San Antonio Spurs: What if the Spurs hadn't imploded in Game 6 of the NBA Finals?
Being up 10 to start the 4th quarter of a close-out road game in the NBA Finals is the position any team would want to be in, and the San Antonio Spurs were in 2013. Through the first three quarters, the Spurs built a lead by generating easy shots and forcing the 67-win Heat to make tough shots. That is normally the recipe for a playoff win, but Spurs coach Gregg Popovich made the baffling decision to remove Hall of Famers Tim Duncan and Tony Parker from the game for the first six minutes of the fourth quarter.
During this time, the Spurs' bench lineup was up against most of the Heat's starters, including LeBron James. By the time they returned to the game, the Spurs were up just four, and Miami's crowd had gotten back into the game. To their credit, San Antonio executed well down the stretch and needed only Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard to hit both of their free throws to ice the game.
Unfortunately, both missed one, giving the Heat a chance to tie. Ray Allen then hit a miracle three in the right corner to tie the game, which forced overtime, where the Heat would go on to win. Miami would then go on to win the series in seven games. While the Spurs would go on to avenge their loss to the Heat in the 2014 NBA Finals by beating the brakes off them, had they won in 2013, there would be nothing that would have prevented them from repeating.
Had they done so, Duncan would have won six championships, taking him from being a top-10 all-time player to perhaps the top five, and LeBron and Dwayne Wade's legacies would definitely be different. LeBron would be 3-7 in the NBA Finals, while Wade would be 2-2, and that would certainly take them down a level in all-time discussions.