For six games in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Indiana Pacers made the Miami Heat—defending champions and winners of 27 consecutive victories in the regular season—appear oddly vulnerable, before the Heat reminded all of the advantages of having home court advantage and the game’s best player in Game 7.

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The San Antonio Spurs will face off against the Miami Heat tonight in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. This will be the first time the Spurs make the Finals without homecourt advantage against the best team in the East, the Miami Heat.

The Spurs will have their work cut out for them in the final series to determine the NBA champion and there will be three factors that will determine if the Spurs can overcome the Heat this series.

1) Tony Parker playing like an MVP

Parker has been the best player with the silver and black this season and has carried the offense on his shoulders when he's been on the floor. His improved passing and aggressiveness is what has made the Spurs dangerous this postseason and has countered the opposing team's top offensive player. This series Parker might meet a new defender worthy of shutting him down: LeBron James. Parker will have to earn his points this series, especially if #6 is going to be guarding him. 

Phil Jackson's been a thorn in the San Antonio Spurs' side when he was the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, but it seems this year he's picking the Spurs to win it all.

In a recent book signing, a fan asked Jackson who he thought was going to win the NBA championship in the Finals stage and Phil gave his quick pick.

Check out the video below.

The Miami Heat ran off 27 games in a row in the regular season, made short work of the Bucks and Bulls in their first two rounds in the postseason but against the Pacers, they looked mortal until Game 7 of the East Finals where they reminded the NBA they still are the defending champs.

And now the San Antonio Spurs will get their shot at dethroning the champs.

Heading into the Finals, the Spurs are not the favorites but if San Antonio wants to extinguish the Heat, they will have to play a perfect series and keep in mind, Miami is mortal according to Manu Ginobili.

In his column for Argentine site Canchellena.com Manu notes the Spurs are not the favorites but sees the Heat as beatable.

The NBA Finals are finally here!

This week's podcast is all about the San Antonio Spurs' matchup with the Miami Heat for the 2013 NBA title. Trevor Zickgraf (@yowhatupt) and Project Spurs' newest member Aaron Preine (@DukeOfBexar) join me for previews, analysis and predictions. 

We also talk about the legacy of the "Big 3" and much more.

The Spurscast. The first and original Spurs podcast.

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Music: Modest Mouse - Float On

Send me your Finals predictions or anything else you want us to talk about during the rest of the postseason on Twitter (@KyleBoenitz) or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

The NBA Finals match is finally set between the San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat. Much has already been hyped for the matchup: The Spurs returning to the finals in six years, the Heat playing in their third straight finals.

Pushing out all the dramatic storylines, it’s time to see what the numbers tell us about these two teams and how things could play out on the basketball floor both from a quantitative and qualitative perspective.

Without further ado, here is your Spurs vs. Heat mega NBA Finals preview. All stats used courtesy of NBA.com/Stats.

Offense and Defense

Points Per Game – Spurs 101.6, Heat 97.2  

Points allowed – Spurs 91.5, Heat 87.6

Offensive rating – Spurs 106.5, Heat 108.4

Defensive rating – Spurs 95.4, Heat 97

The stage is set and the San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat will meet in the 2013 NBA Finals. Miami has a young core with LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade which got them to the Finals for a third straight time while San Antonio relies on their veteran core of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili which battled their way in the West playoffs for a shot at title No. 5.

Of course the running question for the Spurs since their last title in 2007 is whether thier aged "Big 3" were past their primes and their title hopes all but dashed. Fast forward to today and the Spurs are once again in the NBA Finals.

But do not discount age. It is the Spurs' experience that makes them such a perennial contender.

During the NBA Finals, John Karalis of Red's Army will be contributing to Project Spurs during the San Antonio Spurs' chase for title number five.