Starting Thursday, the Spurs get a rematch in the NBA finals against the only team to beat them in a championship series. San Antonio will be holding home-court advantage, so if another Game 7 awaits, the Spurs will have the decided edge. If that was not enough, the Spurs have had basically five days between games to get healthy and prepare.
It is, without question, everything the Spurs could have wanted.
“We know what we’re going against,” said Spurs guard Tony Parker, “it’s a great challenge.”
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Parker said he has great respect for what the Heat have done in their four-year run but San Antonio has a lot of advantages this year.
First, while home is always an asset, the Spurs dominate in San Antonio having won 103 of their last 123 games there. Over the past four seasons, the Spurs are also 25-5 when they have had three or more days between games.
Importantly, Parker has had nearly a week between the end of the Western Conference finals and the start of the finals to get his ailing left ankle ready for Game 1.
“I’ll do my best,” said the guard, who did not practise Tuesday but hopes to play in the series opener.
This is San Antonio’s sixth trip to the NBA finals. The Spurs won in 1999, 2003, 2005 and 2007, with the last title coming after San Antonio swept a Cleveland team that featured a young LeBron James in his debut on the NBA’s biggest stage.
Losing the finals is one thing, but losing the way the Spurs did last June is something else.
Game 6 will be replayed for as long as there are replays. It is unforgettable for how the Heat rallied and how the Spurs collapsed.
A 10-point lead going into the fourth quarter was erased, in part because Mike Miller scored three points on one shot while wearing one shoe. As, like this, did a five-point lead with 28.2 seconds left: Manu Ginobili missed a free throw; James made a three-pointer; Kawhi Leonard made one of two free throws; James misses a three-pointer; Chris Bosh out jumped Ginobili for the rebound as Ray Allen started to back-pedal to the right corner, hoping for a chance.
ABC’s Mike Breen described what happened next like this: “Rebound Bosh. Back out to Allen – his three-pointer – BANG!!! Tie game!”
The Heat won in overtime that night, then took Game 7, and the title, 95-88.
When this season began, Gregg Popovich started camp by showing his team Games 6 and 7. While there were plenty of teams that looked like contenders this season, neither club was surprised that the result is the first NBA finals rematch since 1998.
“The Clippers looked great,” Allen said. “OKC, they had their issues and then they popped up. Memphis looked good at the end of the year. Indiana was always hovering. But if you go back to the beginning of the year, most people said the same thing. ‘Pop’ knew how to manage his team to get to this point. Same thing with us.”
In other words, Spurs-Heat II was meant to be.
“It was,” Allen said.
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