It’s true that the Miami Heat face an elimination game, but they also know that the San Antonio Spurs must beat them in South Florida in order to win the NBA championship.
2013 NBA Finals, Game 6:
San Antonio Spurs @ Miami Heat – Tuesday, June 18
Betting line: Miami -7
Why San Antonio Will Win
No NCAA football betting expert would reflexively discount the Spurs’ chances here. Sure, San Antonio is on the road, but it leads this series due to the 2-3-2 travel format. The Spurs lack home-court advantage in this series and must win one more game in South Florida, but they have outplayed the Heat through five games, and that has to be taken into account when you peruse the latest sportsbook review.
The Spurs – not just the Heat – thrive when doubted and tested. Game 6 is a close-out opportunity for San Antonio, and naturally, if the Spurs can get a lot of the ingredients they poured into their Game 5 recipe, they’re going to win this series and become champions of the NBA for the first time since 2007. San Antonio thrived in Game 5 because Manu Ginobili, after four poor games and a boatload of criticism from the national media, finally came alive and provided the combination of scoring punch and crisp passing that can make him so effective when he’s “on.” A terrific outing defined by 24 points (on 8-of-14 shooting) and 10 assists made Ginobili the resilient hero of the moment and the runaway MVP of Game 5. Yes, teammates Danny Green and Tony Parker aided him considerably, but Ginobili quieted his legions of doubters in much the same way that Dwyane Wade did in Game 4 this past Thursday. Ginobili can pry open so many opportunities for himself and his teammates when he is on his game; there was nothing he failed to do on Sunday, when he enabled San Antonio to take a 3-2 lead in this series. Ginobili hit some perimeter shots. He took the ball to the rim and finished plays in traffic. He got to the free throw line, finishing with seven makes, and he dropped the ball to teammates who were in perfect positions to score easy buckets. If Ginobili continues to make plays while Tony Parker also gets into the paint and Green knocks down threes, the Spurs should lift the trophy on Tuesday.
Why Miami Will Win
When people pursue a sports betting play, they have to be patient and look at the bigger picture. This series has been a study in inconsistency – one team plays well on one night, but then dips the next night while its opponent flourishes. Even football betting gurus who possess minimal knowledge of professional basketball could tell you that a pattern of alternating wins should continue in this contest. The things the Spurs established in Game 5 might not carry over into Game 6, thereby maintaining the dynamic of a series that has swung back and forth like a pendulum.
Even though Miami is not stringing together convincing performances in consecutive games, it is certainly managing to respond properly to losses. The Heat have not lost consecutive games at any point in their season since January. The Indiana Pacers could never beat them twice in a row, and San Antonio has yet to pull off that feat, either. In this game, will the Spurs get another great game from Ginobili? Can San Antonio do the things it did in Games 3 and 5 of this series, but in Miami’s building instead of the state of Texas? The Heat have been at their best this postseason precisely when questions and alarm bells have resounded in their midst. When the critics and pundits wonder if everything will come crashing down on the Heat, and if the pressure of living up to expectations will overwhelm the defending champions, they rise off the mat and deliver a focused, high-energy defensive performance that gets them back on the right track and dispels the climate of gloom which so easily emerges in the wake of a bad game. Miami got whacked in Game 3 and bounced back in Game 4 on the road. At home in Game 6, the Heat should certainly find it within themselves to make relevant adjustments, contain Ginobili, limit Green’s three-point opportunities, and dig out a win to set up Game 7 on Thursday.
Who Will Win?
This could be San Antonio’s crowning moment, but it’s much more likely that the Heat, given no margin for error, will play with great energy and effort on defense, bottling up the Spurs’ ball movement and creating fast-break opportunities on many occasions. Each of these teams knows how to punch back, so it really shouldn’t shock anyone to encounter a Game 6 win by the Heat, setting up a Game 7 decider.
NBA Betting Pick: Miami -7
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