MIAMI: A mixed bag of San Antonio Spur bench warmers almost handed the defending NBA champion Miami Heat their first home loss of the season in a matchup that had been billed as a preview of the NBA finals.
The Heat appeared to be headed for a humiliating loss but they survived the mighty scare to beat the Spurs 105-100 behind a 20-8 closing run and 23 points from LeBron James at AmericanAirlines Arena.
San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich didn’t have his top five scorers for their final game of their six-game road trip. That meant no Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili or Tim Duncan, all of whom stayed home to rest. The matchup had been highly anticipated as one between two of the NBA’s elite teams before Popovich decided to leave his stars at home.
NBA commissioner David Stern was upset with the move and said San Antonio would face “substantial sanctions” for resting so many star players at once.
Ray Allen hit a go-ahead three-pointer with 22.6 seconds left as the Heat came through over the short-handed Spurs. Allen scored 11 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, while James finished with nine rebounds and seven assists to lead the Heat to their fifth consecutive win. REUTERS
