LeBron's No Headband In Game 6, Ray Allen’s 3-pointer Help Lift Heat Over Spurs [VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS]: James Should Keep It Off For Game 7
The 2013 NBA Finals is playing out to be a classic after the Miami Heat gutted out a 103-100 victory over the San Antonio Spurs after a late Heat rally on the 4th quarter ignited LeBron James --visibly wearing no headband-- who helped push his team through in a tight thriller at the American Airlines Arena.
LeBron James racked up another triple double game with 32 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, but the key moment of the game was the game-tying three-pointer by Ray Allen to tie game with five seconds left.
Allen, arguably the best three-point bomber in NBA history, received a pass from Chris Bosh off a rebound and drained the cold-blooded trey over the outstretched arms of Tony Parker in less than half a second.
The Spurs, looking for their fifth championship, controlled the lead for most of the game but allowed the Heat to climb back from the hole and even overtake them in the fourth quarter.
The Spurs proved to be a much experienced unit down the stretch with Parker hitting back-to-back jumpers and Manu Ginobili knocking down his shots from the charity stripe to give his team 94-89 lead with 28 second left.
However, the defending NBA champion just refused to go down as the headband-less James made a quick trey to put Miami within two points, 94-92, with 20 seconds left.
Second-year forward Kawhi Leonard split his free-throws, putting the Heat in a pressure cooker to deliver a three-point basket with 19 seconds remaining. James was the first one to try sending the game into overtime but his 26-foot heave hit all iron. Fortunately for the Heat, Bosh was in the perfect position to grab the offensive rebound and passed it to Allen who caught it and saw his feet intuitively move behind the arch for a wide-open shot all in a fraction of a second.
The Spurs tried to win it in a blitz play, but Parker's fadeaway shot did not connect as the game headed into overtime - the first in the series.
The back-and-forth action continued in the overtime period with both teams leaning on their star players to perform. Leonard converted two buckets to keep the Spurs ahead, but again, the Heat kept coming back thanks to clutch play from James and Allen.
Ginobili, who erupted for 24 points along with 10 dimes in Game 5, made two unlikely errors at a pivotal point of the match.
Duncan scored 25 of his 30 points in the first half, but the 37-year old forward was nowhere significant in the fourth and overtime period as he apparently went out of air after playing 44 minutes. Danny Green was also shut down to three points on a 1-5 shooting from the three-point range.
On the other hand, the Heat got solid contributions from Mario Chalmers (20 points) and Dwyane Wade (14 points) while Bosh delivered a double-double game (10 points and 11 rebounds) and made two key blocks in the last two minutes of overtime.
The Heat-Spurs championship showdown will head into a deciding game, making the first seven-game finals series in three years and 19th overall.
Game 7 is scheduled on Thursday at American Airlines Arena.
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