Spurs vs. Heat Game 6

    Last night I watched what I consider to be the greatest game of our modern era.  The title was on the line, legacies were at stake, and the pressure was on.  With the Spurs up three games to two in the NBA Finals, they went for the kill in game six.  They had to win this game or else they’d have to face the unlikely task of bringing home the trophy in a seventh game on their opponents’ home court.  Winning a game seven on the road is one of the most difficult things to do in the NBA, especially in the finals- it hasn’t happened since 1978. 
    However, the Miami Heat have more heart than any team in the NBA, and they’ve shown time and again that they are able to respond in big games with their backs against the wall.  They weren’t going to be denied, and they showed it by starting the game with more energy than the Spurs.  Dwyane Wade, who’s suffering through several injuries, dunked on Tim Duncan and had a beautiful euro-step layup in the first quarter.  He’s had to play through a lot of pain and his stats haven’t been nearly as pronounced as in previous years, but he’s still done more good for the team than bad. 
    The Spurs took over in the second quarter.  Tim Duncan made 13 of his first 16 shots and scored 25 first half points.  Everyone was saying that should the Spurs win, this game would be the capstone of his legacy as the best power forward of all time.  In the second half he wasn’t as effective, but the Spurs still controlled the game through the third quarter.  They were up by ten points going into the fourth quarter and it seemed like they were simply the better team.  All series long they’d played more intelligently and shot the ball better.  They’d beaten the Heat at their own small-ball game, and on the defensive end they’d successfully forced James and Wade into losing confidence in their mid-range jumpers.  The Heat were at their wits end and needed a miracle if they were going to beat the most poised team in the NBA. 
    Both teams have shown that they can build leads and keep them in this series, but this is the first time either team faced elimination.  For the Heat, the fourth quarter was something out of a fairy tale or a movie script, while for the Spurs it was a disaster.  There were many memorable moments, and each deserve their own place in the legacy of this game. 
    Heat coach Erik Spoelstra made a brilliant move to start the quarter, playing the same lineup that the Heat had made a 33-5 run on the Spurs with earlier in the series.  With about ten minutes left in the game, Mike Miller lost his shoe and made a three pointer without wearing it.  At the time it wasn’t a big deal, but it seemed to have been the thing that jump-started their run.  A minute later LeBron James lost his headband while going up for an alley-oop slam.  Mysteriously, the headband seemed to have disappeared between Duncan and James as he came down off the rim. 
         What mystical forces were unleashed on the game when Miller and James sequentially lost their items?  Did the basketball Gods unleash the beast within James when they decided to hide the headband?  Did James reach some cosmic awareness, symbolized by the abandonment of something that sealed his skull to the confines of the Earth?  Nobody knows for sure, because nobody seems to know just how it came off. 
         After losing his headband LeBron James famously went nuts (in what people are now calling “The Headband Game”, analogous to Jordan’s “flu game”), rejecting a slam dunk by the game’s MVP up to that point (Tim Duncan) and going berzerk at the offensive end.  James had gone 3-12 for the first three quarters, but he completely flipped the switch and his penetration helped them regain the lead with five minutes to go in the game.  Not only that, but King James had to defend one of the nastiest offensive players in the league: Tony Parker.  Parker got a few shots in, including an improbable three pointer and a nifty spin move in the lane, to help the Spurs regain the lead.  But when they reached the finish line Parker was gassed, and LeBron’s defense was a major reason why. 
    With less than two minutes to go, James ran out of gas himself and committed two uncharacteristic turnovers that would seemingly lead to the Heat’s demise.  If the Heat hadn’t won, you can be certain that the media would be talking about LeBron’s choke in the finals all day instead of the Spurs’ amazing performance, because that’s how the media is.  They always focus on the negatives.  Right now the blame is on Spurs coach Greg Popovic and shooting guard Manu Ginobili.  Even in a game as epic as this, the media still needs to complain! 
     With thirty seconds to go the Heat trailed by five, and fans were leaving the building.  About two thousand people left because they lost hope in their team coming back, which is pretty ridiculous considering that we’ve seen even more dramatic comebacks in the history of basketball.  Not only that, but the commissioners had brought the trophy out into the arena and were preparing for the Spurs’ celebration.  Reportedly this “pissed off” the Heat players, because people were counting them out when they still had a chance. 
    On the second-to-last possession James missed a three pointer, but Wade kept the rebound alive when two Spurs should have had it.  The ball ended up in Miller’s hands and he passed it back out to James, who scored a three on the second try.  The Heat then fouled Kawhi Leonard, who only made one of his two free throws.  With twenty seconds remaining, the Heat were only down three and had the ball.  James missed an early three, but the rebound went to Chris Bosh, who passed it out to Ray Allen, who, in a marvelous display of awareness and skill, planted both feet behind the three point line with four Spurs running at him, and swished an off balance fall back three pointer to tie the game. 
    Now, I’ve been one of Ray Allen’s biggest fans through the years, and I’ve seen Ray hit a lot of big shots ever since he came to the Sonics ten years ago.  But this was by far the biggest of his career.  I think it single handedly puts him in the hall of fame and puts him past Reggie Miller as the greatest three point shooter of all time.  Forget about the insane series against the Bulls in 2009, forget about his finals record 8 three pointers in game 2 of the 2010 finals, forget his circus threes against the Kings in 2005; he made the biggest shot on the biggest stage, and if the Heat win the finals it will not only be the biggest shot of his career, but one of the greatest in the history of the NBA.  It would even be up there with Jordan’s clutch shot in ’98, Magic's skyhook in '87, and Jerry West's half court shot against the Knicks in 1970. 
    Back to the game.  At that point, the drunken Heat fans who’d left were trying to get back in the arena after realizing their mistake.  Pandemonium erupted and the cops had to come when they started banging on the glass to be let back in.  I think I can speak for the entire sports world when I say that I have no sympathy for people who give up on their team, leave, then want to come back, especially after the amount of heart they showed in the fourth quarter of an elimination game.  It’s just pathetic. 
    Ray had four more points in overtime, and Chris Bosh had a couple of key blocks on the last two Spurs possessions.  Even if Bosh hadn't fouled Green, which I don’t think he did (50/50 call), there’s no guarantee that he would have made the shot or made his free throws.  Besides, Splitter had clearly set a moving screen that wasn’t even close to a 50/50 call.  Another controversial no-call- Ginobili’s drive to the basket on the previous play- was also a 50/50 call, as there isn’t any evidence that Allen hacked his arm.  Ginobili had taken three steps before the contact anyway, which is a travel.  The refs tend to swallow their whistles on the last plays of the game unless there is an incredibly blatant foul, so you can’t blame the outcome on the refs.  Besides, the Spurs shot seven more free throws than the Heat, and there were many instances in regulation where the Heat didn’t have calls go their way. 
    That being said, anyone who bases the outcome of this game on conspiracy theories is a complete idiot.  How do you script a 5 point comeback with 20 seconds left in the game?  Why would they bring the trophy out if they knew the Heat were going to win anyway?  I have no doubt that the NBA has fixed games in the past, but this certainly wasn’t one of them. 
    If game seven is anything like this game, then it may be the greatest finals we’ve ever seen.  These are two quasi dynasties with seven or eight perennial all-stars and four finals MVPs giving it everything they’ve got, and each of them have gone back and forth with crazy runs, blowouts, and late game heroics.  Every star has stepped up in at least one game and given their team a victory (Parker/Duncan in game 1, James in game 2, Green/Neal in game 3, Wade/James in game 4, Ginobili in game 5, Allen/Bosh in game 6).  Who will step up next?