SAN ANTONIO — With the old Manu Ginobili back, the San Antonio Spurs looked like champs again.
One more victory and their Big Three, not Miami’s, will be the one that rules the NBA.

Ginobili broke out of a slump in a big way with 24 points and 10 assists in his first start of the season, and the Spurs beat the Heat 114-104 on Sunday night to take a 3-2 lead in the NBA finals.

Tony Parker scored 26 points, Tim Duncan added 17 points and 12 rebounds, and Ginobili had his highest-scoring game of the season as the Spurs became the first team to shoot 60 percent in a finals game in four years.

Danny Green smashed the finals record for 3-pointers, hitting six more while scoring 24 points. Kawhi Leonard finished with 16 points, but the stage was set when Ginobili trotted out with Duncan, Parker and the rest of starters in what could have been the last finals home game for a trio that’s meant so much to San Antonio.

The AT&T Center crowd roared when Ginobili was the last Spurs player announced and chanted his name in the second half, a familiar sight and sound in San Antonio, but not during what had been a miserable series for the former Sixth Man of the Year.

“He’s obviously very popular. He’s been here a long time. He’s helped us have a lot of success over the years,” Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich said.

Advertisement

LeBron James and Dwyane Wade each scored 25 points for the Heat, who host Game 6 on Tuesday.

They need a victory to force the first Game 7 in the finals since the Lakers beat the Celtics in 2010.
Miami’s Big Three formed a few weeks after that game, with predictions of multiple titles to follow. Now they’re a loss away from being 1 for 3 in finals, while the Spurs could run their record to 5 for 5.

Duncan won his first title in 1999, and Parker and Ginobili were with him for three championships since. They have been the perfect partnership, keeping the Spurs in the hunt virtually every year while teams like the Lakers, Mavericks and Suns have risen and fallen in the Western Conference.

The Spurs remained unbeaten in Game 5s, including two previous victories when the series was tied at 2-2. Of the 27 times the finals have been tied at 2-2, the Game 5 winner has won 20 of them.

San Antonio shot 42 of 70, right at 60 percent. The last team to make 60 percent of its shots in the finals was Orlando, which hit 62.5 in Game 3 against the Lakers in 2009, according to STATS.

“They just absolutely outplayed us,” Heat Coach Erik Spoelstra said. “At times they were just picking one guy out at a time and going at us mano-a-mano. That’s got to change.”

Ray Allen scored 21 points for the Heat, but his record of 22 3-pointers set with Boston in the 2008 finals was shattered by Green, who now has 25 3-pointers.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.