The San Antonio Spurs won Game 3 over the Miami Heat and now are up 2-1 in the NBA playoffs standings in the NBA finals and the Spurs had a 25 point lead in the game and LeBron James and the Heat couldn't come back and lost by the score of 112-92 and Miami was able to cut the lead, but not enough and now the Spurs are up 2-1 in the series.
James had another very good performance and he had 18 points heading into the fourth quarter and the Heat were able to make a comeback after playing some tough defense in the second half. The team cut a few points off the lead before halftime and then came out fast in the third quarter and ended up outscoring the Spurs by 10 points in the third. Kawhi Leonard opened up the game with a huge performance in the first quarter and he played well after being mostly quiet in the first two games and for the Spurs to win the series they need him to be at the top of his game.
Tim Duncan continued his strong play and he came in after Game 2 looking to rebound and the Spurs had the chance to take the advantage in the series. Miami was beat in Game 1 of the series after the cramp game for LeBron James and that put the team in position to rebound and they came back to win Game 2 and that tied up the series 1-1. The Heat only lost nine games at home during the regular season and they have been able to hold serve in Miami and that is even more important now with the new 2-2-1-1-1 format after things were 2-3-2 last year and the decades before that.
The Heat are trying to win their third straight NBA championship for a three-peat, while the Spurs are trying to cap off a long period of success with Tim Duncan looking to win his fifth championship. The Heat were consistent through the first three quarters of this game and scored 25 points in each quarter and the team was shooting over 50 percent, but the Spurs were over 70 early in the game and that put San Antonio up big before Miami came back. Thursday has the next game on the schedule and that will be at AmericanAirlines Arena in South Beach and that will be a huge matchup for both teams.
The game on Thursday starts at 9 pm ET and is on ABC in Miami, while Game 5 has a start at 8 pm ET and will be back in San Antonio at the AT&T Center in Texas. The Spurs fixed up the air conditioning after the fiasco in Game 1 and Miami has rebounded from that performance and is now looking to push to win their third straight title and it would be the second in a row over San Antonio after the drama last year.
Check here for the NBA playoffs standings for the NBA finals.
