2013 NBA Finals: San Antonio Spurs (2) vs Miami Heat (1)

[Sauru]

i am not a fan of the 2-3-2 format at all but its not like its something new. either way the heat will win tonight and wrap it up in 6 at home.

[NovU]

Pop does exactly opposite of T-Mac fanbois want him to do.

Struggling Manubili actually replaced Splitter in the starting line up and is playing well. Gutsy move paying off. The Spurs are beating the Heat in their own game, in small ball. Spoelstra needs to respond quickly now.

[SoF'nAwesome]

Looks like Sauru's reverse psychology worked again.

[NovU]

This is exactly the type of game where you want to give up all the faith in this Heat team.

[SoF'nAwesome]

Why must we always lose in a sucky way? There are good wins and there are extremely bad losses.

[NovU]

Why can't Pop coach his team like what a normal person would. Take out a struggling player and give him less minutes and roles. But instead, this guy starts Manubili and tells him to do more. And Manu answered. Green and Manubili just killed it today, killed it good. The Spurs and Pop are just amazing. Certainly deserved to win the game 5.

The Heat are just fucked up. You can say we've been in this situation before but not against the team of Spurs caliber. I'm not even sure if there will be game 7 at all now because the way the series has been going on so far, it's pretty clear which team is a better team.

I'm interested to see what changes will be made during the offseason to this Heat team now. Still a contender which you don't wanna break up, but you obviously see the needs for improvement in many aspects.

[SoF'nAwesome]

Assert LeBron more into the scoring role.

[Patr1ck]

I really don't see how the score was so close. Spurs were phenomenal throughout most of the game while the Heat just kept missing close looks around the basket.

[NovU]

Great garbage time played.

[shadowgrin]

So much for Manu being replaced by T-Mac...

Pop answered questions seriously during the postgame press conference...he dead serious in game 5...no wonder the Heat lost...Kobe Christ Spurs shot 60% on their field goals...Heat got spurslapped...


Prophet!

@RealSkipBayless
I told Stephen A on pregame SportsCenter that this game would belong to Manu. Set the tone with his opening three, controlled the game.

Spurs were motivated to slap the Heat in their own game because of garbage time in game 4...

@RealSkipBayless
LeBron just scored 9 in last 4 minutes of a blowout (including a 3 w/ 22 secs left) vs Nando de Colo and Matt Bonner. Now that's greatness.

@RealSkipBayless
Spoelstra letting LeBron stay in, run it up in garbage time. Spurs will take note. Thanks for the motivation, Spo. You too, King.

[_Steve_]

Can Danny Green even miss from downtown?
This is again some Pop-just-get's-the-most-out-of-every-player-thing.
Really liked to see vintage Manu. It would be nice to see one final game like that to close out the series...

[NovU]

Looking at the boxscore, it reminds me that none of the Spurs' starters had a bad night but all were nearly equally awesome. What a complete performance.

These are the team that swept the mighty Grizzlies. And now look to dethrone the defending champ. Might be a great way to complement/end Tim Duncan's great career.

And also Pop deserves a great recognition. He was a popular target by the critiques during regular season for excessively resting his aged players, and for not giving the upmost effort to win the #1 seed. Look now where the Spurs are.

[RedPhazon8]

I'm always disappointed to hear players say that God is the reason they're playing so well, come on Danny Green give yourself some credit. Miami continues to play inconsistent basketball and now they must win two straight, I guess it was nice to see Ray Allen actually semi-clutch in the 4th.

[SoF'nAwesome]

The person I will feel the most sad for is Ray Allen when Heat won't win the Championship this year.

[NovU]

I felt pretty bad for Bibby in similar regard. More and more, this series is reminding me of Dallas Finals in '11. Seems like it's largely a possibility at this point again as the Mavericks also ended Heat's dream in away game 6. We can only hope, having learned from the loss against the Mavs, the Heat's better prepared for the magnitude of the stage this time around.

Having said that, I'm still really enjoying this year's Finals. One of the best in last decade imo. Back and forth, you see great adjustments, and still has been a very close series in styles despite boxscore score depicting blowouts in many games. And the best part is that Heat still has a shot worth in this series despite chances hugely favoring the Spurs. Say the Heat forces a game 7 miraculously, the table will shift because it will be Spurs' turn to fight against the history as no team won against the Home team in game 7 of the Finals. For now, it's the Heat that have to fight against the odds, because majority of teams that won game 5 from 2-2 have gone to win the series.

On a side note, this year's playoffs really showed how great Tim Duncan is even at this stage of his career. Look at the bigs he's fought against and held his ground throughout the playoffs. Now he's been schooling Bosh like a fool in this series. It's almost scary to say Big Fundamental in prime was much better.

[Kenny]

Eh, Ray Allen already has a ring, and it was when he had a bigger role. As bad as I felt for Bibby, the joy of seeing Kidd, Dirk, Marion and Peja win one far outweighed it.

[Andrew]

What do you do with a player who's struggling and starting to be written off as being finished? Put him in the starting lineup and give him more minutes, of course. Popovich does it again, though you've got to give credit to Manu for being more aggressive and shaking off the poor performances. Parker and Duncan certainly pitched in too and Danny Green continues to be unconscious from downtown. Not only the most threes in a single NBA Finals series, before the series is even over mind you, but at a 66% clip. One of the most impressive shooting displays in a while.

As for the rest of the series, you might as well flip a coin. As the winners of Game 5, the Spurs have history on their side, yet it's hardly unprecedented for a team to be down 3-2 and win the final two games at home. No team has won two straight yet in this series, a trend that suggestions a Game 7 and a Spurs victory, though once you hit Game 7 you've got a whole bunch of other trends and statistics to consider. Combine that with the fact that it's been inconsistent as to which team shows up for both clubs so far in the Finals and this one is still very much hanging in the balance, even with one team on the verge of clinching the series.

Interesting series so far with some fun moments, though the lack of really close games through most of it has prevented it from being an instant classic.

[Sauru]

Looks like Sauru's reverse psychology worked again.

i am trying really hard to make it work lol.

so with that said the heat are gonna win so big in game 6 they just call the series and the heat will be the first team to win the finals 3-3

The person I will feel the most sad for is Ray Allen when Heat won't win the Championship this year.

he is the main reason i want to see the heat lose. guy says he does not want to come off the bench so he leaves and goes and plays for a team where he comes off the bench. i would have had more respect for him if he just said "i hate rondo with a passion so i am leaving"

[Jackal]

I finally get what old man Sauru is doing giving the Heat that much credit, I didn't get it at first.

Anyone who didn't know Tim Duncan was the greatest to play his position of all time didn't watch basketball as a fan, just a bandwagonner.

Lebron James should have an award handed to him regardless of who wins it this year. "Best roleplayer" has his name written all over it.

And I totally agree with Sauru regarding Allen, was a super douche move to leave the Celts to go play for the Heat. The team is full of douchebags. The Lakers only have Kobe, the Heat just have so many. Lebron for toying with Cleveland the way he did, Wade for falling after a light breeze and getting helped to a championship against the Mavs, Chris Bosh for spitting on people and being the softest big ever (and I watch Gasol play..) and destroying the big man game and Allen being a wanker for trying to ride the coattails since he figured he couldn't play against them and beat them.

Tim D showing the young ones how you play on the inside!

[Jeffx]

i am not a fan of the 2-3-2 format at all but its not like its something new. either way the heat will win tonight and wrap it up in 6 at home.

Yep, Game 5 should always go to the team with homecourt advantage. Hopefully with Stern on his way out, the league will come to its senses and go back to the 2-2-1-1-1. Funny thing is, I heard it was Red Auerbach who was one of the biggest voices for the 2-3-2 format after the '84 Finals.


I've never seen a series like this with so many blowouts. Neither team can put together two solid performances in a row. The 2005 Finals had blowouts, but the last three games were classic.

[Stress Fracture]

Cole's defense really sucked last night.

[MJALLDAY]

Ginobli must've read my posts, what a game.

[Patr1ck]

Cole's defense really sucked last night.

Yeah, he seemed to just move out of the way of Parker most of the time.

[_Steve_]

Cole's defense really sucked last night.

Yeah, he seemed to just move out of the way of Parker most of the time.

Best way to avoid foul trouble.

[hova-]

I seriously doubt the seriousness of Parkers injury. He's going hard and might risk a tear, but he seems to be close to 100% with medication and treament doing its work.

Danny Green is really playing out of his mind, not only can he shoot but he also is atheltic enough to drive and put in a tear drop and has long enough arms to defend some of the drives by Miami.

I love to say again and again that Wade and James are just so inconsistent shooters and it kills them. Imagine one of them having a deadly shot like other great players who arent as athletic. Would be unstoppable.