The Miami Heat are down but don't rush to count them out, as LeBron James and the Big 3 have one more chance to prove that they are a championship team and cane force a Game 7 matchup with a win on Tuesday night over the San Antonio Spurs at home in South Florida.
LeBron James has his legacy on the line on Tuesday night and if he doesn't have a solid performance against the Spurs, everyone will jump on him as the reason the Heat were eliminated, although that is probably not a fair point. James has played very well throughout the series, but neither team has been able to win two games in a row and that plays into Miami's hands as they try to force a Game 7. At times the Big three from Miami has looked more like just LeBron James and if that is the case again in Game 6, it will likely mean the end for the Heat. The Spurs big three has played much better and more consistently and the bench play has been stellar as well.
The big key for Miami on Tuesday is whether they can consistently attack throughout the game and keep Danny Green from sinking shot after shot from three point land. Green set a new record for shots made from beyond the arc in an NBA finals, besting Ray Allen's record from when he was with the Celtics by sinking 25 of 38 through five games and he also has been doing it at over a 65 percent clip, which is even more amazing.
Green has the inside track to the finals MVP if he continues playing that well and he would join only a handful of NBA players, including fellow Tar Heel Michael Jordan, to win the finals MVP and a national championship in college, which he did with north Carolina. A win for the San Antonio Spurs would make the team a legitimate dynasty stretching over a decade and would give the fifth title to Tim Duncan and the fourth to the big three of Duncan, Ginobili and Parker.
The big three in Miami know that a part of their legacy is on the line, as they lost in their first finals and won the second time last year against the Thunder and now was expected to be the start of their own dynasty. Many have already counted out the Heat, but as this series and both teams have shown so far, when one team looks out of it, that means they are ready to come back and play better than before. The Spurs and Heat are better at adjustments than anyone else in the league and that is why the series has been so back and forth and no team has been able to win two games in a row yet.
In Game 5 the Spurs were helped along big time by their three main stars, as Duncan led the team in rebounds with 12, Parker was tops in scoring with 26 points, while Ginobili had 10 assists and 25 points for a season high. If the Heat allow the Big three to do that again, it will be a tough game for them to win and James has to step up to take over the game and score more than he has over the past few games. James has 25 points in the Game 5 loss and Wade added 25 points as well with 10 assists and James as Batman will need his Robin to step up on Tuesday night for the Heat to stay alive and force a Game 7 in South Beach. This type of game is what defines legacies and makes champions and the Heat will prove that on Tuesday night.