Actually in my opinion, Parker played too much iso, and just could not hold onto the ball. Green was on fire early, and the Spurs went away from that with Parker's iso.
Duncan had a bad shooting game as well.

Spurs have stolen home court, I think they will win 2 of then next 3, and take it in 6.

The Spurs are masters at working things out, they will IMO win at home and go into the series 2-1 up with a much improved system, where as the Heat will rely on a star performance from someone (usually Lebron but not always).

For me it will be very much about percentages and the Spurs play those best...

My take is when the Heat play with a huge amount of defensive energy they are a near unbeatable team, when they dont they are decidedly beatable.

Miami play best when their backs are against the wall. I reckon this will go to seven. Miami will only win when they need to but Spurs may have them figured out by then. Flip a coin in game 7 is my best bet.

paul, I agree with you on this thread. lol.

When they lose people always look at their offense.

Fact is, when they lose it's because they didn't turn up their defensive intensity and create turnovers.

When they do, like Indiana game 7, and Game 2 of the Finals, they are damn scary.

Key for the Spurs = protect the ball, limit turnovers.

Spurs have just as efficient shooters than Miami. They can't afford to cough up the ball and cough up potential field goal attempts.

If Miami play like they did second half of game 2 for the next 3 games it wont even get back to south beach for game 6.

Pop should adjust to limit the turnovers though so I can see this going to 6 games, more than likely 7.

This finals has been exactly as i thought it was going to be. Still believe that the spurs have the matchup advantages in this series, disagree? i read this article and i was pretty convinced so give it a read. http://www.undisputedsports.com/2013/06/nba-finals-basketball-logic-vs-lebron-james/

Today's game will answer some questions about how hard it will be for either team to win away from home, this is always a huge factor of course...

If Spurs can win their first home game, well it is going to be a close series, but if Heat pull off an away win here, I'm going to say their confidence could be the key factor to a Miami repeat!

So far, 1st quarter is close but Spurs are holding a slender lead.

Both teams look so good in transition, that is the absolute key I think, getting those opportunities.

Wow Lebron. Never saw MJ play like this in the Finals.

But, he sets good screens haha

9 straight points. Just like that lol

The Spurs 3 point shooting has been unbelievable! What a display.

You're right DB5, he almost looked pissy the first 3 and a half quarters, that things weren't working out for him. His final stats will look fine in the boxscore I'm sure, but in reality, he had a shocker.

Sometimes I think Spoelstra is too scared to take him out. Wade and Bosh were playing well together in that first half, maybe yank LBJ and put those two back on for a while. I understand it's part of his rotation style, but it seems a little inflexible in instances like today.

NBA finals record three point shooting by the Spurs today BTW.

Gary Neal and Danny Green a combined 13/19 from three tonight!

Same as last game, but the Heat won, so the media spin it beautifully.
Lebron had a great game 1, but has not even been Pippen since, let alone MJ.

Mike Miller must have the best 3 point % in Finals as well. I think he has hit 14 of his last 16 3's in the Finals.

I didnt think he was that bad in G2, in fact defensively he was super, offensively he did what he needed to do as the whole team was working beautifully.

Terrible comment, anon^

There is absolutely no way this series is over.

Side note, Kawhi Leonard cannot finish at the rim to save himself.

Only in the 3rd really, at the half he was poor. But yeah he finished well when shooters started hitting shots.

Patty Mills with the bucket!

Lebron should be thinking "just go and get it motherf***er, just be a killer". At the very least, make a few hard attacks at the bucket and look like you're trying to. Who gives a crap if he draws a couple charges trying to force his way into the paint.

Now I know their wing shooters are old and/or slow
but get them moving constantly in the half court to get SA's attention away from the paint a little to make it easier on lebron and wade. Yes they need to knock down shots, but most of all, they need to move their ass!

Patty Mills has more NBA Finals points than TMAc. hehe

Also, how can James not be taking it to the hole? Blair was on for 6 minute, scores 9 points on 4/5 shooting in the paint. Lebron plays 39 minutes for 15 points on 7/21 shooting. A lot of fade aways.

Not comparing the 2 players, more how they got their points.

Lebron's gotta play like he did in Q3 of game 5 vs the pacers. When he does that, he's scary

Doea anyone think this whole post lebron up strategy is being used too much.

He is effective when he gets deep post catches...but he is starting to back his man down from way too far out and settle for tough fadeaways.

He looks hesistant, rather than explosive, when going to the rim.

The post game should be utilised as a nice addition to his game. Right now its almost becoming the basis of his game..really taking away his off the dribble explosiveness.

It's more than simply doing it though. Lebron can't afford to be consistently--note I say consistently, I'm not contradicting a previous comment--aggressive when the defence is set up. It's the Spurs defence that is doing it.

But as I said above, It's the four other guys on his team that need to be moving (especially the wings, which includes the PG seeing as Lebron handles in the half court) so he has seams to work with.

I would like to see them run him off a lot more curl screens, especially with guys like Bosh and Haslem who are reliable from mid-range if the help sags.

Exactly, paul. Play a lot of wheel and mix it up with different facilitators.

Just don't become stagnant.

It will hopefully get Bosh using low-post moves more I really like Bosh on the low post, very much underused by Spoelstra.

ha ha saw this, had to post.

Sam Smith ‏@SamSmithHoops 3m
Michael Jordan never scored fewer than 20 points in a Finals game; LeBron James has yet to score 20 points in a 2013 Finals game.

Very much underutilised!

Lebron isn't a flat-out scorer like MJ, so give him a little bit of a break. James has more offense around him than Mike had (from looking at rosters--I didn't see much Jordan at all). In saying that, James obviously needs to put some more on the board.

Not long now and Patty will have his ring

... his long awaited ring.

Sportsbet were running a Lebron (pts) vs Parker (pts+assists) total series bet. After game 1, Lebron was at $6. Put $15 on him there so I definitely wouldn't mind Parker to miss the next game.

He has a career scoring average of 27!!!
He has gone missing again when it counts. Against OKC he dominated as they were young and dumb, but a savvy team like the Spurs and also Dallas (as well as the Spurs v Cavs) he gets shut down.

On one hand it took a magnificent 3 point shooting display for Spurs to bury Heat in San Antonio.

On the other hand it looks like any win away from home will be very hard to achieve, should be the key to winning the series, which of course puts Spurs in the box seat.

Pop made the adjustments he needed to and managed to limit Lebron to a degree, but can a team hit that many 3's again?

Still, must favour San Antonio to win this series but I can see Miami winning their last home games and taking it to 7...

MACDUB, I think Lebron would find it easier to get deep post position if the offence ran a little more misdirection stuff (wheel for example). To me, SA is just shrinking the floor and the way to stop that is to move. The paint won't be as crowded, so Lebron or Wade can catch it in the post with not as much worry.

I do like Lebron low, the high post not so much because he's sort if stuck in the middle if nowhere. He can't play a face up game because Kawhi is too long and Lebron's shot isn't dropping. Although I do encourage him to take more of those mid range shots. So yeah, I agree with you that they shouldn't be posting him up, with the way the series is being played out.

Don't think Spurs can be that hot again really. Game 4 will be a low scoring slugfest IMO.
Spurs execute half court better, so should get the win.

Its not about Lebron not being a scorer, or whether he has more rebounding, assists and triple doubles than MJ - if you watched yesterdays game, and the Finals against Dallas, and the ECF in 2010, you can easily tell that his mind and heart aren't in it for large portions of the game. That is unexplainable and inexcusable.

Like I said yesterday, if he puts in another Finals performance like that and the Heat lose, he removes himself from the GOAT conversation.

The Heat can make all the adjustments they want, and run Lebron through the post, or being the dominant ball handler but if he plays so tentatively, they won't win anyway.

I don't think Lebron will be as timid generally for the rest of the series. But anyway, if he sees opportunities, he will attack regardless of a lack of confidence or tentativeness. He simply wasn't seeing opportunities in game three. As much as he said in the media that he was'nt aggressive, the Spurs stopped him.

I don't agree with that. He wasn't looking to attack, like he was afraid of stuffing up. He was making easy shots look difficult, as if to make things look tougher than what they were.

Expect a 40 point game tomorrow, he has come out on ESPN saying "he played shit".

Thats the big question. How will he respond?

Situation, I think it was a mixture of the Spurs stopping him and him not showing initiative. I personally think he played an okay game for any other player in terms of aggression. He took advantage of opportunities when he saw them but didn't go looking for them and attack the game like he normally does. The traits that separate him from the rest of the pack, he didn't show in game three.

In summary, when tentative he doesn't absolutely go into his shell, he just doesn't go looking for opportunities. Reactive as opposed to proactive.

I think 40 is a bit much but he is Lebron James. He should drop thirty on double figure free throw attempts though. Here's hoping.