In a perfect display of offensive efficiency, San Antonio Spurs stunned two-time defending champions Miami Heat 111-92 in Game 3 of the NBA Finals to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series at the American Airlines Arena here today.
In front of a 20,000-strong sell out crowd, which had strongly put its weight behind the hosts, the Spurs unleashed the best shooting half in NBA Finals history, even as Miami Heat only played the catching up game throughout the match.
The Spurs were hardly challenged in the game. They always managed to maintain an upper hand and the closest the Heat could come was late in the third quarter when they reduced the gap by seven points to make it 74-81.
While LeBron James and Dwyane Wade had 22 points for the Heat, Kawhi Leonar turned out to be the hero for Spurs, scoring a career-high of 29 points.
The Spurs made a finals-record -- 75.8 per cent of their shots in the first half -- bettering the 75 per cent shooting by Orlando against the Lakers in the 2009 finals.
The visitors made 19 of their first 21 shots to open up a decent lead of 18-10 and eventually extended it to 41-25 at the end of the first quarter. They hit their first six shots of the second to leave the home crowd disappointed.
Thoroughly dominating the proceedings, the Spurs made it 71-50 at the end of the second quarter to tilt the match in their favour.
However, the defending champions showed some spark in the third quarter as they finally bagged 10 straight points to cut a 17-point deficit to 81-74.
But Spurs stamped their authority in no time and much before the end of the fourth quarter, the writing on the wall was clear, and the full-capacity crowd at the arena was reduced to just 2000-odd spectators when the play finally got over.
This loss has put Miami in a similar position as last year. After the teams were tied 1-1 following the first two games, the Spurs won Game 3. And after the two teams traded victories, the Heat bagged two thrillers to claim the championship.
The Heat now would quickly have to get their act together as they regroup to take a shot at tying the series when they host Game 4 here on Thursday.
