This was the best game of this series and perhaps one of the best NBA Finals games of all time! For the first time in three games, both teams used the same lineups from the previous game, so there was no surprise factor this time, something that was decisive when Miami started Mike Miller on Game 4 and when San Antonio started Manu Ginobili on Game 5. However, unlike what happened on the previous two games, Game 6 wasn't a fast paced game, as the pace was actually more similar to the first two games of the series. Nevertheless, with just six minutes played, the score was already 18-16!
San Antonio had shot 60% FG on Game 5, so Miami's main focus for this game was on defense. Chris Bosh mentioned that Danny Green wouldn't be as wide open as previously on the series and that really happened, as Green struggled to find good spots and ended the game with just 1-7 FG! Lebron James's defensive assignment was to defend Tony Parker, one of the main reasons why Parker ended with an awful 6-23 FG, but that made Lebron to be far from the basket. This change of approach and defensive positioning allowed Tim Duncan to have more space down low and he just crushed the Heat during the first half with 25 points - half of the Spurs' total points! The problem is that Duncan is 37 years old and this is why he had his best regular season in years while playing just 30 minutes per game. So, this is why he couldn't sustain all the workload that he had during the first half and faded away greatly on the second half: he didn't score a single point during the fourth quarter and overtime! Duncan and Parker were so exhausted that Popovich was forced to bench them both at the start of the fourth quarter.
With Lebron being a defensive monster against Parker, the Spurs needed a second playmaker that would be Ginobili, but he struggled heavily with eight turnovers. The trade off of getting good looks on the outside versus getting more space down low worked for the Spurs on this contest, as despite having just 5-18 3pts (series low), the Spurs scored 60 points in the paint (series high)! On Miami's side, Lebron James had a monster fourth quarter by carrying the team on his own, but he ran out of gas at the end of game, where he ended up having some help from San Antonio's poor tactical choices and Ray Allen. Once again, the Heat's offensive flow was great with Dwyane Wade on the bench, so no wonder that Wade ended the game with a huge negative team -15 points when he was on the floor. On a lineup with Lebron James and four shooters, it's much more difficult to stop the Heat because they can't overhelp the strongside to stop James's drives to the basket or Lebron will find the open guy on the weakside.
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