San Antonio Spurs’ Tiago Splitter (second from right) and Miami Heat’s Udonis Haslem battle for a rebound during the first half at Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series in San Antonio on Tuesday. (AP-Yonhap News)
SAN ANTONIO (AP) ― From big 3s to Big Three, the Spurs had it all in the NBA Finals’ raucous return to San Antonio.
Danny Green made seven of the Spurs’ finals-record 16 3-pointers, Tim Duncan had 12 points and 14 rebounds, and the Spurs clobbered the Miami Heat 113-77 on Tuesday night to take 2-1 lead in the series.
Green scored 27 points and Gary Neal made six 3-pointers while scoring 24 as San Antonio went 16 of 32 from behind the arc, rolling to the third-biggest victory in finals history.
Duncan bounced back from his worst game ever in the finals, and the Spurs’ combination of fresh faces and old reliables in a raucous return to a city that hadn’t hosted a finals game since 1997.
The Spurs were as good as fans remembered in the old days, shutting down LeBron James until they had built a huge lead late in the third quarter.
James finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds, but missed 11 of his first 13 shots against the excellent defense of Kawhi Leonard, who had 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Game 4 is Thursday here, where the Heat are 3-22 in the regular season and so far zero wins and one really bad beating in the postseason.
Duncan shot 3 of 13 for nine points, his worst performance ever in his 25 NBA Finals games, in the Heat’s 103-84 victory Sunday. Tony Parker wasn’t much better, shooting 5 of 14 and committing five turnovers, and Manu Ginobili admitted afterward the veteran trio had to play well for the Spurs to win.
They were fine, but the lesser-knowns were better.
Parker and Ginobili combined for 14 assists, but the bigger story was the guys who had never played on this stage before.
― Neal, who went undrafted after playing for LaSalle and Towson, then playing overseas for three seasons in Italy, Spain and Turkey.
― Green, who had been cut multiple times ― including by James’ Cavaliers ― and now has the shot to stick.
― Leonard, the draft-night trade acquisition from San Diego State who played the NBA’s four-time MVP to a stalemate.
Mike Miller made all five 3-pointers and scored 15 points for the Heat, who broke open Sunday’s game and seized momentum in the series with a 33-5 run in the second half.
The Spurs seized it right back, improving to 18-7 in the finals, the best winning percentage of any team with 20 or more games.
A brief flurry by James had Miami within 15 after three quarters, but Neal, Green and Leonard combined on a 13-0 run to open the fourth, Green’s 3-pointer making it 91-63.
The NBA hadn’t made its way along San Antonio’s River Walk this late in the season since 1997, and fans couldn’t wait to have the Spurs back. They sang and danced and clapped around the concourse and in their seats, as if their favorite rock band had returned for a concert.
And they were thrilled to see the Duncan they recognized from his first 24 finals appearances.
He got right on the board in this one, with a short jumper 20 seconds into the game. The Spurs, who had played from behind most of the series, had a 24-20 lead after making 11 of 18 shots in the first quarter.
Duncan hit a pair of three throws and another basket, and after a jumper by Neal, he threw a long outlet to Leonard for a dunk that made it 40-30.
Neal’s 3 made it 43-32, but Miller hit a pair of 3-pointers in a 12-1 run that tied it at 44 with 37 seconds in the half, the Heat appearing set to go into the half with momentum. But Parker drilled a 3 from the corner, and after Green blocked James’ shot, the Spurs rushed it up for a 3-pointer by Neal that fell at the buzzer, the reserve guard pointing back toward his defenders before the Spurs headed to the locker room with a 50-44 advantage.
The party played on all right, with a huge roar when Tracy McGrady, a former perennial All-Star now in his first finals appearance as a member of the Spurs’ bench, checked in midway through the fourth quarter. He was scoreless with three assists.
James started 2 for 13, then made his final four shots of the third as the Heat got within 13 before Ginobili fired a nifty pass to Tiago Splitter under the basket for a score with 0.1 seconds remaining, making it 78-63 and setting the stage for the big fourth-quarter finish.
It was a potentially pivotal victory for the Spurs in their quest to go 5 for 5 in the finals. Since the NBA Finals went to a 2-3-2 format in 1985, the Game 3 winner when the series was tied 1-1 has gone on to win 12 of the 13 titles ― though the Heat were the lone one that didn’t, in 2011.