Role Players Dominating NBA Finals
SAN ANTONIO (CBSMiami) – In a NBA Finals featuring multiple first-ballot future Hall of Famers, the story of the series has been the phenomenal play of the role players for the San Antonio Spurs and the Miami Heat.
Tuesday night, the Spurs were led by the breakout play of Gary Neal and Danny Green who couldn’t miss a shot from behind the three-point line. The players combined for 51 points against the Heat and hit 13 three-pointers in the blowout victory over the Heat.
"We don't expect a performance like this from those kind of guys, but they were great," Duncan said after San Antonio routed Miami 113-77. "They did it. They found their spots and knocked them out."
Green has stayed hot as the series moved to Texas after starting out in South Florida. He scored 27 points in Game 3 and hit 10 three-pointers over the first two games of the 2013 Finals. Both Neal and Green had to fight to get to their spots on the Spurs roster and are making the most of it.
For the Heat, the only player who showed up ready to play throughout Game 3 was forward Mike Miller. The one-time bench warmer this season was a perfect 5-5 from the field, with all of his shots coming from behind the three-point line. Miller finished Game 3 with 15 points, tied for second most on the team.
While Miller played well in Game 3, only one-third of the Big Three for the Heat showed up with any semblance of a shot Tuesday night. The much-maligned Chris Bosh shot only 40 percent, but still finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 blocked shots by the end of the game.
But the story Tuesday night, and throughout the series, has been the complete absence of LeBron James from the games and the Spurs role players Green & Neal being uncoverable by the Heat’s normally suffocating defense.
