MIAMI — The memories are painful. And they are the very last recollections the Spurs want to bring up at this point.
So let’s do it for them.
The Spurs led by five points with 28.2 seconds remaining in Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals when they could have clinched their fifth championship. But everything went wrong, Ray Allen bagged a second-chance 3-pointer to force overtime and the Spurs lost. Then the Heat prevailed in Game 7.
Now the Spurs are back in the Finals. Back in Miami — Game 3 against the Heat is Tuesday with the series tied, 1-1.
The Spurs returned to Miami in the regular season but that game (a loss) means about as much as what they had for breakfast Feb. 20. So the Spurs are trying to convince everyone last year has no effect on their psyche. But isn’t it weird going to AmericanAirlines Arena for a Finals game?
“Yes and no. It’s a different season,” Spurs point guard Tony Parker said. “Me personally, I’m definitely not going to think about that the next two games. I’m going to focus on what I can do to help the team win. Going to be big games.”
No argument there. The Heat did what teams must do starting a series: They won a road game. By taking Game 2 on Sunday to tie the Finals at 1-1, the Heat wrestled the home court away.
A very wise man once said an NBA playoff series doesn’t start until the home team loses a game. Consider the Finals started.
“It is just beginning. We took a tough one [in Game 1], were in a good spot. Then we played an OK game, not perfect but we were right there. And it slipped away,” said San Antonio’s Manu Ginobili after the Spurs squandered an 11-point first-half lead. “Now we are in a tough situation because we got to go to Miami and we got to get one. We don’t want to come back here 3‑-1 down, it’s very hard to overcome that. Definitely, it’s going to be a great challenge for the team to play in an arena like that and having to win.”
So the Spurs, who were victimized as the Heat won for a 13th straight time after a playoff loss, need to figure out how to get one of the two games here (Tuesday and Thursday) before the Finals resume the 2-2-1-1-1 format reinstituted this year. And they are thinking only of NOW, not then.
“It doesn’t matter what we’ve been through before,” Tim Duncan said, “we’re here now again and we lost a game. We’re not going to hang our heads. We know we haven’t played our greatest game, even in the first one we did win.”
The Heat now are in a “protect home court” mode. They did what they needed to do: got the mandatory road win. Win at home from here, and the Finals end in six games, max.
“We got a great road win in a place that not too many people can come in and win,” said Dwyane Wade, a 14-point scorer in Game 2.
The Heat again showed their resilience. They are the true cockroaches of the NBA. Hit them with an atomic weapon and you won’t kill them — just tick them off. They just keep coming back.
“We’ve been through enough of these situations that you have to play through all the ups and downs, and you have to play through doubt, which is a powerful thing,” coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Having LeBron James sort of helps. James was the master of the NBA universe Sunday, dominant on both ends, scoring a game-high 35 points and delivering the Spurs an emotional earache with his defense. James led, the Heat followed.
In the third quarter, James was 6-of-7, which included a stunning sequence of five shots, all from 18 feet or beyond (two of them of the 3-point variety) in a span of 2:14. He sank all five, earning 12 points in that crucial span.
James showed no effects of the Game 1 cramping that begat the biggest story in the universe for a week. He took what the Spurs gave. And the Spurs lived to regret giving him anything.
“It was that easy for me in the sense of, ‘Don’t overthink it,’ ” said James, the NBA’s eighth leading all-time playoff scorer with 4,338 points. “They give me space, I shoot it. They get up on me, I try to drive and make plays for me and my teammates.”
James did all those things — with 1:18 left Chris Bosh, who had missed his previous 3-pointer, took a James pass and sank another 3-point try for the biggest basket of the night.
“You understand when your back is up against the wall. It’s a must-win situation,” Allen said. “… We didn’t let go of the rope at that crucial time when it was time to win.”
And so the Heat are in a good place, a place that brings only the worst possible memories for the Spurs.