One more board, one measly Heat miss corralled by the Spurs in the final 23 seconds of regulation, and the NBA Finals are over. Forget a Game 7, forget LeBron James’ headband, forget Manu Ginobili laying a gigantic egg for the umpteenth time in the series. It should be over. Tim Duncan should be passionlessly acknowledging his fifth championship. Tony Parker should be bathed in liquor, clutching his finals Most Valuable Player trophy.

Instead, they must play on. And it is hard to see any team that was that close come back and win a second straight game on the road, no matter how experienced and professional that team may be.

James, as he often does, toyed with everyone’s emotions for the entirety of the Heat’s 103-100 win in Game 6. He came out blazing with five points and five assists in the first quarter, but he ran into trouble when Boris Diaw entered the game and began guarding him. James sputtered through the third quarter without a basket, and as Miami began the fourth with a 10-point deficit, James’ legacy was on the line.

He came through in the fourth — sort of. James had 16 points in the final frame, but after Parker scored five straight improbable points to give the Spurs a two-point lead with 58 seconds to go, James turned the ball over on back-to-back possessions. Three free throws by Ginobili gave the Spurs a 94-89 advantage, and when James back-rimmed a 3-pointer with 23 seconds left, it was over. At least, it should have been.

But the free ball bounced off two Spurs and into the hands of Mike Miller, who flipped the ball to James, who swished a three. Still, the Spurs were in control, even after Kawhi Leonard only hit one of his two free throws to maintain San Antonio’s three-point edge. Then James missed another three with seven seconds remaining, and it was in the books, as long as the Spurs got that pesky rebound.

They didn’t. Chris Bosh, who spent most of the game getting abused by Duncan to the tune of 30 points and 17 rebounds, did. Bosh found Ray Allen in the corner for a three, and it was a tie game. It might as well have been “ball game,” because there was no way the Spurs were going to recover in that slim two-minute break between the end of regulation and the overtime tip-off. They put on a decent show, but they were done for the night. The plastic could safely be taken off the stalls in the visitor’s locker room.

The question now becomes, are the Spurs also done for the series? Normally, carryover from one game to the next is minimal. Five times previously in these finals, one team has lost in a way that many observers said there was no coming back from. Every time, the loser turned around and won the next game in equally stunning fashion. Momentum only goes as far as the next possession.

This one felt different, though. When the Spurs bounced back from the 19-point loss in Game 2 and the 16-point loss in Game 4, they were not so close to a championship that they could taste the bubbly and feel the ugly commemorative hats on their skulls. The Larry O’Brien Trophy was still an elusive goal then, whereas with 23 seconds left in the fourth quarter of Game 6, it suddenly became tangible. It wasn’t just attainable, it was attained. Only suddenly, it wasn’t anymore.

Until James and Allen hit those two massive threes in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter, the story was being written that James was a choker. Not this time. The Spurs were the ones who coughed up a sure victory on Tuesday, and they know it. If they can indeed scrub away the memory of this loss and take the title on the road on Thursday, they will accomplish the most stunning feat in this already awe-inducing series.

Have a question for Ben Watanabe? Send it to him via Twitter at @BenjeeBallgame or send it here.

As the Heat mounted an incredible comeback to force overtime in Game 6, many of those in attendance weren’t there to see it, because they had already made their way to the exits. Miami radio host and columnist Dan Le Batard noted the crowd’s lack of fandom in a series of tweets just before Ray Allen‘s 3-pointer sent the game into overtime.

Mass exodus. Gotta beat traffic, you know?

—
Dan Le Batard Show (@LeBatardShow) June 19, 2013

So many people have left that I'm honestly embarrassed for this city.

—
Dan Le Batard Show (@LeBatardShow) June 19, 2013

Check out a photo of the fans headed for the exit below.

Photo via Instagram/bomani_jones

Miller has had a rough go of it in Games 4 and 5 of the NBA Finals, being held scoreless over the two contests after going 5-for-5 from 3-point range for a postseason-high 15 points in Game 3. His Heat entered Tuesday’s Game 6 on the brink of elimination, but they held on in overtime to force a winner-take-all Game 7.

Check out Leonard’s slam in the video below.

It’s unclear precisely how these photos leaked onto the Internet, but some time on Tuesday photos of a new Nike LeBron James shoe began to be widely distributed. The hook with these shoes? They feature an inscription that reads “2-Time Champion” inside them.

After losing Game 5, James and the Miami Heat are down 3-2 in the NBA Finals to the San Antonio Spurs. As of Tuesday, James has earned just one championship in his otherwise-illustrious career.

Check out a photo of the knock-on-wood shoes below.

Photo via Twitter/@TX_tootsie

But the King’s diving prowess — which he not only admits to but also supports — goes beyond basketball. James’ affinity for falling when barely touched apparently extends to his off-court life as well.

Funny or Die decided to capitalize on James’ easily altered center of gravity, playing off his statements that “basketball is my life.” They caught up with a fictional James at the grocery store and beyond.

Check it out in the video below.

When their twice-waived free agent addition sets an NBA record for 3-pointers made and his 35-year-old counterpart drops a season-high 24 points with 10 assists, it’s all but inevitable that they’ll beat the NBA odds.

Fortunately for Spurs fans, that’s exactly what happened in Game 5.

With Danny Green red-hot once again, knocking down six threes for an NBA Finals-record 25 3-pointers made, and Manu Ginobili turning back time in his first start of the season, San Antonio made the once-favored Heat look like betting line busts.

Thanks to home-court advantage, the NBA odds favor LeBron James and the Heat heading into Game 6 on Tuesday. Will having their backs against the wall be enough to push Miami to new heights against a San Antonio team that’s managed to answer every Heat blow?

Over the course of the first five games of the best-of-seven series, the Spurs and Heat have exchanged swipes. A narrow Game 1 San Antonio win prompted a Miami blowout in Game 2, which inspired a dramatic Spurs win in Game 3 and another Miami response in Game 4. Then, of course, there was Game 5.

Eventually, however, this game of NBA Finals one-upmanship will have to come to an end.

Favored by seven points heading into Game 6 in Miami, the Heat will need to not only hope to contain Green, but also worry about Ginobili replicating his Game 5 performance.

Green and Ginobili, let’s not forget, are able to thrive in the San Antonio offense as much as they have been thanks to the ever-concerning presences of Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard.

If the Spurs continue to get production out of every facet of their lineup, Miami may be left with little choice but to attempt to overpower them offensively. With James relatively quiet through the first five games of the Finals, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and Ray Allen will need to continue to contribute.

The difference between San Antonio’s production and Miami’s production is that the Spurs have managed to pool theirs together as a unit more often.

As fun as it is to consider the Spurs winning their fifth title when Game 6 comes to a close, neither San Antonio nor any mortal basketball franchise on this planet has come up with an answer for a motivated LeBron James backed up by his All-Star teammates.

Perhaps that’s why oddsmakers refuse to rule them out.

This post is presented by Bovada.

As the Spurs built a 20-point lead in a win that gave them a 3-2 lead over the Heat in the NBA Finals, the masses on Twitter were already labeling Game 5 as “The Manu Game.”

As poorly as Ginobili played in the first four games of the finals, there is nothing wrong with giving the future Hall of Fame sixth man his day in the sun. The Spurs needed every single one of his season-high 24 points and 10 assists, especially when Ray Allen made them sweat when he caught fire late. Before anyone declares Ginobili “back” and treats a San Antonio title as academic, they should take a deep breath and recognize the sobering reality of Ginobili’s re-emergence.

Superficially on Sunday, Ginobili looked every bit as unpredictable and unguardable as he did in his prime. He beat defenders left with those long strides to draw fouls. He beat defenders right to loft a floater high off the glass. He hit enough one-handed runners and whipped enough passes barely past defenders’ ears to fill YouTube with all the old Ginobili-esque highlights.

A significant part of why Ginobili was able to make said defenders look so silly, however, had a lot to do with who said defenders were.

The Heat were well aware of Ginobili’s struggles in this series, so their defensive assignments on him for Game 5 were predictable. With Spurs coach Gregg Popovich inserting Ginobili in the starting lineup, the Heat were forced to stick the decrepit Mike Miller on Ginobili, who for all his faults remains more mobile than the average 35-year-old. Popovich also warped his rotation so Ginobili would be on the court for a key stretch in the third quarter against Norris Cole, and later against Allen. As much as announcers love fringe-rotation point guards in the playoffs (Hello, Derek Fisher!), Cole is terrible and Allen has never been known as a strong defender. Miller is less broken down than he was in last year’s playoffs, but only slightly.

If you are looking for a key to Ginobili’s breakout performance, there it is. His step-back jumper over James was a legitimate sign the Spurs might be on to something, and his ability to shed defenders off screens suggested he may continue to cause problems for the Heat. Even though the Heat checked him with inferior defenders, Ginobili still needed to make the plays, something he was unable to do in games one through four.

Still, there are potentially two more long games ahead. We predicted at least one sort of performance like this from Ginobili, after all. Until Ginobili provides further evidence to the contrary, his offensive outburst in Game 5 is mostly a referendum on Heat coach Erik Spoelstra’s inability to make in-game adjustments against a scorching hot all-time great experiencing one last night of brilliance.

Give Ginobili his due. As badly as he has played overall in this series, though, he has to do more than have one above-average game before we let him off the hook — or assume this was more than a fluke.

Have a question for Ben Watanabe? Send it to him via Twitter at @BenjeeBallgame or send it here.

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Chris Bosh seemed to be working past the troubles that have plagued his NBA Finals appearance — and much of his time with the Heat, for that matter — on Thursday night. Miami’s Big Three all came out firing, with LeBron James‘ 33 points (on, hello, 60 percent shooting) supplemented by 32 points from Dwyane Wade and 20 from Bosh, who also collected 13 rebounds.

But not all went swimmingly for the tallest member of Miami’s triumvirate.

On a night when he could have laid claim to being a key cog in his team’s championship hopes, Bosh added another ignominious moment to his Heat mishap scrapbook.

As the first half of Game 4 ended, with the Heat and Spurs tied at 49, Bosh pulled off a killer move to get past Tim Duncan. He soared toward the hoop as time ticked down — but, instead of laying the ball in before the buzzer went off, he ended his attack with a two-handed jam.

Bosh threw down a great dunk, for sure, but he didn’t get the ball through the basket before the buzzer went off. According to the rules of the National Basketball Association, that meant the points didn’t count.

Perhaps the best — or, most discouraging — part was that Bosh was staring the backboard in the face as he jammed, meaning the lights that go on to signify time running out were right at eyeball level as he sent the ball down.

So, that’s what you call dunking — like a Bosh.

Check it out in the video below.

Photo of the Day

LeBron James and the Heat sort of had this going all night.

Tweet of the Day

Some instant analysis, and perhaps typos or alliteration problems, from Metta World Peace.

Wade stands for We Are defending Something

—
Metta World Peace (@MettaWorldPeace) June 14, 2013

We are defending everything

—
Metta World Peace (@MettaWorldPeace) June 14, 2013

Bosh stands for Boy OMG SHOOSH

—
Metta World Peace (@MettaWorldPeace) June 14, 2013

Boy Omg SwoosH

—
Metta World Peace (@MettaWorldPeace) June 14, 2013

Shane stands for Sipping henny and nailing everything

—
Metta World Peace (@MettaWorldPeace) June 14, 2013

Video of the Day

This Tiger Woods putt was sort of bonkers.

Sure, Wade is banged up, probably even legitimately injured. He is just 31 years old, but he is an old 31, having come up as a hard-charging, contact-initiating kamikaze in an era of the NBA when excessively physical play and punishing flops were almost always rewarded. Earlier in this year’s playoffs, there were reports that he was taping his kneecap in place to keep it from floating around under the skin. It was believable, because he was playing like a man who was taping his kneecap into place — until Game 4.

For one night, Wade looked every bit the “big” part of that hackneyed “Big Three” nickname people insist on giving the Miami trio. He dropped 32 points on the Spurs in a 109-93 victory, tying the best-of-seven series at two games apiece. It was his greatest postseason performance since 2006, when he almost singlehandedly led a bruising Heat squad anchored by an aging Shaquille O’Neal and Alonzo Mourning over the Mavericks in a six-game slugfest. This was the performance the Heat needed from Wade not just to win the game, but also to possibly jumpstart LeBron James as well.

Because Wade does the things James will not do. Because Wade will be selfish where James will not. Because Wade lives for overcoming adversity, battling through pain and silencing an opposing crowd in its building, whereas James … well, oftentimes it seems like he won’t.

If the Heat go on to win the championship, Game 4 may be looked back on as the moment of Wade’s resurgence. Really, it was a resurgence for the Heat’s entire “Big Three.” Chris Bosh was a beast defensively, whether muscling up with Tim Duncan or offering help at the rim, and he finished with a decidedly un-soft stat line of 20 points, 13 rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals. James was immense, accepting the mid-range jump shots the Spurs gave him instead of fighting against them the way he did in Game 3. He totaled 33 points on 15-for-25 shooting.

Still, their will came from Wade. He started strong, accounting for 10 of Miami’s 29 points in a first-quarter scoring spree, then added four more while playing all but one minute of the second quarter. He added eight in the third quarter, which has been the decisive quarter in the series, and got trigger happy with 10 points in the runaway fourth quarter.

Unlike James, who feels guilty taking those 18-footers the Spurs dared him to take, because it takes him out of the drive-and-create mode ingrained in him, Wade has no qualms with being selfish. Wade took those open jumpers when he wanted, and when he didn’t, he attacked his defender with a head of steam built up over those six feet of cushion. Suddenly, something clicked for James and Bosh: Hey, it’s OK for us to be a little selfish, too. We should be insulted by the Spurs’ game plan to concede open jump shots. Don’t they know who the heck we are?

A great series just got more intriguing. Danny Green and Gary Neal still cannot miss. Tony Parker is still the ultimate competitor, even on one leg. Manu Ginobili, Wade’s kindred spirit in the art of the flop, has been beyond atrocious, and it figures the 35-year-old will also have his last gasp at some point. Champions do that, even when they are old, banged up and left for dead. Depending on what happens in Game 5 in San Antonio on Sunday, the Spurs have to win at least one of the last two games in Miami, where the white-clad crowd will be so loosened up on wine coolers that their usual mild disinterest might be replaced by something resembling actual engagement in the action.

Whatever happens the rest of the way, Game 4 will be noteworthy. It may be the performance that sparks the Heat on to the title, or it may be simply a proud stand by a beaten and beat-up man. Wade was certain to have his breakout game at some point. What is less certain is how many more he has left in him.

Have a question for Ben Watanabe? Send it to him via Twitter at @BenjeeBallgame or send it here.

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According to the Miami Herald, more than 100 people were watching the first half of the Heat-Spurs game on the patio deck of Shuckers Bar & Grill — located roughly five miles north of AmericanAirlines Arena — when the deck gave way, causing many to fall into “several feet of water.”

Police responded to the scene, and it is unclear whether any of the guests were seriously injured in the incident.

Thumbnail photo via Facebook/Shuckers Bar & Grill

In many ways, that mistake was typical of Bosh. So was his flop earlier in the half, when he made a slight bump by Tim Duncan look like he was hit by a bus. The flop prompted a foul on Duncan, which cost the Spurs a layup by Gary Neal, who had cut through the lane and gotten to the hoop thanks to Duncan’s seal.

Check out Bosh’s hilarious flop in the GIF below.

GIF via fauxjohnmadden.lockerdome.com

Related articles

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Danny Green

Still, the Spurs guard, who shrugged after Game 3 that his team’s success in reining in LeBron James has as much to do with James “stopping himself” as with anything the Spurs have done, stayed on the humble train on Thursday. Green was asked about his (and his teammates’) defensive work on Dwyane Wade, who has yet to demonstrate any consistency in the series. Green’s response was typical San Antonio vanilla-speak.

Danny Green on Wade: "You guys see it... you can tell something's not right."

—
Ethan J. Skolnick (@EthanJSkolnick) June 12, 2013

That’s as controversial as a Spur is going to get: Hinting that his opponent might be secretly injured. As far as trash talk goes, that’s pretty weak.

“Hey, man, we’re totally shutting you down because you’re not at 100 percent! Burn!”

Game 4 tips off Thursday night. Wade is expected to play — the question is, how well.

Related articles

• Gary Neal, Danny Green Outperforming Heat’s Role Players, As Spurs Have Been Better ‘Team’ So Far (nesn.com)
• Cavs fans, stop obsessing over Danny Green (clevelandthegoat.wordpress.com)
• LeBron James Totally Gives Up, Doesn’t Bother Defending Danny Green’s Shot in Game 3 (GIF) (nesn.com)
• Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh Vanished in Game 3 of the NBA Finals (slamonline.com)
• Danny Green leads Spurs to rout of Heat and 2-1 Finals lead (newsday.com)

Tony Parker

On Thursday, Parker could not promise he will not be hampered by the injury, but he did say it will not keep him off the court. Parker reportedly responded to numerous reporter inquiries about his health by saying only, “I’ll be ready to go.”

Parker was hurt early in the second half of the Spurs’ 113-77 win to take a 2-1 lead over the Heat in the NBA Finals. He scored 21 points in Game 1, but his scoring has dropped off in the last two games due to greater attention paid to him by the Heat’s defense.

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When a player or commentator is complaining about it, usually.

Criticism of officials steadily increases with each successive round of the NBA playoffs, and reaches a fever pitch in the NBA Finals. In a way, this is a good thing for the league, because this means more casual fans who aren’t familiar with the intricacies of the rules are watching and complaining. More viewership is always good, even if it’s angry, ill-informed viewership.

Ignorance becomes more of an issue when it is on the part of the players on the court or the commentators who are supposed to be educating the fans. Every time LeBron James clasps his head in disgust or Reggie Miller interprets a call, incorrectly, from the sideline after seeing an instant replay, another handful of fans gets a mistaken idea of some rule or another.

To clear up some confusion, we scoured the official NBA casebook for answers. Below are some of the most commonly misconstrued rules, with explanations behind why the typical interpretation is wrong.

After going out of bounds, a player has to touch both feet inbounds before he can legally touch the ball.

This might come as a shock, but the NBA and NFL are two different leagues, and legal inbounds position in basketball is entirely different from legally catching a football. That’s the only place this confusion can come from, because at no level of basketball does a player need to have both feet inbounds to be legally in play. The cliché to follow in determining whether a player is inbounds is “something in, nothing out.”

During Game 3, Spurs guard Danny Green was out of bounds underneath the basket while Heat players and his teammates were batting the ball around. As it floated in the air near the baseline, Green stepped inbounds with one foot and lifted his other foot off the court, then grabbed the ball. When the referees whistled Green for being out of bounds, play-by-play announcer Mike Breen said it was out-of-bounds because Green “never got that second foot down” inbounds.

That was not the case. Green’s “second foot” never had to be inbounds. This was just a missed called by the officials, who thought Green’s “second foot” was still touching out-of-bounds — i.e. that he did not have “nothing out.”

A travel occurs when a player lifts his pivot foot without dribbling.

Of course it doesn’t, if you think about it. If a travel occurred whenever a player lifted his pivot foot, no one would ever be able to attempt a jump shot, since leaving the ground for the shot would be a traveling violation every time.

Even with a dead dribble, a player can lift his pivot foot off the floor. The violation occurs when the pivot foot returns to the court without the player throwing a pass or attempting a shot. However, a player needs to have a legal pivot foot established when he begins his dribble — this is why a player can’t jump for a shot, change his mind in mid-air and start dribbling before he lands.

If the offensive team fails to get the ball across the halfcourt line when the 24-second shot clock reads “16,” an eight-second violation has occurred.

So wrong, as we have covered in its own full story.

A shooter fouled in the air, after the shot has been released, has been fouled “after the shot.”

The act of shooting cannot be interrupted at all, by a defender or the game clock. The act begins when the offensive player starts his upward shooting motion and ends when he returns to the court after the shot. This applies even if the ball is long gone in its path to the hoop, and “even if the horn sounds to end the period.” The shooter gets two shots (or three).

A defender has to allow the jump shooter a chance to land.

Nope. While this might seem contradictory to the previous rule, the shooter is within some limitation on his airborne options. If the shooter jumps sideways, forward, backward or in an out-of-control manner, the defender has no obligation to get out of his way if the defender has a legal guarding position or has jumped vertically in that space to contest a shot.

Sorry, Dwyane Wade.

A defender in the restricted area around the basket can never draw an offensive foul.

This is another one that is just common sense. If an offensive player knew he was immune to an offensive foul inside the restricted area (that little oval line painted around the basket), all bets would be off when he got the ball down there. He could barrel into defenders with reckless abandon. But if an offensive player begins his shooting motion inside the oval, that area is no longer “restricted.” Only if the offensive player begins his shot outside the oval, and attempts a shot directly at the basket, is he immune from a charge on a defensive player inside the oval.

Note that he is immune from a “charge,” to use the layman’s term, not all offensive fouls all together. That was Shane Battier‘s miscalculation when he raised his knee into Roy Hibbert, who was within the restricted area, on a layup attempt in the Eastern Conference Finals. Battier was correctly assessed an offensive foul.

A defender at the edge of the restricted oval may lift his heel off the line to get into a legal position outside the restricted area.

The restricted area is one of the few places on a basketball court where position has no bearing on where the player last touched the floor. Imagine an invisible wall extending upward from that oval. If a player is inside that wall, he is inside the restricted area, even if his foot is not touching the line.

Speaking of the position of a defender’s feet, now we come to the mother of all misunderstood rules …

A defender’s feet must be planted for him to draw an offensive foul.

This is probably the most commonly misapplied rule in the books (just recently, I was speaking with a Massachusetts high school and AAU referee who declared a defender must have his feet “set” to draw an offensive foul. Hopefully, he is not assigned to any big games in the near future). There is no requirement for a defender to have his feet planted, set, fixed, or whatever synonyms for “stationary” you can come up with, at the high school, college or professional levels.

A defender needs only to have an established, legal guarding position in a “spot” when he contacts an offensive player to draw a player-control foul. The defender is explicitly allowed to lean to either side, or move laterally or backward. It’s not even necessary for him to hold his arms down at his sides, although many often do, to accentuate the stationary-ness of their bodies.

From Item V. (28) in the NBA Case Book: The defender is allowed to “firm up,” move his feet and/or turn slightly to better absorb the contact. Or take Item V. (29): A dribbler is expected to be in control at all times and if a defender can legally get to a ‘spot’ in the path of the dribbler, it is the dribbler’s responsibility to stop and/or change direction immediately.

So where does the “feet must be planted” concept even come from? Most likely from coaches trying to drill into their players a fail-safe method to draw charges. It is easier for a coach to instruct his or her players to plant their feet than to give them the more nebulous order to “assume a legal defensive stance.” As a result, “plant your feet” joins “follow your shot” as faulty clichés we learned in youth ball.

Now you know. Next time you’re watching a game, drop some knowledge on the folks you’re watching the game with — and be prepared for all of them to tell you what a moron you are.

Have a question for Ben Watanabe? Send it to him via Twitter at @BenjeeBallgame or send it here.

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Duncan’s Spurs have easily contained James through the first three games of the NBA Finals, to the point where LeBron is making history for the wrong reasons.

After a blowout win for San Antonio in Game 3, it appears that the Spurs are firmly in the driver’s seat for the rest of the series — as long as Tony Parker‘s hamstring holds up.

NESN.com’s Ben Watanabe and Dan Duquette jumped on the podcast Wednesday to break down the first three games of the NBA Finals and talked about how the Spurs have contained James. They also discussed Doc Rivers‘ future with the Celtics and much more.

Listen to the episode in the player below, or subscribe on iTunes to download it there.

Not liking the Spurs was never a crime, because the Spurs were long one of the NBA’s least likable teams. David Robinson was the ultimate gentleman, but his “Who, me?” face after committing a foul made you want to smack the flat top off his head. Tim Duncan picked up that face and has perfected it to a peak level of obnoxiousness. Avery Johnson was just plain irritating.

Admit it. You admired the way they won, sacrificing individual glory for the good of the team, following Duncan, the NBA’s least-flashy superstar, and Gregg Popovich, the NBA’s most no-nonsense coach. But you just couldn’t reconcile how annoyingly they accomplished it all, putting opponent’s ankle bones in jeopardy while dropping their jaws incredulously when the referees dared whistle them for an infraction.

But it’s different now. Bowen is mercifully long gone. Refs don’t even bother to blow the whistle anymore when Ginobili topples down in a heap. Duncan still reacts as though it is blasphemy to accuse him of fouling anyone, but he’s so savvy at 37 years old that it’s mostly just amazing to watch him operate. More importantly, a new crop of Spurs, led by Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green, threaten to make the Spurs almost likable.

Everything is relative, of course. Most of the basketball-watching populous is no doubt already rooting for the Spurs against the Heat in the NBA Finals. For anyone who doesn’t remember the Spurs’ aggravating excellence a decade ago, the Heat are the most unlikable team in history. LeBron James is the most polarizing figure in sports. Dwyane Wade hits the hardwood so often he makes Ginobili look like an immovable object by comparison. Even before this series, though, these Spurs were a lot more tolerable than their past incarnations, thanks to a changing of the guard in process in San Antonio.

Leonard, for one, is an unqualified joy to watch. Through the first three games of the finals, he has been the best player on the court. He has the stoicism of Duncan without the disbelieving facial expressions, the defensive wizardry of Bowen without the dirty tricks and the timely shooting of Sean Elliott without the bad color commentating. If Leonard keeps playing like this and the Spurs win the title, he would be the most deserving candidate for the series’ Most Valuable Player award.

Green, and his running mate Gary Neal, are not without their flaws. Green was known for being too cocky coming out of North Carolina, as redundant as that sounds. He was drafted by the Cavs. He was waived by the Cavs. He was signed by the Spurs. He was waived by the Spurs. He was signed back by the Spurs after dominating the D-League, and he suddenly seemed to accept that he wasn’t God’s gift to basketball. He is now 16-for-23 on 3-point attempts in the finals.

Neal is no saint, either. After earning Philadelphia Big 5 and Atlantic 10 Conference rookie of the year honors at La Salle, he was dismissed from the team in 2004 after he was accused of rape. He was acquitted, took a year off and resurfaced at Towson, then bounced around Turkey, Spain and Italy after going undrafted in 2007. His shot selection is terrible. His handle is a little too loose, forcing the Spurs to use him as a 6-foot-4 off-guard rather than as a true point guard. Yet he’s kept his nose clean of late, as far as we know, and he chipped in six of San Antonio’s 16 threes in Game 3. If you can’t exactly root for Neal, at least the courts have said there’s no reason to actively root against him.

It has always been tough for a true basketball lover to really hate the Spurs. Despite all their tiresome antics, they won — a lot — and proved a system can triumph in an era where the focus is increasingly on stockpiling talent. But thanks to the Spurs’ infusion of young, unselfish players, you no longer have to begrudgingly respect what the team does, and can start to actually appreciate the product for what it is.

Then Duncan makes that face, and you hate them all over again.

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Might the Big Three and Co., the NBA betting favorites since the confetti fell at their 2012 championship parade, not be big enough for Texas?

The NBA moneyline, which favors the Spurs for Thursday’s Game 4 by 1.5 points, isn’t so sure.

Over the course of the first three games of the NBA Finals, basketball fans have seen three different results play out: a nail-biter, a Heat blowout and a Spurs blowout. More than just satisfying symmetry, however, the games combine to tell basketball fans and NBA oddsmakers alike just what they can expect over the course of the rest of the series.

Both the Heat and the Spurs, simply put, are capable of taking their fate into their own hands if and when necessary. We saw it with Miami in Game 2 when James (relatively quiet compared to what he’s capable of) laid low, using his dominating presence to free up perimeter-threat teammates Ray Allen, Mario Chalmers and Mike Miller (the trio combined for 41 points).

James struggled in Game 3, which in turn limited the opportunities for his teammates.

In Game 3, San Antonio really showed its depth. After a disappointing second game — in which the Spurs fell victim to a Heat team that was firing on all cylinders and in which they turned the ball over far more than is appropriate for the Finals — the Spurs responded. With Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker logging modest minutes, San Antonio saw enormous contributions from its secondary weapons: 27 points from Danny Green, 24 points from Gary Neal and 14 points from Kawhi Leonard.

The point that hoops fans can take away from it all is a simple one: both San Antonio and Miami are capable of winning ball games regardless of what the other team can do on defense on any given night — that’s the level of talent in this series.

The question is whether Erik Spoelstra and the Heat will be able to replicate Game 2 — where James wreaked havoc, driving the paint and dishing out to the 3-point line — before Gregg Popovich can repeat his own success in Game 3. While San Antonio set an NBA Finals record with 16 three-pointers on Tuesday, only one came from Parker, Ginobili and Duncan combined. That won’t happen every day.

Most realistically, San Antonio’s 3-point shooters will return to Earth in Game 4, and James will rebound after his worst outing of the postseason. That doesn’t make betting on the NBA Finals any easier, but it will make for some hard-fought games.

This post is presented by Bovada.

James, who managed to score just 15 points on 7-for-21 shooting, was so demoralized, he did not even bother to contest a transition three by Green. More than anything, this moment may have said it all about James’ performance on Tuesday.

Check out James’ half-hearted effort in the GIF below.

GIF via Twitter/DrewGarrisonSBN

Game 3 was more of a mixed bag. Ginobili’s seven points on 3-for-7 shooting were nothing special, but he did record six assists in 23 minutes. He didn’t hurt the Spurs, so there’s that.

Oh yeah, and he went airborne for a pair of ferocious dunks that made the Heat ask to check Ginobili’s birth certificate. There was his two-handed number in the first quarter, followed by a one-handed tomahawk in the third on a fast break. The Spurs fans were happy, but they seemed as surprised as the Heat were that the aging sixth man could still get up like that.

Check out Ginobili’s jams in the videos below.

Dwyane Wade

As Gary Neal and Danny Green outshined James, allowing the Spurs to breeze to a 113-77 win in Game 3 to take a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals on Tuesday, the Heat, as a whole, fell flat. Wade was oh-fer the second half until he hit a pair of meaningless runners in the fourth quarter. Mario Chalmers, the hero of Game 2, contributed five bricks and clocked out. Mike Miller was scorching, nailing all five threes he attempted, but with next to nothing chipped in by Wade, Chalmers, Ray Allen or Udonis Haslem, Miller’s 15 points were a mere footnote in San Antonio’s display of dominance.

Three games into the third NBA Finals for the South Beach Big Three, it is clear the Heat are no All-Star team. The names may be recognizable, but Wade, Allen and Chris Bosh — who actually wasn’t terrible, which is saying something — are not game-changers anymore. Without James at his absolute peak, the Heat have nowhere to turn. And that has left Heat coach Erik Spoelstra looking most ineffectual of all, especially compared to his counterpart on the San Antonio bench.

James has been far from outstanding in the series thus far, obviously. He has yet to crack the 20-point mark in any of the three games. He is 14-for-38 from the field in the last two. His triple-double the Heat’s Game 1 loss looks like it may be the epitaph for Miami: Even when James does everything, it is not enough.

In two finals wins, the Spurs have now had a collection of disparate heroes. While Manu Ginobili continues to look like he should not be on the court most of the time, Tony Parker reminded everybody in Game 1 that he is still pretty darn good, and Neal and Green buried the Heat with threes to the tune of 51 combined points in Game 3. The Heat? Well, Chalmers and Miller have hit some shots, and Wade has alternated decent halves with horrible ones. Bosh has played Duncan to a standstill, at best. The same could be said for Kawhi Leonard and James, which does a tidy job of explaining Miami’s problems.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich came out with an interesting defensive wrinkle in Game 3. He instructed his players to concede midrange jump shots to Wade, Bosh and James, almost daring those perennial All-Stars to shoot. The move was simultaneously disrespectful and brilliant.

With so much space between themselves and their defenders, James, Wade and Bosh lost their rhythm. They did not attack the basket — not that Bosh would have, anyway — and as a result seldom forced the Spurs to make any tough decisions on help defense. With none of the drive-and-kick opportunities that players like Chalmers and Allen rely on, the Heat resorted to a monotonous game of H-O-R-S-E, in which they were only allowed to take 15-foot jumpers.

Every time they made one of those shots, Popovich probably gave a little shrug. The Spurs will take that. On a practical level, giving up midrange two-pointers while taking away high-percentage layups and open threes is a trade-off that benefits the Spurs. But it’s about more than the mathematics of the most efficient shot. Turning James into a jump shooter constricts him. If he’s not pressured, he can’t see the defense losing its shape, can’t pick and choose which crack he wants to attack to open up one of his teammates for a wide-open shot. He is stuck tossing up jumpers like it’s an off-day shootaround, not the third game of the NBA Finals. When the opportunity to attack did arise on Tuesday, James looked unsure, as though he were uncomfortable taking layups after living outside the paint all night.

It goes without saying that this time of year, role players become legends largely because their opponents let them. Robert Horry, Steve Kerr and Eddie House hit big shots precisely because leaving them open in the clutch was the lesser evil compared to their Hall of Fame teammates. The Spurs have taken this a step farther. They are willing to make James beat them — just on their terms. If he could fill it up from midrange and Miami’s defense had done enough to stop the Spurs on the defensive end, James might have walked out of AT&T Center with a win in Game 3. The Spurs bet that those things wouldn’t happen, and they were right.

There is still a long way to go before a champion is crowned. Don’t forget that James was on the opposite end of this two years ago, leading the Mavericks, 2-1, before Dallas came back to win in six games. Most fans remember Dirk Nowitzki‘s heroics, but the Mavs’ title would not have been possible without Tyson Chandler‘s defense and unlikely contributions from guys like DeShawn Stevenson. So far, the Spurs are getting those types of complementary performances, while Spoelstra looks at a loss to counter Popovich’s tricks.

James is still the best player in this series, but the Spurs have been the better team.

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