Heat know Spurs inspired for Game 3
MIAMI -- Dwyane Wade thinks there’s no one better than the Miami Heat at dealing with the mental challenge of the playoffs. In his eyes, only one other team might compare.
He’s talking about the San Antonio Spurs.
That’s why Wade believes the set NBA Finals are just getting started.
When he looks at the Spurs, he sees qualities his own team has, including an ability to break down a loss and quickly correct things. It’s what Miami did before Game 2 of the finals and it’s wwhat Wade expects the Spurs to do before the title series resumes with Game 3 in Miami on Tuesday night.
“You never put them away,” Wade said. “I think they always believe and iit’s the same with us. You cancan’t, you won’t, put us away because we’re always going to bebelieve. That’s why this is a perfect, different animal, kind of series. They’re the other team like us. They don’t lose much and when they do they come back and be better in the next game. So we’ve got to come out and do the same thing.”
That would explain why on Monday, instead of a day off, the Heat gathered to watch video of Game 2.
By winning in San Antonio to even the finals at 1-1, home-court advantage now belongs to the Heat. But no one in their locker room thinks it’s going to get easy now.
“They came out great. They played a great game,” Spurs guard Tony Parker said after Miami’s 98-96 win in Game 2, the 13th straight time the Heat immediately followed a postseason loss with a victory. “Now it’s our turn to go over there and get one. We played pretty well all season long on the road and so we’re going to have two great opportunities to try to come up with a win.”
Miami has won a franchise-record 11 straight postseason games at home.
The last team to win a playoff game in Miami was the Spurs, winning Game 1 of last season’s finals.
“We are in a tough situation because we’ve got to go to Miami and we’ve got to get one,” Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said. “We don’t want to come back here 3-1 down. It’s very hard to overcome that. Definitely going to be a great challenge for the team to play in an arena like that and having to win.” AP