The Miami Heat came out strong early in Game 6, especially LeBron James, who was being observed very closely by critics as this was a legacy-defining game for him. He looked to get his teammates involved early, finishing the first 12 minutes of play with five assists. Four of those assists led to three-point makes.

Both teams started out hot. The score was tied at 14-14 before Gregg Popovich called San Antonio’s first timeout with 7:16 left in the quarter. The two teams combined to shoot 12-for-17 at that point, the Heat shooting 6-for-8 and the Spurs shooting 6-for-9. A minute and 17 seconds later, Miami called their first timeout and used it to sub in Ray Allen for Mario Chalmers, the latter finishing the first quarter with 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting, including two three-pointers. It was a very early non-point-guard lineup for the Heat, and Popovich brought in Boris Diaw at the same time to guard James.

Tim Duncan was a huge factor in the first half, finishing the first 24 minutes with 25 points on 11-for-13 shooting while grabbing eight rebounds. In the first quarter, he posted 12 points on 6-for-6 shooting. He would not miss the next two shots, going 8-for-8, before missing his first shot coming out of an official’s timeout. In the second half however, he was largely a non-factor, partly because of the Miami running a few double-teams at him and Bosh playing him much more physically and aggressively. In the final 24 minutes as well as the overtime period, Duncan had 5 points on 2-for-8 shooting, but had nine rebounds, finishing with a grand total of 30 points and 17 rebounds on 61.9 percent shooting from the field.

Kawhi Leonard was the only other bright spot for the Spurs, finishing with 22 points and 11 rebounds on 9-for-14 from the field. He also had three big steals.

Manu Ginobili went back to being his usual sloppy self in this game, finishing with eight turnovers, one turnover shy of equaling his point total.

The new record-holder for made threes in an NBA Finals in Danny Green was nowhere to be found in this game. The Heat made a point of closing out on three-point shooters better then they’ve done all series, and it paid off. Green shot 1-for-5 from beyond the arc, his only make coming a minute into the second quarter.

Parker was very inefficient from the floor. He finished with 19 points, but it took him 23 shot attempts to get there, of which he made six. Fortunately for San Antonio, he didn’t have a single turnover, but James saw quite a bit of time defending him compared to the previous games in the series, and Parker had a hard time getting his offense going. One of his makes was a last-second step-back bail-out three near the end of the fourth quarter to tie the game 89-89.

Miami did not defend well in the first half, allowing to Spurs to convert on 58.3 percent of their shots and dominate the paint. The Spurs were winning that battle 32-16 in the first half. However, the Heat defended them much better in the second half, limiting them to just 35 percent shooting, including 2-for-9 from long-range.

The Heat on the other hand shot poorly in the first three quarters at 41.8 percent, mostly because of their shot selection. We’ve seen that the winner of each game in the series has had more shots in the paint then the opponent. Let’s take a look at their shot selection by quarter:

In the first quarter, 45.4 percent of their offense came from mid-range, where they shot 40 percent from the field. Shots in the paint only counted for 27.2 percent of their shots in the quarter, from where they shot 50 percent.

In the second quarter, they did a little better. The mid-range game accounted for 36.8 percent of their offense whereas 42.1 percent of their offense came from the paint. However, they only shot 37.5 percent from inside and 28.6 percent of their mid-range shots.

Story of the half? Tim Duncan and shots in the paint: 32-16 in the Spurs’ favor.

At the end of the third quarter, the Heat shot they continued to improve their shot selection from inside, 50 percent of their offense coming from the paint. Once again, they were inefficient from there, making only 25 percent of their attempts. 31.6 percent of their offense came from mid-range, pretty consistent with their second-quarter numbers.

The fourth quarter proved to be all the difference. While Miami’s mid-range game accounted for a mere 11.8 percent of their offense, 53 percent of their shots came from inside the paint, and they converted on 77.8 percent of their attempts.

Down 10 and in desperate need of a run, Erik Spoelstra went with the lineup that initiated the 33-5 run for the Heat in Game 2: Chalmers, Allen, Mike Miller, James and Chris Andersen. They scored on their first four possessions: a Chalmers three, a layup by James, Miller’s “one-shoed” three and a dunk by James. The early triples for the Heat opened up the floor for Miami and gave allowed James to attack the rim. We saw a lot of elbow pick-and-rolls to get the Spurs to switch their man on James, giving him an easier path in the lane.

From there on, the game became a roller-coaster ride. The Heat went up two on an Allen drive along the baseline and held on to the lead until Parker hit a ridiculous step-back jumper over James as the shot-clock was winding down to tie the game, followed by a shot from 12 feet to go up two.

And when it seemed the Spurs had the game wrapped up and were removing the crown off of Miami’s head, James hits a three with 20.1 remaining and with 5.2 left in the game, Ray Allen adds to his legacy by hitting one of the greatest shots of all-time.

Overtime is forced, and as the final buzzer sounded, Chris Bosh heaved the ball in relief: they had survived what had seemed like a failure of a season with 28 seconds left in the game.

For now.

Miami wins unorthodoxly by losing the battle in the paint by a huge margin: 60-32.

“I have no clue how we’re going to be re-energized,” said Ginobili. “I’m devastated.”

It’s sudden death, Manu. Figure it out, or this season becomes a huge missed opportunity for another ring.