SAN ANTONIO — For one year, the excruciating memory ate at their souls. Some Spurs swore they got over their gut-wrenching Finals collapse to the Heat in a matter of days. Or weeks. Or months.
But really, the cleansing came Sunday night.
“Last year’s loss was devastating. I’ve said many times, a day didn’t go by where I didn’t think about Game 6,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.
And now, the team whose window of opportunity is always said to be about to slam shut, doesn’t have to think of the 2013 collapse anymore.
After withstanding a blistering start by the Heat, the Spurs regrouped and played exactly like what they are: a model franchise, the epitome of the word “Team,” the whole so much greater than the sum of the parts.
Miami, the two-time champ, could depend on a mental edge against almost any team.
But not San Antonio.
The Spurs not only denied the Heat the chance to become the fourth franchise to three-peat, they humiliated them in the process, claiming a 104-87 Game 5 rout for the franchise’s fifth NBA title, all since 1999. The rematch of last year’s Finals became no contest.
“Last year was a tough one for all of us. We felt like we had the trophy, that we were touching it and it slipped away,” said Manu Ginobili one of San Antonio’s venerable Big Three.
They grasped it with 30 mitts Sunday. Plus executive mitts, too.
“They played exquisite basketball this series,” said coach Erik Spoelstra whose Heat team now faces a summer of critical analysis — if not total revamping — after it looked like LeBron James and a Buncha Other Guys. “They are the better team. There’s no other way to say it.”
Key word there? “Team.” Everywhere you looked, the Spurs found contributors. Tony Parker struggled with his shot? No problem. Ginobili was magnificent off the bench, scoring 19 points. Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard (“It feels like a dream to me,” he said of the award) added 22 points and 10 rebounds. Patty Mills, banged in 3s all game and scored 17 points — in 18 minutes. Tim Duncan was Tim Duncan with 14 points. Oh, and Parker? After starting 1-of-11 shooting, he finished 7-of-18 with 16 points.
“It’s the sweetest one because it’s just unbelievable to win seven years ago and to be so close last year, it was very cruel,” said Parker. “It makes it even better the fact that we had to go through that and we had to go through a tough loss in Game 6 and Game 7, and to be able to come back. It just makes the journey even more worth it.”
For the Heat, James was again a virtual one-man show. He scored 31 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, passed for five assists and blocked two shots. And he received precious little help. Chris Bosh (13 points) and Dwyane Wade (11 points) hit double-figures, but really, so what?
“Not disappointed in any of my teammates,” James said. “Just wish we could have came through, played a better series. But obviously, we ran up against a better team this year.”
Right before the game on national television, James implored his teammates to “Follow my lead.”
And they did.
For a quarter.
Or most of a quarter. James poured in 12 points and at 5:04 of the opening quarter, it was 22-6. End Heat highlights.
From there, it was all San Antonio. If the Revolutionary Founding Fathers used the same defense as the Heat, we’d be paying homage to the Queen. The Spurs waxed the Heat, 69-31, to go up 22 points in the third quarter. That’ll help you get over last year.
“In general, for the group to have the fortitude that they showed to get back to this spot,” Popovich said, “speaks volumes about how they’re constituted and what kind of fiber they have.”
And defense and jumpers and rebounding and passing skills and so much that the Heat lacked.