The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Spurs riding in high gear at 3-1
Two home losses leave Heat facing end of title reign.
MIAMI — The San Antonio Spurs left Miami last June looking so human, Tim Duncan nearly in tears talking about how close they were to another championship.
They don’t look human now. They look like a machine. Up 3-1 and shooting the ball at a level never seen in the NBA Finals, the Spurs headed home with a chance to wrap it up Sunday night.
The Miami Heat, who were able to deny the Spurs last year, have two days to figure out what can possibly be done to do it again.
“They’re a high-oil machine and they move the ball extremely well,” LeBron James said. “They put you in so many difficult positions. If you’re not right on time, right on target, they’re going to make you pay for it.”
The Spurs won by 19 and 21 in the two games in Miami and are shooting 54.2 percent in the series. The NBA Finals record for a series of any length is 52.7 percent.
No team has overcome a 3-1 deficit in the finals.
Duncan said the memory of last season’s loss would “definitely come up” before Sunday.
“As I said, we know the caliber team they are, and we have a lot of respect for what they’re able to do,” Duncan said. “They’re able to throw it another gear and they’re going to do just that. They don’t want this to be done.”
Duncan probably meant “done” as in the series. Of course, it could also mean the era.
Two off days were sure to be filled by talk of the Heat’s uncertain future, with James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh all eligible for free agency. But the two-time champions have more urgent concerns now.
“Did we expect to come here and lose two the way we did at home? No way,” Wade said. “But we also expect to go to San Antonio and put up a better effort and try to come out with another win. So we’ll get away from it (Friday), but we’ll still think about what we need to do …”
James simply acknowledged the obvious — that the Spurs were the better team — when they swept his Cavaliers in 2007 for the last of their four NBA titles. But the Spurs go so far beyond Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili now. There’s Kawhi Leonard, who followed his career-high 29-point night in Game 3 with 20 points and 14 rebounds Thursday and has done no worse than battled James to a draw over the last two games.
Or Boris Diaw, who wasn’t even in the starting lineup until Game 3 and had eight points, nine rebounds and nine assists in Game 4.
“I just think we’re playing Spurs basketball,” Parker said. “We’re just moving the ball and we’re just playing the way we’ve been playing all season.”