Spurs Are on the Brink

Stifling Defense Bottles Up Cavs As San Antonio Takes a 3-0 Lead: Spurs 75, Cavaliers 72

Drew Gooden (13 points, 12 rebounds) and the Cavaliers are on the brink of being swept in their first NBA Finals appearance. (Getty Images)

CLEVELAND, June 12 -- The San Antonio Spurs were far from the dominant, nearly flawless offensive machine they had been back in Texas, but they didn't have to be. Their defense Tuesday night more than compensated for their offensive deficiencies.

With a change of venue, San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker found the lanes more difficult to penetrate and rarely finished the few times he broke through the cracks during Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Quicken Loans Arena. When foul trouble wasn't keeping Tim Duncan in his warm-ups, his bank shots hit the wrong part of the backboard and one jump hook barely grazed the rim. Manu Ginobili displayed little accuracy.

When Cleveland Cavaliers' forward LeBron James's fall-away three-pointer bounced off the rim in the closing seconds of a 75-72 victory, the Spurs claimed a 3-0 lead in this best-of-seven series. The 147 combined points tied for the second-lowest total in a Finals game in NBA history, but Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich wasn't concerned with aesthetics with his team one win from claiming its fourth title in nine seasons -- one win from being called a dynasty. "I'm happy with anything tonight," Popovich said. "You name anything and I'm happy."

The city of Cleveland waited 37 seasons for its first NBA Finals game. It may only get the privilege of hosting one more this season, as the Spurs will have an opportunity to record the eighth sweep in Finals history on Thursday night.

Parker led the Spurs in scoring for the third consecutive game with just 17 points and the Frenchman could possibly become the first European player to be named the MVP of the Finals. "That would be nice," Parker said, with a grin, "but this is Timmy's team and it will always be Timmy's team. If it happens, I'll be the first one to be very happy. We'll see, one more game."

Duncan, who had just 14 points on 6-for-17 shooting, said he'd vote for Parker. "Sure. As long as we get to four [wins] that's all that matters. Tony has been unbelievable. He's been great."

After Parker carved through the Cavaliers' defense to the tune of 28.5 points per game in San Antonio, Cleveland held Parker scoreless in the first period, but he still managed to come through in the clutch. He gave the Spurs a five-point lead when he nailed a three-pointer from the left elbow extended with one minute left. Cavaliers guard Sasha Pavlovic answered with a three-pointer to bring Cleveland within 72-70 and Parker turned over the ball on the Spurs' next possession, with a misguided pass intended for Duncan with 16 seconds remaining.

Cavaliers Coach Mike Brown said he started to scream: "Timeout! Timeout! Timeout!" But his players didn't hear him. "It was so loud in there," Brown said. "There was nothing I could do."

James, who scored a game-high 25 points, spun around Bruce Bowen, and dished the ball to reserve forward Anderson Varejao. James said he expected Varejao to pass the ball back. Instead, Varejao, not known for his offensive acumen, dribbled inside and threw up a weak, off-balance shot that hit the backboard and nothing else. "He just over-shot it," James said. "I definitely wanted to try to get a good look at it or give my teammate a better look at it, but it was just a miscommunication."

The Spurs and Cavaliers played the most competitive game of the series, but that didn't make it any easer to watch. Neither team shot better than 41 percent and it wasn't strictly the result of good defense. Both teams missed point-blank layups and open jump shots.

Ginobili had scored a combined 41 points off the bench in San Antonio, but he missed all seven shots he took. He finished with three points, all from the foul line in the final minute. His scoring void was filled by Bowen, who scored 13 points and nailed four three-pointers. "Bruce picked up a lot of the slack," Popovich said.

NFL legend Jim Brown, who led the Browns to Cleveland's last championship of any kind in 1964, was in attendance as the Cavaliers dropped to 7-2 at home in the postseason. The last time the Cavaliers were in this building, they thrashed the Detroit Pistons in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals and became just the third team in NBA history to win a conference final after losing the first two games. With his team down 2-0 for the second consecutive series, James said Game 3 "definitely" was the biggest game of his career and urged his teammates to "seize the moment."

In the end, though, James couldn't deliver. "We are pretty good defensive team," Duncan said. "We're not bad."

Rookie point guard Daniel Gibson was thrust into the starting lineup after Larry Hughes's torn plantar fasci in his left foot moved him to the inactive list. Gibson had been a spark off the bench against Detroit and in the first two games against San Antonio, but he scored just two points on 1-of-10 shooting after averaging 15.5 points in the first two games. Brown had to sit him in favor of veteran Eric Snow for most of the fourth quarter.

Gibson and back-court mate Pavlovic (13 points) combined to go 6 for 25. "Everybody still has to believe," James said. "It's the first of four games, but we dug ourselves a big hole. We know that. We just have to come out and try to win four straight games."