The NBA Finals TV schedule for the 2014 playoffs has the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs playing on ABC and streaming online from the WatchESPN website on ESPN.com as LeBron James tries to win another title and the coverage for Game 2 comes on Sunday on ABC at 8 pm ET from the AT&T Center before Game 3 and Game 4 shift to Miami and those will be on Tuesday and Thursday on the postseason schedule.
The Heat lost Game 1 of the series after the air conditioning went out in the AT&T Center and the Spurs pulled away after LeBron James was forced to leave with cramps and now Miami will have to find a way to bounce back. In the Big 3 era the team has always rebounded from a loss in the playoffs and this could be the most important game of the series for Miami after San Antonio dominated the end of Game 1 and James should be able to make it through this entire game after getting two extra days off following the loss.
The Sunday matchup starts at 8 pm on ABC, while the Tuesday game starts at 8 pm ET on ABC at the American Airlines Arena and Game 4 is at the same time and the same venue. Game 5 is on the schedule for Sunday, June 15 if the series gets that far and that will be back in San Antonio before heading back to South Beach for Game 6 on Tuesday June 17. If necessary, Game 7 of the series will be on Friday, June 20 in San Antonio and that is a change from last year when Miami has home court advantage in the series.
LAst season the finals had the 2-3-2 format and things switched this year to the 2-2-1-1-1 format and some have suggested that the new format favors the Spurs, but Miami has shown they can win on the road. The Pacers spent all year working to get home court advantage after losing to Miami in Game 7 last year and they got it, but it never mattered, as Miami won in 6 games and now they are in the finals once again. The Spurs played well at the end of Game 1 and won the game fair and square, but everyone can admit James having to leave the game ended up affecting the outcome and things should be better in game 2 as long as the electricity holds.
James has been averaging 27 points per game this postseason and he is leading Miami in points, rebounds and assists in the playoffs and he needs to remain healthy for the full game to win over the Spurs. The benches for the two teams have both been effective, but San Antonio has shown the strength of theirs over Miami and that could be a huge factor going forward. The Spurs only lost nine games at home in the regular season and they remain undefeated all-time in team history in Game 1 matchups in the NBA finals.