The Miami Heat are in a tough situation on Tuesday night, as they must win Game 6 at home in South Florida to force a final matchup with the San Antonio Spurs that will decide the NBA finals and 2013 championship with the series tied 3-3, but that's only if they can win.
For a moment in Game 5 it looked as if the Miami Heat were going to win the game, as they stormed back from an early deficit and pulled within one point in the third quarter, but after a huge run by the Spurs, that comeback was all for naught. The team cut the lead again towards the end of the game, but the previous run was too great for them to make up, and the Spurs ended up winning the game 114-104 and left with the series lead at 3-2.
Both teams have championship experience and now the frame will be whether LeBron James can pull a Michael Jordan and take over the game himself to keep him team alive. The Big 3 for the Spurs in Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan have outplayed the main three in Miami with Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and James and the final score on Tuesday could be decided by those six players. The two teams are fairly matched, but so far it has been a series without any close games and the Heat are hoping that Game 6 isn't a runaway.
The Heat were constructed for moments just like this and James will have all the attention as usual after Miami lost in Game 5 when they had the chance to win. The team got 25 points from James and 25 from Wade as well, but it wasn't enough to overtake the Spurs and after losing the first quarter 32-19, the Heat couldn't mount a comeback in Game 5. James has been criticized in the past for being too passive in games and on Tuesday he will have to be aggressive for Miami to have a chance to win, as he is the best NBA player on the planet and he needs to prove exactly why for his team to stay alive.
Miami is not afraid to play a Game 7 and the home court advantage has so far worked out just as it is supposed to, as each team won one game on the road and now the Heat have the final two matchups at home, they just hope they both will be necessary. The Heat obviously needs to find a way to stop Danny Green from long-range and Chris Bosh said that he won't get as many open looks as he did in Game 5, when he hit six shots and set the record for most three's in an NBA finals. Green is shooting over 60 percent from long range and the Heat simply can't let that happen again.
The Heat need to play like they did in Game 4 when James scored 33 points and Chris Bosh was good all night, snagging 13 rebounds and looking good on offense. Mario Chalmers added five assists and Tim Duncan led the way for the Spurs with 20 points. The Heat caused a number of turnovers in that game and they will; need to play aggressive defense once again to win on Tuesday night. Parker led the team with 26 points in Game 5 and with 12 rebounds from Duncan and 10 assists from Ginobili, who also had a season high in points, the Spurs were very hard to beat and now Miami must rebound to take the series 3-3 into Game 7. They did the same against the Pacers and won Game 7 and now the team must show how true of a champion they are.