The San Antonio Spurs blew-out the Miami Heat 113 – 77 on June 11 in the AT&T Center. The victory marked the third largest blowout in NBA Finals history.
“It shouldn’t be a surprise,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. “These are the last two teams standing. I don’t think either one of them is going to get down if they have a bad night.”
Spurs’ guards Gary Neal and Danny Green’s sharp-shooting was responsible for the lopsided victory, as Green made seven of the Spurs 16 3-pointers and Neal made six 3-pointers of his own. The duo of Green (27 points) and Neal (26 points) outscored the Heat’s duo of LeBron James (15 points) and Dwayne Wade (16 points) 55 – 31.
“Those guys shot incredibly,” Duncan said. “Gave us the breathing room when we needed it.”
Tim Duncan entered Game 3 looking to bounce back from his worst performance in Finals history. In Game 2, Duncan shot 3-for-13 from the field, scoring only 9 points. The Heat beat the Spurs 103 – 84. However, Duncan finished Game 3 with 12 points and 14 rebounds.
Game 3 wasn’t just about shooting the ball well for the Spurs, the team locked down James on the defensive end of the court as well. The Spurs held James to 15 points and 11 rebounds. Spurs’ forward Kawhi Leonard’s defense forced James to miss his first 11 shots. Leonard finished the game with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
“Honestly, I just have to play better,” James said. “I can’t have a performance like tonight and expect to win.”
The Spurs led the whole game in every statistically category, except turnovers. The Spurs outrebounded the Heat 52 – 36, forced more turnovers 16 – 12, outscored the Heat on fast break points 20 – 11, and outscored the Heat in points in the paint 40 – 32. The Spurs led at one point in the game by 37 points, and the Heat never held a lead through the entire game.
“We got what we deserved,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I didn’t even recognize the team that was out there tonight.”
The San Antonio Spurs lead the Miami Heat 2-1 in the series, and the Silver & Black will look to extent their series lead 3 – 1 on June 13 in the AT&T Center. Tip-off is slated for 8 p.m. on ABC.
