Spurs Top Heat 114-104 In Game 5 NBA Finals: Manu Ginobili, Danny Green Lift San Antonio (VIDEO)

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SAN ANTONIO — With the old Manu Ginobili back, the San Antonio Spurs looked like champs again.

One more victory and their Big Three, not Miami's, will be the one that rules the NBA.

Ginobili broke out of a slump in a big way with 24 points and 10 assists in his first start of the season, and the Spurs beat the Heat 114-104 on Sunday night to take a 3-2 lead.

Tony Parker scored 26 points, Tim Duncan had 17 points and 12 rebounds, and Ginobili had his highest-scoring game of the season as the Spurs became the first team to shoot 60 percent in a finals game in four years.

Danny Green smashed the NBA Finals record for 3-pointers with six more and scored 24 points. Kawhi Leonard finished with 16, but the stage was set when Ginobili trotted out with Duncan, Parker and the rest of starters in what could have been the last finals home game for a trio that's meant so much to San Antonio.

The AT&T Center crowd roared when Ginobili was the last Spurs player announced and chanted his name in the second half, a familiar sight and sound in San Antonio but not during what had been a miserable series for the former Sixth Man of the Year.

"He's obviously very popular. He's been here a long time. He's helped us have a lot of success over the years," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.

LeBron James and Dwyane Wade each scored 25 points for the Heat, who host Game 6 on Tuesday. They need a victory to force the first Game 7 in the finals since the Lakers beat the Celtics in 2010.

Miami's Big Three formed a few weeks after that game, with predictions of multiple titles to follow. Now they're a loss away from going just 1 for 3 in finals to start their partnership, while the Spurs could run their perfect record to 5 for 5.

Duncan won his first title in 1999, and Parker and Ginobili were with him for three championships since. They have been the perfect partnership, keeping the Spurs in the hunt virtually every year while teams like the Lakers, Mavericks and Suns have all risen and fallen in the Western Conference during that time.

They remained unbeaten in Game 5s, including two previous victories when the series was tied at 2-2. Of the 27 times the finals have been tied at 2-2, the Game 5 winner has won 20 of them.

Miami was the most recent loser, falling to Dallas in Game 5 in 2011 before being eliminated at home the next game.

San Antonio shot 42 of 70, right at 60 percent. The last team to make 60 percent of its shots in the finals was Orlando, which hit 62.5 in Game 3 against the Lakers in 2009, according to STATS.

"They just absolutely outplayed us," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "At times they were just picking one guy out at a time and going at us mano-a-mano. That's got to change."

Ray Allen scored 21 points on the night for the Heat as Green shattered his finals 3-point record.

The Heat were within one with 3:05 left in the third before Green hit yet another 3-pointer and Ginobili followed with the stretch that turned the game into the fourth straight blowout of the finals.

The crafty lefty plays with a flair developed on the courts of Argentina and perfected in Europe before coming to the NBA. He sees angles other players can't and takes risks few others would, but his style has been the perfect fit alongside Duncan and Parker.

He converted a three-point play, tossed in a floater with his left hand as he drifted right, and found Tiago Splitter under the hoop with a pass to make it 85-74. He flipped in another runner with 2.9 seconds to go, sending the Spurs to the fourth with an 87-75 lead as fans chanted "Manu! Manu!" during the break between the third and fourth quarters.

Ginobili had been averaging just 7.5 points on 34.5 percent shooting in the series, making only three of his 16 3-point attempts. But Spurs Popovich made the finals' second lineup change in two games, after the Heat inserted Mike Miller to start Game 4.

Ginobili didn't make a start this season and certainly hadn't been playing like someone who belonged with the first five. But in the Spurs' biggest game of the season, they remained confident he would break out, and they were right.

It was the first time he scored 24 or more points since having 34 on June 4, 2012, against Oklahoma City, according to STATS.

The AT&T Center crowd roared when Ginobili was the last starter announced, the cheers growing louder when he made a jumper – originally ruled a 3-pointer but later overturned by replay – on the first possession. He assisted on the Spurs' next three baskets, and it was 15-10 when he later hit a 3 that did count.

Parker picked it up from there, dancing his way into the lane repeatedly and scoring seven points in a 12-0 run that made it 29-17. Leonard's 3-pointer with 4.7 seconds left, on an assist from Ginobili, made it 32-19 and gave the Spurs 12 makes in 19 attempts (63 percent) in the opening 12 minutes.

Green has 25 3s in the series. Allen made 22 3-pointers in six games in 2008 finals for Boston.

Green's third straight 3-pointer made it 45-28 about 5 minutes into the second quarter, and it seemed the trend of blowouts would continue. But James suddenly got rolling during a 14-2 Miami spurt that cut it to five on his third consecutive Heat basket.

San Antonio made 21 of 34 shots (62 percent) in the first half, opening a 61-52 lead on Parker's drive with 0.4 seconds left.

Miami then ran off eight in a row to start the second half and get within one. They cut it to one again later in the period before Ginobili led the flurry that finished the Heat for good.

It was a fitting finish if it was the last home game in the finals for this San Antonio trio, which has combined for 101 playoff victories together. Ginobili has said he might think about retirement as he turns 36 next month, and Duncan is 37.

Both coaches said it was difficult waiting two days between games – Popovich said it was "like death" – though he did say it was great for the Spurs because they have some older players.

The break seemed to help his team early, particularly Parker, whose energy sagged in the second of Game 4 as he struggled with a strained hamstring that he said could tear at any time and would've had him sidelined during the regular season.

Notes: The last team to lose Game 5 of a 2-2 series and then win the title was the Los Angeles Lakers, when they beat Boston in 2010. ... The Spurs said Sunday that reserve guard Patty Mills had surgery to remove an abscess Friday and would miss the rest of the series. Mills had an infection in his right foot and the abscess developed between his fourth and fifth toes.

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Mario Chalmers Implores LeBron James, Heat To 'Go For The Kill' In Game 2 Win Over Spurs (VIDEO)

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Mario Chalmers of the Miami Heat celebrates while playing against the San Antonio Spurs during Game Two of the 2013 NBA Finals on June 9, 2013 at American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida.

MIAMI -- Mario Chalmers marched toward midcourt with a message.

"I felt like we had them on the ropes at the time. I told him, `Let's go for the kill,'" Chalmers said. "He said, `I'm with you.'"

And once LeBron James joined in, the Miami Heat were back with a blowout in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.

Chalmers led the charge, James broke out to finish it with a flurry and the Heat used a 33-5 run to rout the San Antonio Spurs 103-84 on Sunday night and even the series at one game apiece.

James missed 10 of 13 shots through three quarters and the Heat trailed by a point late in the period before unleashing the lethal brand of basketball that led them to a franchise-record 66 wins this season.

Chalmers finished with 19 points, and James had 17 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three blocks – the best on Tiago Splitter's dunk attempt – while shooting only 7 of 17 from the field.

For two days following Game 1, the thought was that James needed to do more for his teammates. Turns out, it was Chalmers and the supporting cast who did something for James.

"Honestly, for me, when I was struggling offensively, my teammates continued to keep it in range," James said. " And we even had a lead at one point, especially late in the second quarter when we made that run and I was struggling a little bit.

"So I think Rio more than anybody kept us aggressive, him getting into the paint, him getting those and-ones and making a couple of 3s. It allowed me to sit back and wait for my time."

The Heat made 10 of 19 3-pointers and got 13 points from Ray Allen, and 12 points and 10 rebounds from the previously slumping Chris Bosh.

Danny Green made all six shots, including five 3-pointers, and scored 17 points for the Spurs. They host Game 3 on Tuesday night.

Tony Parker had 13 points on 5-of-14 shooting for the Spurs, who were so precise in their 92-88 victory in Game 1 but threw the ball all over the white-surrounded court Sunday, committing 17 turnovers that led to 19 Miami points.

"In the second half they just run us over," the Spurs' Manu Ginobili said. "We didn't move the ball at all. Their pressure really got us on our heels."

Tim Duncan shot 3 of 13 and finished with nine points and 11 rebounds.

"We didn't play well. We didn't shoot well. I know I played awfully," Duncan said. "Whatever it may be, they responded better than us. So hopefully we can look forward to this Game 3 and regain some of our composure."

James insisted he wouldn't force himself to do more after he had a triple-double in Game 1 but never seized the opportunity to take control of the scoring as the game was slipping away from the Heat.

He didn't need to. Not with Chalmers making big shots, the Heat's defense forcing the Spurs to look shaky all over the floor, and a barrage of second-half 3-pointers.

James finally got some openings late, hanging from the rim an extra second not long after a sensational blocked shot freed him up for a fast break.

The often-maligned Chalmers is frequently found in Heat highlights being yelled at by James or another Miami veteran. But he's as cocky as any of the superstars in Miami, and he has the big-moment plays to back up his bravado, from a tying shot for Kansas in the 2008 NCAA championship game to his 25 points in Game 4 of last year's finals.

"You have to have guts to play with our guys. If you don't, you get swallowed up," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "The good thing about it is the other guys were fine with him making plays."

The point guard sparked the Heat late in the third, after San Antonio had taken a 62-61 lead. He converted two three-point plays, Allen and Mike Miller nailed 3-pointers, and James made only his third field goal of the game during a 14-3 finishing spurt that sent Miami to the fourth with a 75-65 advantage.

They opened the fourth with nine straight points to make it 84-65, and capped the run at 94-67 when James made a 3-pointer, erasing any chance of their first two-game losing streak in five months.

"We were just a little bit more active today," Bosh said. "We really just made an emphasis to continue to try to corral them."

The Spurs had only four turnovers in Game 1, tying an NBA Finals record low. But they surpassed that total in the first quarter, Parker committing two of their five after not coughing it up once in the opener, and the Spurs looked more like the sloppy Indiana Pacers from Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals than the Spurs of Game 1.

The unrecognizable play continued, Parker firing passes on the pick-and-roll right into a Heat player's leg on multiple occasions and even getting yanked barely three minutes into the third quarter after his struggles continued.

The Spurs responded with seven straight points without him to get back within one. But by the end of the period, it was Chalmers who was the best point guard on the floor.

The Heat dropped Game 1 in last year's finals, and the first two to Dallas in 2006 before going on to win both titles. But those early deficits came on the road, so Dwyane Wade said Sunday's game was a "must-win game" for the Heat.

They arrived to white shirts hanging on the seats that read "Larry loves Miami" with a picture of the Larry O'Brien trophy that goes to the NBA champion.

Larry's not leaving, not if the Heat keep playing like this.

They looked as good as ever in the final 15 minutes of their 100th game of the season, pouring it on and leaving Spurs coach Gregg Popovich often standing with his arms folded on the sideline, with no answers and no way of slowing down the Heat speedsters.

San Antonio had its seven-game postseason winning streak snapped, as well as a six-game NBA Finals win streak that dated to the 2005 finals.

Duncan, who started 0 of 5 in the opener before finishing with 20 points and 14 rebounds, began 1 for 5 in this one. But he never got untracked, though part of the problem was the Spurs' inability to get him the ball enough because of their turnovers.

Wade finished with 10 points and six assists. Miami committed just six turnovers.

Notes: The Spurs remained at 131 playoff wins, two back of the Lakers for most in the NBA since 1997, when Duncan was drafted. ... Clippers veteran Chauncey Billups, a former NBA Finals MVP, was chosen Sunday as the first winner of the NBA's Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award. It was named for Maurice Stokes, who was paralyzed in an on-court accident in 1958, and teammate Jack Twyman, who became Stokes' legal guardian and watched over him for 12 years until Stokes died in 1970.

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Tony Parker Shot: Spurs Guard Banks In Ridiculous Bucket To Seal Game 1 Win Over Heat (VIDEO)

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Tony Parker spent the majority of the most important possession of Game 1 of the 2013 NBA Finals nearly losing the ball. First, he almost lost his handle while trying to split Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade. He then nearly stumbled into LeBron James before awkwardly spinning away. Off the spin, Parker lost his footing, going to the ground. After that, the play really got dramatic.

"It was so crazy, that play, that after a while I was just trying to get a shot up," Parker told Stuart Scott of ESPN after the game. "I lost the ball like three times. It didn't work out like I wanted to but at the end it was a big shot. And it's like that in the Finals. You need a little bit of luck and we had it tonight."

With the San Antonio Spurs clinging to a 90-88 lead and game clock ticking under 10 seconds, Parker lost his footing but kept his dribble. The 31-year-old point guard then rose up only to have to duck under James' outstretched arm. Just before the shot clock expired, Parker loosed his improbable double clutch shot. It caromed off the backboard, bounced up off the rim ... once ... twice ... and then dropped through the net, stretching the Spurs lead to 92-88 with just 5.2 seconds to play. The officials reviewed the play to see if the shot did beat the shot clock. It did, barely. Right?

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"Tony did everything wrong and then he did everything right in the same possession. He stumbled two or three times. He fell over. When he fell over, I was like 'OK, well I'm about to try and tie this ball up.' And he got up and went under my arm. I got a great contest and he even double pumped it and barely got it off," James told reporters after game, recounting Parker's shot. "I mean that was the longest twenty four seconds that I've been a part of."

The remaining 5.2 seconds came and went too quickly for the Heat, who had no answer to Parker's ridiculous circus make. That unlikely basket capped a 10-point fourth quarter for Parker. The Spurs outscored the Heat 23-16 in the final quarter and held on for the 92-88 win in Game 1 of the 2013 NBA Finals.

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Kawhi Leonard Aims To Be 'LeBron Stopper' For Spurs In NBA Finals

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SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Hours away from drawing the toughest defensive assignment of his two-year career with the San Antonio Spurs, Kawhi Leonard wasn't feverishly taking mental notes of how to guard LeBron James.

The second-year pro was simply relaxing at home Monday night, watching Miami rout the Indiana Pacers 99-76 to set up a showdown with San Antonio in the NBA Finals. Seeing how Paul George and Lance Stephenson defended James wasn't as important to Leonard as the outcome.

"I was just laying (down), seeing who we were going to play," he said.

Leonard means no disrespect. He is just happy to know who the Spurs will play after a week's wait following their sweep of the Memphis Grizzlies in the Western Conference finals. The 6-foot-7 Leonard will draw the primary defensive assignment against James, the reigning NBA Finals MVP and two-time league MVP who is averaging 26.2 points, 7.3 rebounds and 6.4 assists in the playoffs.

James is also shooting 51 percent overall and 39 percent on 3-pointers.

"It's just a great challenge for me to try to help my team win by playing good defense on him," Leonard said. "I just accept the challenge and am ready to play."

Facing a player on a hot streak isn't new to San Antonio this postseason following showdowns with Golden State's Stephen Curry and Memphis' Zach Randolph.

After averaging 24 points and 10 assists in an upset of the Denver Nuggets, sweet-shooting Curry was held to 18.2 points and 6 assists against the Spurs — excluding a 44-point, 11-assist effort in a Game 1 loss by the Warriors.

Randolph averaged 18.4 points and 10.8 rebounds while bullying the Oklahoma City Thunder in the paint, but was limited to 11 points and 12 rebounds against the Spurs. His production included a two-point, seven-rebound effort in a Game 1 loss to San Antonio.

In some respect, the Spurs are facing a hybrid of Curry and Randolph in the 6-foot-8, 250-pound James.

"He's great on offense and defense," said Leonard, who has a 7-3 wingspan. "He can pass, he can shoot the ball, gets offensive rebounds and defensive rebounds and he can guard the best player on the other team."

While Leonard will be James' primary defender, the Spurs will attempt to move him toward defensive help in the hope he gives up the ball. It's a strategy that helped San Antonio limit opponents to 44.2 percent shooting, which was eighth in the league.

But James isn't the only player the Spurs know they will need a group mentality to defend, starting with All-Stars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

"They've got more than just the big fella," San Antonio guard Danny Green said. "They are a great team. There is a reason they won last year, and they also added some pieces this year. On paper they have a really good team. Obviously they haven't been playing as well as of late, but they have so many shooters surrounding the Big 3 they are a mismatch problem for any team."

There was speculation that Miami was vulnerable considering Wade was battling a knee injury and Bosh was struggling offensively, leading to a Game 7 against a young Pacers team.

Spurs forward Tim Duncan was stunned by that assertion.

"I don't know how to answer that question," Duncan said. "I will know that when they stand in front of us if that be the case, but as of right now they are still the defending champs and the best team in the regular season."

Wade dismissed a lot of those notions with 21 points and nine rebounds Monday night to lead Miami to its third consecutive NBA Finals.

"He's an All-Star," Green said of Wade. "I don't think it surprises anyone what he's capable of doing. He obviously hasn't been shooting as well, and neither has Chris bosh, but we know what they're capable of. Any given night they can come out and give a game like that.

"Good players do big things on big stages. We expected them to do that last night and we expect them to come out in the Finals and be playing their best basketball."

The Heat swept the regular season series with the Spurs, but both games don't mean much. San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich sent Duncan, Green, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili home rather than have them travel to Miami to play the second night of a back-to-back on Nov. 29. The Spurs were fined $250,000 by the NBA for the decision.

Miami returned the favor by sitting James and Wade on March 21 in San Antonio.

Still, the Spurs could have a leg up on the advance scouting against James and the Heat since the Pacers have a similar roster and defensive strategy.

"It's basketball, so it's not grossly different," Popovich said. "There are some things that we might emphasize or not emphasize as much as Indiana did just because we're a different team. Everybody is going to do things a little differently, but a lot of the things that we all do are similar."