NBA Finals: Miami Heat vs. San Antonio Spurs – Game 6 Talking Points

Chris Bosh #1 of the Miami Heat reacts in overtime against the San Antonio Spurs during Game Six of the 2013 NBA Finals at AmericanAirlines Arena on June 18, 2013 in Miami, Florida. (Getty Images)

Chris Bosh came up BIG when it mattered:

10 Points on 5-11 shooting, 11 rebounds and two block shots. Good numbers? Yes. Great Numbers? No. But despite what the numbers say, Bosh was actually the match-winner for the Heat today.

Erik Spoelstra repeatedly mentions Bosh to be his most important player, because when Bosh plays well the Heat win; almost always. He came up big when it mattered, making two key blocks in Overtime, one on Parker with the Spurs down by two, and the ridiculous block on Green in the dying seconds of the game. Both plays were huge and he cancelled out any chances of a Spurs comeback.

His break-away lay-up in the first minute of Overtime set the tone for the Heat and he then came up with big defensive plays on multiple possessions on Duncan and Parker off the pick-and-roll. Come Overtime, Bosh was by and far the biggest of the BIG THREE.

Manu Ginobili wasn’t the “Manu” of Game 5:

Manu Ginobili got another start as Coach Gregg Popovich hoped that it would allow Parker to be more aggressive and Ginobili would take care of the play-making and orchestrating the offense. The Heat and Coach Spoelstra pulled a master-stroke in manning up LeBron against Parker and Wade against Ginobili.

They had their best perimeter defensive players on the Spurs guards, and despite everything that Kwahi Leonard did, he didn’t have a post-game to exploit the smaller Chalmers that Spoelstra matched up against him. As a result the Spurs were forced to look inside and try to feed Duncan and Thiago Splitter.

While Duncan was hot, they seemed all right. But when Duncan couldn’t get a basket to fall, and Parker was struggling against the length and strength of LeBron, it was imperative that Ginobili, who is widely acknowledged amongst the best clutch players in the game, took over. He failed to do so, as he was too unselfish for his own good and tried to force too many difficult passes. He gave up on his scoring instincts and tried to make the tougher passes, as a result of which, he ending up conceding 8 turn-overs and only made 5 field goal attempts.

In 35 minutes, a guy coming off a 24-point gamem tried only 5 field-goal attempts. He missed a clutch free-throw in an almost uncharacteristic way and was nowhere close to the player who had the Spurs fans chanting “Manu Manu” in Game 5.

The series maybe deserved a Game 7 and all eyes will be on Duncan and LeBron as they match-up in the last game of the NBA season. One game that could decide quite a few legacies, make some and kill some. Let the predictions begin.