Spurs one win away from fifth NBA Title
Tonight the Miami Heat have their backs squarely against the wall with the San Antonio Spurs standing directly in front of the.
The NBA finals return to south Florida and American Airlines Arena for game 6 of the best of seven series with San Antonio leading 3-2.
The Miami Heat have been in a rut of win one and lose for their past 12 postseason games. The Heat won game 4 of the series in San Antonio 109-93 to tie the series 2-2, but was defeated in game 6 on Sunday 114-104 to be put on the brink of elimination.
The Heat has not won two consecutive games since the semifinals of the Eastern Conference against Chicago, when they won games 4 and 5.
That pattern must be broken if the Heat want to win their second straight NBA title. Game 6 is scheduled for Tuesday, while Game 7, if necessary, is scheduled for Thursday.
Since the Heat has played so well following a loss, they are 6-0 SU and ATS in that scenario during the postseason and have won by an average of 20.7 points per game.
Based on Miami’s performance covering the 7-point early line for Tuesday’s game should not be a problem for the Heat. However, not everything is as easy as it looks. San Antonio has a record of 15-3 SU during the playoffs, and since the 2002-2003 season has won 22 of the possible 28 clinching games. They are 14-2 in that same scenario when playing on the road.
Even though the Heat are behind 3-2 and have not won back to back games versus the Spurs in this series, odds makers have still made them the short favorite to retain their title. The latest odds for the series have the Heat -130 and the Spurs +110.
The past three games in the finals have cashed out on the OVER in the series, and game 6 has been given the highest point total thus far in the series at 191.
San Antonio’s shooting has been nearly unheard of through the first five games of the finals. On Sunday, the Spurs hit 41% of their three-point shots and 60% of their shots from the floor.
Danny Green, San Antonio’s unsung hero, has hit a phenomenal rate of three-pointers. On Sunday, Green was 6 for 10 from behind the three-point arc, breaking the record for number of 3-pointers made in the NBA finals, which was previously held by the Heat’s Ray Allen.
The Spurs have been using long runs to separate themselves from the Heat. In game 5, the Spurs opened a 20-point lead early in the fourth quarter thanks to a 21-2 run.
Manu Ginobili’s return to form sparked the Spurs. The veteran Argentine started for the first time this entire regular and postseason and scored 24 points while dishing out 10 assists.
The Heat must continue putting the ball in the hands of their Big Three – LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade. The three combined to score 85 of the Heat’s 109 points in their game 4 win in San Antonio.
The Heat will play hard, but down the stretch, the Spurs will make a pair of strong defensive stands and take the win for their fifth NBA title.
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