 with an impromptu “Seven Nation Army” chant was one of the funniest moments of the playoffs.
  2. It’s easy to overreact to the performance in Game 3, but I’d like to caution you not to. Sometimes things just get out of hand when one team goes crazy. One or two adjustments from Miami can even this series right up.
  3. Kawhi Leonard continues to crush on the boards. This might be one of the underreported stories of the playoffs, but we’ll get to it eventually. With as little as LeBron has had an effect with his scoring, you wonder if he wouldn’t attack the glass more. Something to keep an eye on if San Antonio’s defense continues to be effective on James, and important to see how Kawhi reacts if it happens.
  4. Dwyane Wade does not look good in this series. At all.
  • PR Spur

    This is probably the most satisfying win that I even remember, even better than the 4 ‘chips. Well, game 7 vs the Pistons was epic but the other 3 meh…Total team effort, I hope and think we can keep it up! The crow was incredible in the court! So Jealouse! Wish I could be there! Go Spurs!

  • incredibeau

    no “the margin” for this game andrew? :)

  • http://48minutesofhell.com Andrew A. McNeill

    Well…

  • TheFG21

    An interesting note is that GNeal was the Spur w/ more minutes at 30. The legs of our veterans got a little rest there. That can make a difference in the final minutes of a close game later in the Series; while the Heat LeFlop/Wade/Bosh are still getting 30+ mins each.

    Im also a bit cautious about this blowout. They will comeback w/ a vengeance and we need to stop them early and tell them that they have to respect the Spurs Home!

    GO! SPURS! GO!

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  • Mark W.
  • Vicki

    So happy the Spurs won and gave the heat a hiding but it’s just one game but it was darn good one. Can’t get too carried away. Hoping they bring this intensity to game 4 and 5 and hopefully we’ll win the title but I do see Miami making the adjustment and I think it just a matter of time before Lebron has a breakout game.

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  • Tim in Surrey

    I agree and also think that Tim deserves more than a B. Neal and Green were great, but the open looks they made were there because of the attention drawn by others and, more important, the defense played by the team. And it was Kawhi and Tim who really spearheaded that defensive effort. Amazing performances by both, I thought.

  • Joyflyer

    Anyone notice the difference in attendance when the final horn sounded between game 2 and game 3? The Miami lower bowl was 50% empty. It looked to me like every Spurs fan stayed to enjoy every minute of it. Nice job, guys.

  • phillip mabry

    The real story of this game has been overshadowed by the blowout. Consider this, even if Danny and Gary hadn’t gone all Three Point Monster Game and only had made half those shots - we’d have won by double digits.

  • TheFG21

    LeBron could break the 20pts barrier, but the Spurs defense has done a pretty good job in preventing him to switch to Jordan or Kobe mode. To succeed, LeBron needs to attack and attack the rim, that’s his game and that’s what San Antonio is preventing. If you look at the Spurs defense on him (because he doesn’t shoot that well of the dribble), they’re guarding him 1-on-1 until he’s a foot or two away from the paint. At that point the guy guarding him and the other Big Man near him collapses and cloud the area. I think the rest of Miami’s team have more possibilities to go Supernova than him.

    Miami is implementing a similar strategy to T.Parker. Since game 1, they have done an excellent job making him work uber hard and blocking all of his penetrations and lay-ups lanes. Yesterday thought, he didn’t have an amazing scoring game but he moved the ball pretty good disturbing Miami’s D structure. Hopefully, MRI results come back as negative.

  • TheFG21

    SAN ANTONIO (AP) — San Antonio Spurs star Tony Parker says his sore right hamstring has a “slight elongation” and that he hopes to play in Game 4 of the NBA Finals against the Miami Heat on Thursday night.

    Source: NBA.com
    http://www.nba.com/2013/news/06/12/spurs-tony-parker-hopes-to-play-in-game-4.ap/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpts

  • http://www.nba.com/spurs/?tmd=1 TheRealDirtyP1

    DG logged a fair amount of time on Lebron as well, I’m not sure what the breakdown was but that wasn’t included in his assessment.

  • http://www.nba.com/spurs/?tmd=1 TheRealDirtyP1

    butterfly effect. If they’re not making those shots, rebounds and possessions go to the Heat, it’s not as easy as that. Halving their production as only making half and then assuming that Miami converts none of those misses to points, doesn’t compute. They needed their shots to fall and that’s the margin.

  • Guest

    Okay, subtract 24 points on 8 possessions, assume the Heat get 1 point per possession (which is generous in this game) and we still win by almost 10. I love that we blew them out. But my real pride in the game came from the 77 points. Yes, we kept the “Best offense in the league” to 77 points. And it was overshadowed by rain - which is fine. Just wanted to point out our stellar defense.

  • phillip mabry

    Yes, you’re right that time travel is tricky. But, my point is that we held them to under 80. Had we not had two guys go berzerk from the arc and grab the headlines we’d be hearing ESPN talk about San Antonio’s defense.

  • STIJL

    It was the perfect game by the Spurs. So much so I think Miami’s players must be thinking…”but we blew them out in game two”. Both game 2 and 3 were anomalies. Both teams won’t play that bad or that good. But we can hope the Spurs play that good the rest of the series to prove me wrong.

  • STIJL

    I would hope it switches to that mode. Then the X factor (who ever that may be) of their team is taken out of the equation.

    Spurs can gain significant control of this series with a game 4 win. And the Spurs (as a team) are too good for Miami to just invoke “will” to winning after that.

  • STIJL

    If Kawhi keeps this up in limiting LeBron for the rest of the series and Spurs win this thing…Kawhi should be in high contention for MVP.