The San Antonio Spurs have one more home game in 2012-13, Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Sunday, June 16. With the series tied 2-2, how important is Game 5 to the Spurs’ title hopes?
Isiah Thomas had a heroic effort for the Detroit Pistons in Game 6 of the 1988 NBA Finals. (Flickr.com photo by supportcaringllc)
History says it’s extremely important. Since the NBA went to the 2-3-2 scheduling format for the NBA Finals in 1984-85, 10 Finals have been tied 2-2. The Game 5 winner has gone on to win seven times.
However, of the three teams that lost Game 5 and went on to win the championship, none did it after losing Game 5 at home.
In the 1988 NBA Finals, the Detroit Pistons won Game 5 at the Pontiac Silverdome 104-94 to take a 3-2 series lead. The Lakers, however, bounced back with a 103-102 win at the Great Western Forum in Game 6, despite a heroic effort from Isiah Thomas. Thomas shook off the effects of a severe ankle sprain to score 25 points in the fourth quarter and finished the game with 43 points, eight assists and six steals. With Thomas limited to just 28 minutes in Game 7, the Lakers rode a triple-double by Finals MVP James Worthy (36 points, 16 rebounds, 10 assists) to a 108-105 home-court win in Game 7.
In the 1994 NBA Finals, it was the New York Knicks posting a Game 5 win, grinding out a 91-84 victory over the Houston Rockets at Madison Square Garden. Trailing 86-84 in the closing seconds at the Summit in Houston in Game 6, John Starks went for the championship-clinching dagger, a 3-pointer from deep on the wing, but Hakeem Olajuwon got a piece of the shot and the Rockets tied the series. In Game 7, Finals MVP Olajuwon scored 25 points and had 10 rebounds, seven assists and three blocked shots and the Rockets won their first championship, 90-84.
The last time this scenario played out was in 2010, when the Boston Celtics beat the Lakers 92-86 in Game 5 at TD Garden to take a 3-2 series lead. The Lakers blew out Boston 89-67 in Game 6 at the Staples Center and came from behind, outscoring the Celtics 30-22 in the fourth quarter, to win Game 7 at home 83-79. Finals MVP Kobe Bryant was just 6-for-24 from the floor, but scored a game-high 23 points to go with 15 rebounds.
Three times, however, a team has won Game 5 at home and gone on to clinch the series in enemy territory in Game 6. Two of those instances involved the Heat.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar led the Los Angeles Lakers to a title over the Boston Celtics in 1985. (Photo by Steve lipofsky www.Basketballphoto.com via Wikimedia Commons)
In 1985, the first Finals played under the 2-3-2 format, the Lakers posted a 120-111 win over the Celtics at the Great Western Forum, then went to the Boston Garden two nights later and closed out the series with a 111-100 victory behind 29 points from Finals MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Dwyane Wade led the Miami Heat to their first title in 2006, scoring 36 points as the Heat beat the Dallas Mavericks on the road in Game 6 after winning Game 5 at home. (Flickr.com photo by Keith Allison)
It would be 21 years before such a scenario played out again. In 2006, the Heat took a 3-2 series lead with a 101-100 win over the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Arena in Miami. The Heat then closed out the series with a 95-92 victory at it-was-here-first American Airlines Center in Dallas as Finals MVP Dwyane Wade scored 36 points and grabbed 10 boards in 45 minutes of playing time in the clincher.
Dirk Nowitzki was the MVP of the 2011 NBA Finals, leading the Dallas Mavericks to their first title with a closeout of the Miami Heat on the road in Game 6. That came after the Mavericks took a 3-2 series lead with a win at home in Game 5. (Flickr.com photo by Danny Bollinger)
The Mavericks got their revenge in 2011, however. Dallas beat the Heat 112-103 in Game 5 at the AAC to take a 3-2 lead before beating Miami 105-95 in Game 6 at the AAA. Jason Terry came off the bench to score 27 points in the clincher and Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki had 21 points and 11 boards.
The Game 5 winner closed out the series at home in Game 6 in all but one Finals when the series was tied 2-2. The exception was in 2005, when the Spurs won Game 5 at the Palace of Auburn Hills, but lost Game 6 at home to the Pistons before closing out the series with a Game 7 victory at home.
Game 5 winners to close out with home-court victories in Game 6 were the 1992 Chicago Bulls over the Portland Trail Blazers, the 1997 Bulls over the Utah Jazz and the 2003 Spurs over the New Jersey Nets.
So if the San Antonio Spurs have any hopes of capturing their fifth NBA title, it has to begin with a Game 5 victory at the AT&T Center on Sunday night.