This game showed well that we are in presence of the two best teams in the league execution-wise. It was a very well played game in both offense and defense. I tracked the good shots that didn't enter during the second half versus the bad shots that went in and I counted only 3 "bad shots" going in, including Tony Parker's final play. San Antonio had a lot of time to prepare this game and they had their lesson very well studied, especially on defense, where they were amazing. Coach Popovich wanted to stop Miami's transition game by turning the game into a half court one and so, San Antonio need to avoid turnovers at all cost and they did it with just 4 turnovers the whole game, while they also couldn't crash the offensive glass, with the Spurs running back to defense after every shot attempt.
San Antonio had some sloppy plays during the first half, as coach Popovich mentioned that during a timeout and on the second half, the Spurs didn't commit any error! Miami scored 9 fast break points on the first three quarters of the game and they couldn't score any fast break point on the fourth quarter, so no wonder they had only 16 points on the 4th quarter! I also felt that the Heat were tired down the stretch, where they lack aggressiveness. Supposedly, Lebron James asked to rest a bit and with that, both Wade and Lebron were at the bench in the start of the fourth quarter. Miami wasn't really outscored during that span, but they lost their offensive rhythm! This is why Miami scored just 7 points on the first nine minutes of the fourth quarter!
The Spurs managed to create good looks on this game. They missed some wide open treys, but the Heat's defense did a good job as well in limiting the great ball movement of the Spurs. After averaging 25 assists per game against the Grizzlies' elite defense, San Antonio had just 16 assists against the Heat. After a scoreless first quarter, Tim Duncan managed to get an edge down low for the rest of the game, with 8-14 FG and 20 points on the last three quarters of the game. San Antonio won Game 1 because they were better prepared than Miami, something perfectly normal given the spots of both teams. The Spurs also had a physical edge down the stretch, while they also executed better on the final moments of the game.
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