Wow! That’s about the only word I could muster in watching Game 6 of the NBA Finals unfold. Miami got the final “wow!” of regulation when Ray Allen hit a game-tying three-pointer, and they got the final “wow!” at the end when they barely hung on in overtime, winning 103-100 and forcing a decisive Game 7 for the NBA championship on Thursday night (9 PM ET, ABC).
The 2013 NBA Finals continue on their trajectory to be the best bad series ever played. Once again, the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs tantalized us with the promise of an exciting finish, only to see one team completely take over the game in the latter stages of the third quarter. This time it was San Antonio, who won Game 5 on their home floor in a not-as-close-as-it-sounds 114-104 win.
Before the NBA Finals began it had the feel of a heavyweight fight. After a Game 1 that was well played on both sides, I wrote that it was going to live up to that. It still has the feel of a heavyweight fight, only now we’ve watched each team show they can land a haymaker. San Antonio answered Miami’s Game 2 rout with one of their own last night, a 113-77 blitzing in the Lone Star State.
The Miami Heat answered the bell in a way better than anyone might have imagined in Sunday night’s Game 2 of the NBA Finals. Playing in a must-win spot at home, the Heat used a 33-5 run in the second half to turn a close game into a rout, and with their 103-84 win over the San Antonio Spurs, evened the series up at a game apiece.
This is no longer the Indiana Pacers or the Oklahoma City Thunder. That’s the loud and clear message the San Antonio Spurs sent the Miami Heat last with the Spurs’ 92-88 win to open the 2013 NBA Finals. Whereas the Thunder in last year’s Finals, and the Pacers in this year’s Eastern finals, were susceptible down the stretch, San Antonio showed they can close games.