NBA: Spurs roll to G5 win, shooting record falls

The San Antonio Spurs used the final contest on their home court to put themselves one game from the Larry O’Brien Trophy with a 114:104 win over the Miami Heat to take a 3-2 advantage to Miami for Game 6 and if necessary, Game 7.

Tony Parker knocked down 26 for the Spurs, and Danny Green scored 24 while connecting on his 25th triple of the Finals to set a new mark for the most three-pointers in a Finals series. Of note, it was Miami’s Ray Allen who previously held the record of 22 triples in a series. Green has shot an incredible 25 of 38 (65.8%) from beyond the arc so far and has compiled 90 points in the first five games of the Finals (in 170 minutes), third in the series only to LeBron James’ 108 (206 minutes) and Dwayne Wade’s 100 (179 minutes), while leading the Spurs. Green averaged 10.5 ppg during the 2012-13 regular season, 7.0 ppg during the first round of the playoffs, 12.0 ppg during the Western Conference semifinals, 8.8 ppg during the Western Conference finals and has tallied 16.5 ppg during the NBA Finals.

Worse-case for Green, he’s got one more game to pad his triple record, but if the Heat win Game 6, he’s going to get two more games. If things go as they have so far, he’s putting up numbers that won’t be touched for a while…

All five of the Spurs’ starters scored in double figures, with the rest of the team tallying just seven points.

We can’t expect to shoot that well in every game, but we just need one more.
— Tim Duncan

The Spurs showed up at the AT&T Center in San Antonio ready to play basketball, getting out front by 13 after a 15:2 run that lasted just under five minutes to close out scoring in the first frame with San Antonio up 32:19.

During the second 10 the Spurs were able to extend their margin to 17, 47:30, making it look like they were headed for a repeat of Game 3’s 36-point. At that point, Wade knocked down a jumper to start a 0:12 run by the Heat that pulled them within five, 47:42 just two minutes later. San Antonio held a 61:52 advantage as the horn sounded to start the mid-game intermission.

Miami came out of the break on fire, dropping in the first eight of the second half off triples by James and Mario Chalmers, then a pair of singles from James. As soon as they had pulled to within one, 61:60, they were down eight again when Parker hit a turnaround jumper, Green hit his 16th point, and Ginobili sliced the lane and connected on a lay-up. Miami chipped away at the Spurs’ lead, eventually once again drawing to within one, 75:74, after James hit a jumper and Shane Battier connected on a freebie after a Ginobili foul off the ball. On the other end of the hardwood Green dropped another three-ball, then Ginobili hit seven points in the final 2 minutes to help extend the Spurs’ margin to 12 at the end of the quarter, 87:75.

Kawhi Leonard gave the Spurs a 20-point lead, 96:76, three minutes into the final frame. The Heat were only able to cut the gap to eight with a minute and a half to play, but they had no answers to the San Antonio shooters, giving the Spurs their third win in the best of seven series.

Game 6 will be played in Miami on Tuesday.

They continue to have great starts. We continue to start slow. Can’t really explain it right now. We just dug ourselves into a very big hole. We’re going to see if we’re a better ball club, and if we are better prepared for this moment.
— Dwyane Wade

Parker led the way with 26 points and 5 assists, Ginobili contributed a 24P/10A double-double, Green tallied 24, Duncan picked up another double-double (17P/12R) and is only a handful off the post-season mark of 157 held by Magic Johnson.