2014 NBA Finals: 5 Things We Learned In Game 1

4. The Spurs have a big bench advantage

We already knew San Antonio was a deeper team, but midway through the third quarter, it sure didn’t feel that way. Ray Allen was going off and led all Miami reserves with 16 points and five steals on the night. He missed a very un-Jesus Shuttlesworth-like amount of wide open threes, but when he streaked down the court on a fast break and threw down that ridiculous dunk, I don’t think any Heat fans were complaining too much.

But San Antonio’s second unit outscored Miami’s bench 34-20 behind 16 points, 11 assists, five rebounds and three steals from Manu Ginobili. Boris Diaw only scored two points, but he also added 10 rebounds and six assists while finishing with a game-best plus/minus differential of +30. Patrick Mills had seven important points and Marco Belinelli added nine. Norris Cole, Chris Andersen and Shane Battier, meanwhile, combined for only four points.

Depth is obviously a huge factor in championship runs and Miami can get away with riding their starters when the Heat are firing on all cylinders. But Miami will need a lot more out of their bench, even for a team that got 10 points out of Rashard Lewis (who is only in the starting lineup for matchup reasons). Role players like Mario Chalmers (three points, five fouls) need to step up and give their Big Three support, because you know San Antonio’s Big Three is going to get it from every role player available.