SAN ANTONIO — Game 6.
There probably aren’t two more depressing words in the Alamo City than Game 6, unless it’s last call.
From now until the Finals start on Thursday, wherever the NBA is the big talk, they’re going to rehash Game 6 of the 2013 Finals. But mostly they’ll curse it here, because it’s still very fresh in the minds of the San Antonio Spurs.
“We’ve got that bad taste in our mouths still,” Tim Duncan said.
Only a win in the rematch against the Miami Heat will get rid of it.
“We’ve got four more to win,” Duncan said after the Spurs clinched their first back-to-back Finals berths by defeating Oklahoma City Saturday night. “We’ll do it this time.”
For the normally tight-lipped Big Fundamental, that amounted to a guarantee. More like, it was just his way of expressing unbridled optimism at the thought of getting a chance to avenge last June’s heartbreaking loss to LeBron James and the Heat.
This is the rubber match between Duncan and James, with Duncan winning in 2007 when LeBron was in his fourth NBA season in Cleveland. Then James got the upper hand last June when the Spurs suffered one of the most shocking collapses in NBA history.
In the last minutes of Game 6, yellow security ropes were already being set out on the AmericanAirlines Arena floor, readying for the Spurs’ coronation. Championship No. 5 for the NBA’s model franchise was almost in the books. A five-point lead with less than 30 seconds looked beyond solid. Then everything that could go wrong did go wrong, culminating in Ray Allen’s miracle 3-pointer with 5.2 seconds left in regulation and the Heat’s 103-100 overtime win.
There have been other notable collapses in NBA playoff history, but this might have been the all-time worst in a Finals game. That night in Miami, it seemed like we had seen the last of Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili in a championship series.
If not for the dramatic turn of events, James would have been villified for what was an uneven Game 6 performance. His Finals record would have fallen to 1-3 and there certainly would have been a different atmosphere around the Heat this season. There would be no talk of a three-peat now, but there would be a lot of speculation about what James would be doing this summer, when he can opt out of his contract.
Now, there is no talk of James leaving Miami, and perhaps a large part has to do with how Game 6 unfolded in his favor.
“It was, by far, the best game I’ve ever been a part of,” he said that night. “The ups and downs, the roller coaster, the emotions, good and bad, throughout the game. To be a part of something like this is something you would never be able to recreate once you’re done playing the game. I am blessed to be a part of something like this.”
On the other hand, the Spurs felt cursed. They went on to lose Game 7, but that was the moment when they started to recover from the worst loss in franchise history and begin another arduous climb up championship mountain.
This trek is still imposing, as it was. The Spurs may have just sent the reigning MVP, Kevin Durant, home for the summer. But now they’ll have to contend with James, still the best player on the planet. Dwyane Wade’s knees are fine. And the Heat, in its fourth straight Finals, has become an old hand at winning.
But the Spurs’ task got a lot more difficult when Tony Parker reaggravated an ankle injury in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals, causing Gregg Popovich to shut down his point guard for the entire second half. He’ll have four days to get treatment and then the Spurs will see what he can give them.
In their close-out win, the Spurs persevered, just as they have since Game 6 last June 18.
“I think our guys, they actually grew from the loss last year,” Popovich said. “I call it fortitude. I think they showed an unbelievable amount of fortitude. If I can compliment my own team, humbly, to have that tough loss, especially the Game 6 loss, and not have a pity party, and come back this year and get back to the same position. I think that’s fortitude, and I’m really proud of them and even happier for them.”
But there can’t be total happiness and joy, not until they can win it all again.
Until then, they live in San Antonio with Game 6.
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