The San Antonio Spurs were disappointed for letting Game 2 of the NBA Finals slip through their hands to allow the Miami Heat to tie up the series heading to Miami for games three and four. In Game 3 San Antonio made their first 19 of 21 shots, and finished out the half with an NBA Finals record 25 of 33, 75 percent from the field. Miami never recovered from San Antonio’s hot start as they were down as much as 25 in the first half, The largest deficit for the Miami Heat this playoffs thus far.
San Antonio still remembers the last time they were in South Beach around this time last year and things did not go as planned as the Spurs missed a rebound and their title hopes went with that rebound.
Lebron James, arguably one of the best players to ever play the game of basketball, has shown that it is difficult to play hard defense against him and still have energy on the offensive side of the floor to wear him down also. Still only 22 years old and the youngest Spur on the team, Kwahi Leonard made a huge impact by becoming the first player to set a career-high for points in a Finals victory since Magic Johnson in the 1980 finals. In Game 1 and 2 Leonard only combined for 18 points, nine fouls, and very limited minutes against James in San Antonio. Beach weather must make everything better because Leonard’s shooting percentage and player efficiency on the court goes up when he and the Spurs are playing in Miami.
The hot shooting from San Antonio was not just from Kwahi Leonard. The entire team shot a sizzling 76 percent from the field and a San Antonio Spurs franchise record with 71 points at the half. With a second half surge you knew the Miami Heat were not going to lay down easy as they came out with a 10 to 0 run cutting a 17 point deficit to 81-74 late in the third quarter. San Antonio blew open the lead for the final 111-92 to take a 2-1 series lead in the 2014 NBA Finals.
NBA changing the finals format this year from 2-3-2, which the lower seed would play three consecutive home games to it now being 2-2-1-1-1. With the new format, no team has an advantage now they all play the same amount of home games if the series goes the distance to seven games which the higher seed will be rewarded with Game 7 on their home floor with a chance to win the championship at home.
We’ll see what happens tonight when the Spurs face the Heat in Miami.
