With 31.3 seconds left in the fourth quarter of Game 1 of the NBA Finals, there stood the San Antonio Spurs holding a 90-88 lead over the Miami Heat just after LeBron James had knocked down both of his free throws to bring the Spurs’ lead to two points.

From there, Tony Parker would put himself in the Finals highlight real with one significant play. Parker and the Spurs would drive the ball up the floor and after running down the clock, Parker got caught dribbling with James hovering over him. At times it looked like Parker was going to lose the ball as he even fell to one knee, but he was able to regain his balance and shoot a shot that went off the backboard to give his Spurs the game clinching basket 92-88 with 5 seconds remaining.

“It was a crazy play,” said Parker after the game. “I thought I lost the ball three or four times.  And it didn't work out like I wanted it to.  At the end I was just trying to get a shot up.  It felt good when it left my hand.  I was happy it went in.”

With the Spurs starting their fifth NBA Finals tonight against Miami, several Project Spurs staffers as well as a few of our friends in the blogosphere and the media decided to try to analyze this series and make our predictions. Leave us your thought on the series and predictions in the comments.

Paul Garcia, Lead writer
As written in my Mega Preview, I just feel that the Spurs have too many weapons while the Heat are relying almost solely on LeBron. The saying is "the Spurs go as Tony Parker goes" and though Parker will have James on him at times, I don't feel the Heat can risk that maneuver too much or else Kawhi Leonard and possibly Manu Ginobili can take advantage of their defenders. Parker could have maybe one or two off nights, but I think with the series as a whole he's playing on another level and he's going to be able to run the Spurs' offense against a Top-rated defense in Miami just like he was able to do against a supposed Grizzlies defense. I think the Spurs split one of the two in Miami and finish off the series with three in a row in the AT&T Center.

Michael De Leon, Co-founder

After 10 days of rest, the San Antonio Spurs are ready to start the NBA Finals against the Miami Heat tonight in Miami. With the series set to start, I turned to Heat blogger Surya Fernandez of Hot Hot Hoops to help me preview this matchup and give us a little more information on the Heat.

1. Who do you think has the advantage going into Game 1 on Thursday? The team that has had 10 days of rest or the one that just finished Game 7?

I would say it's the team with the shorter rest. The Heat will happily take the two full days off and get right back to competitive basketball without missing a beat but 10 days is a huge amount of time to be off right before the Finals. The Heat certainly didn't think a lot of time off was an advantage after losing to the Bulls in Game 1 of the second round after sweeping the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round. It would be one thing if the Spurs had to play against any another NBA team but they'll be facing a Heat team that's eager to defend home court and repeat as champs.

Aside from probably three-point shooting, any time we say "so and so is the biggest concern for the San Antonio Spurs" over the next couple of weeks, that "so and so" is going to be LeBron James.  He is the Heat's best scorer, passer, rebounder, defender and even all-around shooter.  Containing him is likely not going to happen, but containing the rest of the Heat players is going to be crucial to the Spurs winning the NBA Championship. 

The biggest concern is Chris Bosh.  Part of that has to do with Bosh himself and part has to do with the fact that Dwyane Wade hasn't looked right all playoffs long.  If Danny Green's only job is to shadow a hobbled Wade, then he can be contained without much help from the other Spurs players on the court.  Bosh, on the other hand, is trickier to defend.  It's easy to say you just have to defend him the way Roy Hibbert did last round, but recent history tells us Bosh has been consistently healthy and really good against the Spurs.

During the NBA Finals, Philip Rossman-Reich of Orlando Magic Daily will be contributing to Project Spurs during the San Antonio Spurs' chase for title number five.

There was not a whole lot to glean from the San Antonio Spurs’ two regular season matchups with the Miami Heat.

After all, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili sat out the first game in Miami and then LeBron James and Dwyane Wade returned the favor in March in San Antonio. Quite honestly, the regular season means a whole lot less than it usually does when it comes to these two teams and the NBA Finals, which start tonight if you have not heard.

There are several patterns though that should give the Spurs pause in this series. It has everything to do with that series against the Warriors which gave the Spurs so much trouble – you know, the one where San Antonio suffered its only two losses of the postseason.

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.