The back-and-forth, win-one, lose-one nature of the NBA Finals thus far would seem to indicate the Miami Heat pull off a Game 6 win.
Miami won eight of its first nine playoff games after closing the season with wins in 37 of 39 games. Since then, it has traded wins and losses, besting the Indiana Pacers in seven games and falling behind quickly, then rebounding, then falling behind quickly, then rebounding against the San Antonio Spurs. Now, for the second time this year, it sets out to play a game that could end its season, as the Spurs look to close out the NBA Finals and win their fifth championship in Tim Duncan's tenure with the franchise.
The Miami Heat defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder in last season's NBA Finals 4 games to 1. As they return home to the friendly confines of American Airlines Arena in South Beach after dropping 2 of 3 games in San Antonio, the defending champs have their backs against the wall. Trailing 3-2 in the championship series against a Spurs team looking to win a fifth title in 15 seasons, Miami needs to get back to the dominant play that helped them win 66 regular-season games this year.
LeBron James and Dwyane Wade did all they could to send the Heat home with the ever-important 3-2 advantage but with the continued hot shooting of the Spurs - who had all 5 starters finish in double figures in the 114-104 Game 6 win - Miami is now faced with the challenge of winning two-straight to claim back-to-back titles for the first time in franchise history. The good news for the Heat is that the final 2 title matches will be on their home floor.
The Heat's bounce-back nature foretells a Miami win, but this series has also shown that things that are foretold generally don't pan out. Dwyane Wade and Manu Ginobili have each been written off as passe, no longer the brilliant wing scorers they once were. And they've each responded with unreal showings, guiding their squads to wins. LeBron James, the world's best player, has alternated between his usual self and tepidness. Enormous runs have come from nowhere and although the series record has stayed relatively even, four of five games thus far have ended as blowouts. Even Tim Duncan hasn't been his usual, ho-hum perfectionist self. And the only constant has been Danny Green. Danny Green!
