Spurs' response will be everything for Game Five

Written by Philip Rossman-Reich on Jun 14, 2013 14:30.

During the San Antonio Spurs' march in the 2013 NBA Finals, Philip Rossman-Reich of Orlando Magic Daily will be contributing to Project Spurs.

An old Dwyane Wade commercial used to say “Fall down seven times, get up eight.”

The idea of the ad campaign was a very simple one for the athlete. It is not how you get knocked down, but how you respond when you get back. After a Game Three thrashing that saw him disappear for much of the second half, Dwyane Wade and the Heat should keep this in mind.

After all, the San Antonio Spurs did their part in responding to their own Game Two defeat leading the entire way after the Heat dominated and decimated the Spurs in Miami with a fast-break onslaught. San Antonio returned the favor in hitting an NBA Finals record 16 3-pointers.

Miami came back with a strong 109-93 victory Thursday in Game Four. Wade made his own bounce back, scoring 32 points and looking like his old Finals MVP self in the process.

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Video: 'Lie Witness News' Spurs Edition where 'Tony Stark' is team owner

Written by Jeff Garcia on Jun 14, 2013 13:30.

After last night's San Antonio Spurs' tough loss to the Miami Heat in Game 4, Spurs fans could use a chuckle or two today. Luckily "Jimmy Kimmel Live" is here to give Spurs fans some much-needed laughs today.

During the NBA Finals, the show has been going a segment called "Lie Witness News" where fans of both the Spurs and Heat are interviewed about their favorite team and are asked blatantly wrong question about their team just to see if they will lie.

And they sure did.

From the Spurs running the "rhombus-style" offense, a fan's take on Spurs' owner, "Ironman" himself, "Tony Stark," to how effective "Kawhi Me A River" will be shooting from the three-point line, it seems these Spurs fans may not really know the silver and black.

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Spurs want the “old” Manu back, but is he still there?

Written by Paul Garcia on Jun 14, 2013 12:00.

AT&T Center – Going into the fourth quarter of Game 4 on Thursday, the San Antonio Spurs found themselves trailing 81-76 to the Miami Heat. With Tony Parker losing his aggressiveness due to fatigue, Tim Duncan, Danny Green, and Kawhi Leonard, who all scored more than five points in the third quarter needed help to make a final push in the fourth.

The logical move would be to look to the last member of the “Big 3”, Manu Ginobili, to provide a scoring and playmaking punch with Parker only playing three minutes in the fourth.

The move didn’t quite work as Ginobili played 10:23 minutes in the fourth quarter and only contributed 3 points, missed two 3-pointers, threw one assist, grabbed one rebound, and turned the ball over once. The Spurs would fall to the Heat by 16 points and Miami would tie the NBA Finals series at 2-2.

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Tony Parker's goal is to be 100 percent by Sunday

Written by Jeff Garcia on Jun 14, 2013 10:30.

AT&T Center - Heading into Game 4, San Antonio Spurs' Tony Parker was not admittedly 100 percent. In Game 3, he suffered a left hamstring injury and was a game time decision before Game 4.

Parker did end up playing Game 4 and finished with 15 points, 9 assists, off 7-16 shooting in the loss. Solid numbers but not the numbers Parker usually produces considering he played through the gimpy hamstring.

"It was weak. I didn't know what to expect. So the first three, four minutes I was testing it and the first half it felt okay," said Parker.

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Small is big for Wade, Heat in Game 4 win

Written by Philip Rossman-Reich on Jun 13, 2013 23:48.

The San Antonio Spurs may have lost this game on the opening tip. Well, not the opening tip, that was a turnover two seconds into the game. No,

San Antonio lost the game on one of the first possessions of the game.

That was when Tiago Splitter was matched up with Dwyane Wade – purposefully with Mike Miller in the lineup instead of Udonis Haslem – and the notion perhaps insulted Wade. A series of looking old and stuck on the perimeter for Wade would not do. Not with San Antonio more or less ignoring him with Splitter on him.

Wade drove to the basket and drew a foul. Gregg Popovich recognized Splitter could not hang with that Wade and inserted Gary Neal immediately.

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Spurs-Heat Game 4: Halftime Report

Written by Philip Rossman-Reich on Jun 13, 2013 21:28.

LeBron James and Dwyane Wade came back with a vengeance in the first half of Game Four. The two took to the paint and tried to get to the rim in giving the Spurs a double-digit lead.

San Antonio was ready to respond.

A late run from San Antonio leaves the Spurs right back where they started, tied at 49-49 despite 10 turnovers and the Heat getting out on the break and attacking the basket.

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5 things to watch: Spurs vs. Heat Game 4

Written by Jeff Garcia on Jun 13, 2013 18:00.

The San Antonio Spurs (14-3) will look to put a grip on the 2013 NBA Finals as they host the Miami Heat (13-6) at the AT&T Center for Game 4.

The Spurs are coming off a huge win over the Heat in Game 3 winning 113-77 in San Antonio. The Spurs were paced by Danny Green, who finished with a career postseason-high 27 points and made a postseason-high 7 three-pointers. Gary Neal finished with a postseason-high 24 points, connecting on a career postseason–high 6 threes. The Spurs set a Finals record with 16 three-pointers. Lebron James finished with 15 points off 7-21 shooting from the field.

Tony Parker is also expected to play tonight in Game 4 after suffering a left hamstring injury in Game 3.

And as the Spurs look to go up 3-1 in the Finals, here are five things to watch for in Game 4:

• Miami is 5-3 on the road this postseason.

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NBA Finals: This is a weird series

Written by Trevor Zickgraf on Jun 13, 2013 17:00.

Danny Green It started off as we thought it might. Tim Duncan and Tony Parker are key in a San Antonio Spurs win while LeBron James had a triple double in a Game 1 that could've gone either way. Then things got weird.

First the Spurs got crushed by the Miami Heat, which isn't too weird, but what was weird is that the blowout wasn't a part of a "LeBron game" or a "Big 3" game. Rather, it was Mario Chalmers scoring 19 and Ray Allen scoring 13 to help James, who had a sneaky good 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists game. Then Game 3 came, and the Spurs this time poured it on, handing the Heat their worst playoff loss in the franchise's relatively young playoff history. There was no Tony Parker brilliance, no Tim Duncan throwback game and no Manu Ginobili outburst off the bench. Nope, it was the Gary Neal and Danny Green show.

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San Antonio capitalizing on extra offensive chances

Written by Quixem Ramirez on Jun 13, 2013 16:00.

The entire Miami Heat defensive gambit predicates on one thing, and one thing only: Chances. Extra chances are what spur their subsequent offensive assault -- only Denver and the Clippers scored more points off turnovers than Miami during the regular season.

Miami is still dangerous in the half-court, but especially so in transition, when the defense is scrambling to align properly and LeBron James can slide by unimpeded for a jarring dunks or Dwyane Wade can utilize the open creases in the defense to get easy buckets.

James made 429 shots inside five feet, many of which occurred in transition. That mark led the league. He attempted a bunch of shots there also; only Greg Monroe, Dwight Howard and Russell Westbrook were more frequent visitors to the most efficient spot on the floor.

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Spurscast #298: Finals series, Part 2

Written by Kyle Boenitz on Jun 13, 2013 14:30.

On this week's edition of the Spurscast, Quixem Ramirez (@quixem) and Aaron Preine (@DukeOfBexar) join me to continue our Finals series.

The San Antonio Spurs are now up 2-1, so what does that mean for the rest of the series? What adjustments do the Heat need to make to get back into it? How did I not know how old Q was?

We answer these questions and more, on this edition of the Spurscast.

The Spurscast. The original Spurs podcast.

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Music: Bob Seger -- Night Moves

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