NBA Finals: Miami Heat vs San Antonio Spurs – Who Wins Game 3?

Jun 9, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; San Antonio Spurs react in the fourth quarter against the Miami Heat during game two of the 2013 NBA Finals at the American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Robert Mayer-USA TODAY Sports

Expectations for Game 3 of the NBA Finals: The Miami Heat will go to San Antonio with the same game plan as game 2 and the San Antonio Spurs will make adjustments. The question is, what adjustments will the Spurs make?

Well, the San Antonio Spurs will keep it simple, they will do what they do best and that is execute the fundamentals of basketball in their offense. They will get back to the pick and roll, Tony Parker penetration, and wake up the perimeter game of Manu Ginobili. He has been playing like someone has tied his left and right shoelaces together. Ginobili has to come alive this game and being at home may put him in his comfort zone.

The big three, Parker, Duncan and Ginobili must play well, but I think players like Kawhi Leonard, Tiago Splitter must be effective in rebounding and in low post play. Gary Neal and Danny Green must be active on the perimeter making shots, plays and being productive while in the game if the Spurs are to have an opportunity to win game 3. I’m sure Popovich has stressed the need for less turnovers and will have a game plan geared toward success.

Miami handled the Spurs with a very astounding statement saying “You beat us game 1 because we let you.” As could be expected in most playoff series, if a team loses the first game, they make adjustments and win game 2 while the winning team returns with much of the same effort or, in the Spurs’ case, less of the effort than in game 1.

The Heat made major adjustments with team contributions as opposed to LeBron James coming out and scoring 40 points in a must-win effort. The Heat did what they had to do to win, and that is involve the entire team. It didn’t seem like LeBron was having a bad scoring night, it was more like even distributed scoring initiated by LeBron James. He was setting his teammates up perfectly and they were making shots.

I thought key plays that changed the game were the inside dunks and play of Chris “Birdman” Andersen — he was very active and had a very good game. Chris Bosh played were he’s more effective and that’s around the basket and Ray Allen hit some key in-the-paint baskets as well as three-pointers. If you get that kind of offense in addition to LeBron and Dwyane Wade getting their points, they have a good chance of getting a win like they did. You throw in the traps and defense and you get a beat down like San Antonio received.

A few times during game 2 I had the feeling that the San Antonio Spurs were feeling good that they had won game 1 in Miami, game 2 was a horrible loss, but they had accomplished their goal which was to win one of the first two games on the road.

The Spurs have two things going for them Tuesday night in game 3 of the Finals — they are at home and they can make adjustments. They can’t let Miami get any 33 to 5 runs and they can’t commit a lot of turnovers. There’s more to be cautious of when playing Miami, but if the Spurs can play their game, at home, their chances are good. Miami has to continue to play from a team perspective and not put it all on LeBron. The Spurs need to push Bosh back out of the paint and block out on defensive rebounds making “Birdman” less effective. However, if Miami can continue to get the kind of minutes they have been getting out of “Birdman” they can switch the momentum quickly. It’s a chess match and it should be a very good game 3 of the NBA Finals. Who will win?

San Antonio Spurs – Series 2 – 1