Heat 98, Spurs 96: LeBron carries Miami to Game 2 victory

What happened?

With the air conditioner back on in the AT&T Center, LeBron James distanced himself from Crampgate by carrying the Heat past the Spurs, 98-96, in another classic Spurs/Heat Finals matchup for the ages.

The Scoring

A couple of sequences stood out for LeBron and the Heat as they found a way to outlast the Spurs in Game 2.

Down six (62-56) about midway through the third quarter, the Heat simply gave the ball to James and watched the King work his magic, with LeBron drilling three consecutive jumpers to put together a personal 8-0 run in a 51-second span:

Then there were the two daggers in the final minute or so that put the game away, with James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade all lending a hand. First, with the Heat down one (93-92) and 1:17 remaining, James got to the heart of the defense (thanks to a handsy screen on Tony Parker by Mario Chalmers), drew Tim Duncan off of Bosh, and found Chris open in the corner for the go-ahead three-pointer:

With the Heat up three (96-93) and about 10 seconds remaining, Bosh made Duncan pay for coming out to guard him on the perimeter by crossing over The Big Fundamental and then dropping a gorgeous bounce pass to Wade:

Heat MVP: LeBron James

It’s hard to have drawn up a better response to the Game 1 controversy than LeBron James’ Game 2 performance. James scored 35 points on 14-of-22 (63.6%) shooting to go with 10 rebounds, three assists and two steals in 38 minutes of cramp-free action. He was a force on both ends of the court, got his offensive work done inside during the first half and outside during the second half, and as evidenced by the aforementioned Bosh three, made plays for his teammates.

James’ on-court value is almost comical at times. There was a stretch in the second quarter where he entered the game with the Heat down 11 at the 10:38 mark, left the floor with the Heat up one at the 4:54 mark, watched the Spurs go on an 8-2 run again with him on the bench for 2:07 of game time, only for the Heat to go on a 7-2 run of their own over the final 2:47 of the first half with James on the court. In the second quarter alone, the Heat were +17 with James on the floor for 8:31 and -10 with him on the bench for 3:29.

Spurs MVP: Tim Duncan

Duncan finished with 18 points, 15 rebounds, a block and an assist in 38 minutes, tying Magic Johnson’s record for career postseason double-doubles at 157. He was exposed a bit on the two Heat daggers outlined above, and he wasn’t the best player on the floor on this night, but Timmy was the best Spur on the floor.

The Controversy

Compared to a Finals game without air conditioning that saw the best player in the world unable to continue, nothing about Game 2 screamed controversy. But if you are looking for a couple of eyebrow raising plays to talk about at the water cooler on Monday, consider this elbow to the gut of Tony Parker from Mario Chalmers:

And this egregious flop from Dwyane Wade:

How did the Heat win?

It’s the most basic explanation in basketball, actually. Call it the LeBron James factor. The Spurs are probably the better team, but as discussed before, beating LeBron at his best just once, let alone four out of seven times, is a tough task for any team. The Heat went to LeBron more tonight than they did when he was on the floor in Game 1 (39.1% usage rate compared to 31.9%), used more lineups without a traditional point guard that saw James running the point, and even stuck James on Tony Parker late in the game on defense, to some noticeable success.

When James is controlling Miami’s offense and shutting down the opposition’s most integral offensive player on the other end, it’s lights out.

The Heat defense as a whole also deserves some credit. They still gave up too many open threes by over-helping and falling asleep at times, but they limited a Spurs attack that had been virtually unguardable in the playoffs (shooting 48.7% and scoring and 111.4 points per 100 possessions coming into Game 2) to just 43.9 percent shooting and 105.7 points per 100 possessions on Sunday.

The Spurs also didn’t help themselves by missing eight of their 20 free throws, with four consecutive misses between Parker and Duncan over a 10-second span in the fourth quarter - after the Chalmers elbow – looming large.

The takeaway

With the Heat finding a way to end San Antonio’s nine-game home winning streak, the Spurs will now have to get at least a split of Games 3 and 4 in Miami. When you consider that the Heat looked pretty good with LeBron on the floor in Game 1 and then how he dominated in Game 2, getting that split on the King’s court will be no easy task.

Considering that the Heat have also now gone 47 playoff games without losing two straight - a run that includes 13 straight wins when coming off a loss – you have to wonder if the Spurs will need to rely on Games 3, 5 and 7 rather than expecting to beat Miami twice in a row at any point.

Stray thoughts

1. James will get most of the headlines following his monster performance, but the Heat's final two buckets of the game serve as yet another reminder of just how dynamically gifted Chris Bosh is. He's catching and shooting corner threes with games and championships on the line one minute, and taking a fellow big man off the bounce before acting as a distributor the next. Not bad for a 6-11 big who's become an excellent defender in addition to being a former 24 and 10 guy as a No. 1 option.

2. Duncan missed what looked like a routine put-back at the end of the first half, and considering how close this game was all night, he knew immediately (judging by his reaction) that such a missed opportunity for two points could prove costly:

I immediately flashed back to this:

3. Sticking with Duncan, this in-game graphic shouldn’t have been surprising considering the last 16 seasons of Spurs dominance, but still, good God…

4. Splitting up Duncan and Tiago Splitter has worked well for the Spurs, especially on the offensive end, but Splitter made a few sweet big to big passes that resulted in Duncan baskets early in Game 2, and the pairing wasn’t as bad for San Antonio as it was in Game 1.

5. It seemed naïve to expect a series that could live up to last year’s Heat/Spurs epic, but through two games, the two teams have once again delivered. After a Game 1 that was close until the final minutes, Game 2 produced a classic back and forth affair that included 17 lead changes and 12 ties, with the third quarter alone seeing 10 lead changes. The game remained within two possessions for the final 32:29 of game time, and Wade’s layup to make it 98-93 with nine seconds remaining was the first time in the fourth quarter that the teams were separated by more than one possession.