The San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat both had their offenses on full display in Sunday’s Game 5. And for the winning Spurs, no star was greater than the surprising Manu Ginobili.
San Antonio defeats Miami in Game 5, 114-104
The San Antonio Spurs took command of their series with the Miami Heat with a 114-104 Game 5 win. The Spurs had their biggest offensive output of the series and got a surprising boost from veteran Manu Ginobili.
Ginobili, who has struggled in the postseason, got the start from coach Gregg Popovich. To say he responded well would be an understatement. The guard finished with 24 points and ten assists, and was perhaps the team’s best player. But he wasn’t the only Spurs’ player who had a big night.
Tony Parker led the way with 26 points and Danny Green added 24. Green also set a new series record with 25 three-pointers, breaking Ray Allen’s record. And Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard added a combined 33 points and 20 rebounds. San Antonio didn’t cut back on the turnovers, recording 18 of them for the second straight game. The Spurs also got next to nothing from their bench with only seven points, seven rebounds, and four assists in all. But that hardly mattered with so much production from the starters, who made a scorching 64% of their shots.
Back to Ginobili, though – the move to insert him in the starting lineup was a brilliant move. It not only instilled a lot of confidence into the veteran, but helped balance out the Heat’s smaller lineup as they again started guard Mike Miller in place of Udonis Haslem. Plus, if Ginobili got off to a rough start, the Spurs always had the option of pulling him in favor of someone like Gary Neal.
Speaking of Miller, it may be time for head coach Erik Spoelstra to end that experiment. For the second straight game, Spoelstra started Miller – and for the second straight game, the guard went scoreless. In theory, the move isn’t bad since the threat of another guard out there can free up Wade and point guard Mario Chalmers a bit. But Miller simply isn’t producing nearly enough to warrant starting, let alone getting 25 minutes. Only one game from elimination now, it may be time to look at some other options including going back to Haslem or starting a guy like Shane Battier. Ray Allen could be an option, but he’s really the only consistent scorer the Heat have off of the bench.
When you add everything up, Miami played pretty well. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade both had 25 points while Chris Bosh added 16. Miami also got 21 points from Ray Allen, had fewer turnovers than the Spurs, and made more three-pointers. But it wasn’t quite enough to touch San Antonio’s hot shooting on the night.
The series now shifts to Miami where the Heat will have to win two games in a row to defend their championship. At first glance, you can make a pretty good case for both teams winning the title. The Spurs have already shown they can win in Miami, taking Game 1 on the road. On the other hand, it’s not easy to bet against the Heat on their home court, and winning two straight games there isn’t all that difficult a challenge for the world champions.
If the Spurs are wise, they’ll put 110% into Tuesday’s Game 6. The last thing they want is to face the Heat with a building full of crazy fans in a Game 7 and all the chips on the table. The other issue with a Game 7 for the Spurs is playing on short rest since that game would be only two games later on Thursday. The Heat have plenty of veterans, but the Spurs’ core of Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili are significantly older than James, Wade, and Bosh. In a game on short rest, the Heat’s trio would appear to have an advantage.
