Wade with the flop.

Spurs playing great defence..Miami getting a few bail outs/good fortune.

Spurs bench played better than their starters IMO in that first half.

Wade's knee not healthy at all supposedly.

With 3 minutes to go in this game and a time out after Parker's long 3 pointer to put the Spurs up by one, I am getting a bit anxious...

Heat have been playing some great D in this quarter, if the Spurs are going to win they have to make the most of their chances.

Letting LeBron shoot from outside, a bit of choose your poison, if he hits them the Heat could get up!

That is a huge win be the Heat. LeBron match up on Parker at the end was a winner for them. Also Leonard fouled out didn't help the Spurs.

As a Spurs fan, I am gutted.

There goes the series.

Now I am going to have to watch Lebron win another ring

That run of buckets by LeBron was pretty important.

Rough for the Spurs now.

The Heat are not the best team in the league.

They have the best player in the world.

They have some average players (Chalmers, Cole, Lewis, Jones, Andersen).

We are witnessing the walking definition of an MVP in Lebron James.

I am gutted more about missing the game because of work but remain hopeful the spurs can steal a game in Miami.
LeBron is the real MVP of the NBA. Win or lose he is already a legend of the game

It's funny looking at people say 'there goes the series'. You people take it game by game where you think 'oh Miami won the latest game so they must have momentum and have things figured out'. It doesn't work that way.

Spurs are still my favourite for the series and I will be amazed if they don't take one of these next two in Miami.

I think the Spurs will get one in Miami.

love hearing the complainers every time heat get a win like a missed foul with five minutes left would have changed the outcome of the game, like the refs don't miss calls either way. pretty sure I saw the spurs get a number of favourable calls too. pretty sure ginobli flops as does wade.

credit to the heat D and offence in final quarter they deserved the win in this game. especially getting it done whle wade looking like a minor role player.

that being said I would be surprised if the spurs don't win one back in Miami. I still think spurs in 6-7. should be a great series between two great teams.

Statsheet, its more to help myself. Don't want to get my hopes up and then lose. (Especially after last year) So I will just expect the worst (Miami winning the series) and go from there.

But, they must be favourites now. You know how hard it is to win at Miami!? I can honestly see Miami getting the next two (both games they will go on one of those 15-2 or 13-0 runs and that"ll be the ball game).

Those runs are impossible to stop at AAA. The Spurs will then be down 3-1. I could see them winning 1 or two straight, but not 3 in a row against the Heat (considering how close these teams are).

I hate the Heat with a passion. But face it, its over. The Spurs have just released Miami from all the pressure - I wouldn’t be surprised if Miami came out in Game 3 and beat up the Spurs by 20

Heat play when they absolutely have to. I think they will drop the next game. Look through most of the close series including Spurs and Indiana last year. Or look at the way they play in a single game like today. They switch it on when they absolutely have to. Their D and their demeanor absolutely changes when their backs are against the wall.

Haha wow, well you've well and truly talked yourself into it, MACDUB. Best of luck to ya, mate

This is going 7 for sure. Not sure the Kang can carry Heat for all 7.

Not writing anything off, just saying that playing on the road at this level gets hard. No walk in the park for the Spurs. I was surprised they didn't play up on LeBron when he was hitting those shots and rely on back-ups to stop/foul him if he got past. He had 3/3 threes. I know Leonard risked fouls playing him close, but if he drives, let him go past if you have to.

Miami were 32-9 at home, Spurs were 30-11 on the road in the regular season.

Think the Spurs lost it when they started taking outside shots late in the game rather than taking it inside, which has generally worked for them.

how many technicals does Duncan have for the season?
and how many is Lebron on?

Isaac I agree that the Spurs took some shots that turned out to be probably the wrong decision. Leonard on James is an interesting one though.

I am pretty sure he got as close to him as he could, James just managed to hit those long bombs, that's why he is the King I guess...

I am sure the Spurs will adjust, POP always manages to find a way to inspire them, should be an awesome series!

Wade's flop changed the game in my opinion.
As it gave Manu his 3rd foul & 2 free throws (Heat only won by 2).
Manu was sub out of the game after that foul & he was the spurs best player in game 1.

Wade should change sports & go play soccer after that acting job.
NBA don't do warnings in the finals, so he should get a $5000 fine.

Full Credit to Lebron, he came to play & dominated the Spurs Defence.
The guy is a freak of an athlete.

^again with the refs? Obviously no team in the NBA is capable of beating the spurs unless the other team has the refs favour them.

Yes Wade flopped but there were a lot of questionable calls at both ends of the court, and to the anon #477845 saying that the Lebron strip on parker in the last quarter with 0.8 left on the shot clock was a foul - are you kidding? That was awesome defence, if anything it should have been Miami ball after the review.

The way Lebron has continued to take his game to the next level each season has to remind you a bit of how Jordan constantly kept improving parts of his game as he got older. I remember in the 2007 finals, the spurs just backed off Lebron and he couldn't make a jumpshot but now he is almost autmatic when left open. The finals
series last year and this year remind me a bit of 97 and 98 with the Bull vs Jazz. You have the best player in the world up against an excellent all around team. Its great to watch and is an extremely tight contest.

Think what angered people re: the Wade flop was the fact that the ref wasn't gonna call anything until Wade thre his head back.

Other than that, refereeing was fine. Dodgy calls here and there but it evened out so no drama.

Free throws continue to haunt the Spurs - game 5 last year Leonard's miss. Today, the Spurs missed like 3-4 in a row? Make those and you win.

As I said above, the worrying thing for the Spurs in game 3 is the fact that Miami only need one decent run (which is always likely at AAA) to kill off the game. I don't in any way like the idea of the Spurs trying to chase the Heat @ Miami. Miami always tend to play more much up tempo at home..Spurs have to take care of the rock and im talking < 9 turnovers.

Manu flops.

Disagree somewhat re: Parker...he is tiny and has a small frame. Doesn't flop IMO..just does a good job of drawing contact.

I'm not calling out the refs.
He was on the on the wrong side & fell for Wades acting.

I'm saying if Wade doesn't throw back his head acting like he was hit.
Then, no foul is called.

I didn't think Wade had any Lance Stephenson in his game!!!

Magic what about in the 3rd quarter when Duncan clearly wasn't fouled but was given two shots for it. Lebron ended up getting a tech for that. Spurs hit all 3 foul shots.

At the end of the day what cost the spurs was those 4 foul shots that they missed.

Credit to the Spurs fans for some funny signs. This was my favourite: "I was gonna make a cool Spurs Poster but then my hand cramped". Haha

But LeBron had the last laugh. Awesome display at both ends of the floor. And he's doing this against a damn good individual defender in Kawhi Leonard and an excellent team defence.

He has his hands in every big play, from stripping Tony Parker down the stretch to making the clutch pass to Bosh for the massive three. Interesting to see how Parker and the Spurs adjust to the Heat throwing big players at him to stifle him getting to the rack.

Wade has been fined $5k for the flop.

ESPN notes:

And there's an ironic twist -- Ginobili is often considered a master flopper, but he wasn't even warned once about it this season.

"I saw Manu coming out of the corner of my eye to try to steal it so my only thing was to make sure that he didn't steal it," Wade said. "He swiped and he wound up hitting me and the ref called a foul. We move on."

"Flopping," Miami guard Shane Battier once said, "is a silent killer."

$5K for 2 Free throws and Manu's 3rd PF.

Seems like a good deal.

Okay, so an NBA super star earning multi-millions of $$$ gets a $5k fine for flopping during a crucial NBA finals series game that is considered perhaps pivotal to the outcome, not only of the series but possibly that game.

It shows how insignificant an issue the NBA sees flopping as, IMO...

I don't know what they can impose to make them stop doing it, so really I think they may as well just accept it happens. Really, the fine is so petty, all it could do is embarass the player, nothing more!

$5k to Wade's $18m salary is less than $12 to someone on an average American salary of about $40k or so. Pittance.

Penalty needs to be tied to salary, like they miss a game's worth.

They should also implement a Leaderboard of Shame.

In the regular season, their first recorded flop gets a warning only - that will have to change.

I think we'll see the NBA increase their action against flopping. Have to snuff it out before basketball gets the reputation soccer has for acting.

I think you will see the league seriously look at bogus fouls on jumpshooters this offseason. They will have some sort of rule implemented like you are only allowed to go straight up in a vertical cylinder if you want to get a foul. Wade (and tonnes of others) are really milking it by jumping sideways.

I agree that the fine needs to be increased ($20K maybe for 1st offence).
Plus maybe a suspension after the 1st fine or look at issuing a tech foul that carries over to the next game.

Not sure if the tech would make a difference, but just an idea.

I just want to see the best players on the court & not in foul trouble because of a flop. The flop Stevenson did on Lebron in the last series was a joke as well.
So not picking on any team, just want it out of the game.