Five games in, this has been one heck of a series.

Even though every game since the opener has been one-sided by the final minutes for one of the two teams, it has still been a fantastic showing by both sides in how they have made adjustments after losses, showing great prowess defensively and offensively throughout stretches.

Tied 2-2, Game 5 was up for grabs. Playing their last home game of the season, the San Antonio Spurs put on a show in front of their home crowd and are just one game shy of defeating the defending champion Miami Heat to win the crown.

Trampled by Miami’s Big Three and Erik Spoelstra’s small-ball adjustment in Game 4 (Mike Miller spacing the floor, Chris Andersen not playing...), Gregg Popovich made his own small-ball adjustment in Game 5 by starting the struggling Manu Ginobili for Tiago Splitter, and it payed off immensely, as Ginobili finally came up big with 24 points on 8-for-14 shooting and 10 assists. The Spurs’ Big Three combined for 67 points on 66 percent shooting, helping San Antonio finish the game shooting 60 percent against a Heat team known to defend well.

So how did they do it?

The Spurs isolated on 19 percent of their offense in Game 5 and it proved extremely effective. Tony Parker abused the Heat’s point guards in Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole, getting his way with them and blowing by them for easy points in the paint. He finished with 36 percent of the Spurs’ 50 points in the paint, 18 of his 26 points. Parker made every single one of his nine attempts in the paint for those 18 points, capitalizing on every opportunity he got. He finished the game with an excellent 1.27 PPP on the isolation.

As for Ginobili, eight of his 24 points were in the paint, where he was 4-for-7, and he finished the game with a crazy 1.83 PPP running the iso. Of course, this is not to mention the eight free-throw attempts he and Parker were rewarded for their efforts getting in the lane, combining for 13-for-16 from the charity stripe.

San Antonio rode a 15-2 run to end the first quarter. The key to the run? Isolation. Parker abused Cole during this run, and it either resulted in Parker getting in the lane and scoring, or driving and kicking to an open shooter.

The Spurs were simply able to take advantage of Miami’s lack of size on the inside, winning the points in the paint battle 50-40. It is worth noting that the team that wins that battle in each game in these Finals has won the game.

Prior to Game 5, Miami was averaging 58.7 percent on shots in the paint in the series, going 81-for-138 as a team. In Game 5, the Spurs did an excellent job of defending the paint, allowing the Heat to convert on just 46.5 percent.

According to ESPN Stats & Info, “the Heat shot a series-low 39.2 percent on drives in Game 5, including 4-for-12 on drives from Wade & James.” In Game 4 they were a combined 11-for-15 on drives, totaling 26 points.

LeBron James came into the game making 56.7 percents of his shots in the paint, but was limited to just 35.7 percent on Sunday night. Part of this was “botched” fastbreak opportunities for the Heat, of which we must give some of the credit to the Spurs being able to get back and bother Miami just enough to force some misses. However, James just couldn’t get his rhythm going and finished 8-for-22 from the field, only 2-for-10 on jump shots.

James at the power forward spot allowed Popovich to play Boris Diaw big minutes, as Tiago Splitter and Matt Bonner were struggling defensively against Miami’s small-ball lineups. Instead of being forced to defend the perimeter, all Diaw had to do was keep his body James down low, and it payed off. He is big enough for James not to be able to bully and is also deceivingly quick. LeBron finished the game 1-for-8 against Diaw.

San Antonio also combined for eight blocks in the game, getting stops at the rim and

Couple Miami’s struggles from the paint along with their atrocious shooting from mid-range, where they shot 6-for-20, and it makes a lot more sense why they only shot 43 percent for the game.

In fact, what saved this game from being a complete blowout was their shooting from long-range. They went 11-for-23, including 4-for-4 from Ray Allen who converted on two four-point plays in the game. Their two hot-spots from the floor were from the two corners from the arc, where they were 4-for-6 from the left corner and 3-for-5 from the right.

Down 3-2 and on the brink of being dethroned, Miami will find themselves in a similar position as the one they were in during the 2011 Finals against the Dallas Mavericks, when they lost Game 6 on their home floor.

Will history repeat itself, or can the Heat find a way to finally break out of their slump and win two consecutive games?

Follow @PeterChalach

Let me start by taking a line from LeBron James: “It’s about damn time.”

This is what everyone was thinking after Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night, whether you love, hate or are neutral toward the Miami Heat.

It took them a while to get it going, a long while actually, but the Big Three from South Beach finally stepped up and led their team the way they were meant to when they were assembled in the summer of 2010. When it mattered most, they came together and delivered on the big stage to tie the series at two games apiece with a 109-93 win.

It all started in the first quarter, with the Heat playing aggressively on defense and on offense with their modified starting lineup (Chris Andersen didn’t play a single minute in the game!), aiming to play the way they play best: small.

With just 47 seconds of the game in the books, Gregg Popovich pulled Tiago Splitter, quickly understanding that the Heat intended to pick on him. The San Antonio Spurs started out red-hot, taking a 15-5 lead before Erik Spoelstra called his first timeout of the game. Not a good start for Miami, not good at all.

From there, everything started to turn around.

James was criticized for his lack of aggression in two of the first three games, even all three for some critics.

James vowed to be better in his comments to the media and was he ever.

After having settled for jumper after jumper throughout most of the series, James put his foot down and went to the post from the get-go, getting in great, deep position from the start.

In Game 3, 14 of his 24 shots came from eight feet and beyond. In the first quarter alone in Game 4, James was 3-for-4 in the paint and did not attempt a single mid-range jumper until late in the quarter.

In the first three games of the series, LeBron had trouble making shots. They were not well-defended shots either, but were jump shots that he has been making on a good, consistent basis.

Going to the paint early by posting up Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green from the start paid off, as he was able to knock down a few shots and was able to find his rhythm on offense. Doing so got him in the flow of the game and is what gave him confidence to take and make two mid-range jumpers late in the quarter after having gone 2-for-14 from outside of the paint in Game 3.  He finished the quarter with 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting to go along with three rebounds and two assists.

James finished the game with 33 points on 15-for-25 shooting to go along with 11 rebounds and 4 assists, his best outing against the Spurs by far in the NBA Finals, both in 2007 and 2013.

He was 7-for-13 inside the paint and was, wait for it, 7-for-9 from mid-range! After having finally gotten his offensive rhythm going early, something he failed to do in the first three games, the shots started to fall. Lesson learned? For his sake and for the sake of his team, let’s hope so.

LeBron also won the rebounding battle against Leonard. Coming into the game, Leonard was averaging a monstrous 4.3 offensive rebounds in the first three games, quite amazing for a 6’6” small forward. James’ hustle and scrappiness in Game 4 limited Leonard to just one offensive rebound, ultimately denting the second-chance points that were killing the Heat in the series.

Moving on to the struggling Dwyane Wade, he was Flash in Game 4, checking out of the game with 32 points on 14-for-25 from the field, six rebounds, four assists, six steals and ZERO turnovers. This was his first 30-point outing in over three months, when he scored 32 points against the Minnesota Timberwolves on March 4th.

After having gone 1-for-8 in the paint in Game 3, he started the game 3-for-3 in the paint in the first quarter, also getting in rhythm early, and he reaped the rewards, finishing 10-for-12 in the paint for the game. Even though his mid-range jumper was not falling, he did enough on the inside to help his team come out on top.

Wade has been playing well in the first half in the first three games of the Finals, but has been missing in the second half, averaging 2.7 points. Last night, he came up big as he scored 18 of his 32 points in the second half.

As for Chris Bosh, he put up his third double-double in a row, going for 20 points and 13 rebounds. The big man came up with many defensive plays for Miami, including two big blocks on back-to-back San Antonio possessions. He was also very efficient in the paint, going 5-for-7.

Miami’s Big Three combined for 85 whopping points, shooting excellently at 58 percent, also combining for 30 rebounds, nine assists, four steals, four blocks and two turnovers.

Expect Popovich to adjust his lineup in Game 5 to counter the Heat’s offense. Even after beating the Heat at their own game in Game 3 playing small-ball, he has realized that his team will not win the series by trying to match Miami’s style of play. Look for him to go big in Game 5, with Tim Duncan shouldering a lot of the load. It'll come down to how Miami plays him. The key is Bosh needing to play him well, and if Miami opts to double-team, which the Spurs will be expecting, whether Miami can recover in time, or probe without committing faithfully. 

The Heat played with great intensity, aggression and energy defensively, something that was lacking immensely in Game 3.

For starters, they limited the Spurs to .990 points per possession. They also forced 19 turnovers and capitalized by scoring 23 points off them. The Spurs only converted on six fastbreak points and Miami limited San Antonio’s rebounding to 36 compared to the Heat’s 41, including five offensive rebounds in the Spurs’ favor compared to seven for the Heat. To put it in perspective, San Antonio was averaging a mind-blowing 13.3 offensive rebounds in the series compared to Miami’s nine.

The three-ball has been a problem for Miami this whole series. Prior to Game 4, the Spurs were making 11 threes per game while attempting 25, hitting at a 44 percent clip. While the Spurs made 50 percent of their attempts last night, the Heat made them work very hard, contesting the long-distance shot very well. San Antonio converted on tough looks and ended up making eight of their 16 attempts.

The good news for the Spurs in the game was Tony Parker's play in the first half. He played extremely well considering he was not 100 percent with his hamstring sprain. In the first quarter, he had 11 points on 5-for-9 shooting, as well as two assists. In the second quarter, the Heat began to clamp down on him and limited him to four points, four assists and two rebounds while forcing him to turn the ball over three times after failing to do so in the first twelve minutes. In the second half, they took him out of the game completely. Parker was irrelevant in the final 24 minutes, failing to score a single point, missing all four of his attempts from the field, and dishing three assists to go along with an offensive rebound. Norris Cole and Mario Chalmers did an excellent job on him, as well as Chris Bosh who would hedge high and aggressively as to not allow him the lane or would wipe out his shot attempts when he made it in the paint.

Without elaborating much on Manu Ginobili, it is evident that he is probably not going to step up too much in the series. He has been very sloppy handling the ball and dishing, and has not shot well, scoring 7.5 points per game on 34.5 percent shooting, as well as 18.8 percent from the three-point line.

The pressure is on Tony Parker to get San Antonio’s offense going, as Gary Neal is a shooter and only a shooter, as well as Green. None have the ability to create. 

As for adjusting on James who has finally figured out that he can and must get to the post early, I don't expect too many adjustments on him. I simply expect for the Spurs to be more aggressive in defending him and in clogging the lane more. I don't expect too many double-teams, but some, as Pop will want to mix it up a little with him. In Game 2, double-teams led to a three-point party for Miami. In Game 4, not doubling led to Miami finding their rhythm on offense and winning the paint battle 50-32. We will probably see a mix of both, giving LeBron different looks and match-ups.

It is now a best-of-three series, and in these cases, the winner in Game 5 has ended up winning the title seven out of 10 times. If San Antonio wins on Sunday night, Miami is fortunate to go home and try to win Games 6 and 7.

But if the Big Three for Miami come out like they did last night and win Game 5, the Spurs will face an improbable task of winning two straight in Miami.

Follow @PeterChalach

Most people expected a Game 4 explosion from LeBron James. He vowed to be better and more aggressive after the Miami Heat lost by 36 points to the San Antonio Spurs in Game 3. What we saw was Dwyane Wade finally make a statement in these NBA Finals.

Whether it’s due to injury, frustration or good defense from the Spurs, Wade has struggled to make a lasting positive impact on the series. In Game 4, however, he was the Heat’s catalyst, setting the tone and leading the way to victory, tying the series at 2-2. Wade also gave everyone a reminder of how he can change a game. It’s hard to truly understand his impact while watching him struggle through injury. There is also the issue of his contributions, large or small, being overshadowed by the attention paid to James, his more famous teammate. After his latest performance, there won’t be many doubting what he can do and how important he is to the Heat’s success. Contrary to popular belief, the Heat have more than one All-Star on the roster.

“No matter how great you are, no matter what your résumé is, to have a game like this,” James said. “It lets you know that you're still one bad ‑‑ you know the next two words. I can't say, my kids may be watching. That dude was amazing. Like I said, he was '06 Flash tonight. And we needed every bit of him.”

There is no doubt that Wade needed to have a big game. Not only for his teammates, not only to silence the critics – those that haven’t completely forgotten about him – he needed to gain some confidence that he could have a big game in spite of the injury and still contribute top-tier performances for his team.

Wade was aggressive from the start of the game. He attacked offensively and disrupted the Spurs with his defense. Finishing the game with 32 points, six rebounds, four assist and a playoff career-high six steals, Wade controlled the game and set the tone for the champs. It was his best game of the playoffs and a performance that could serve as a springboard for the remainder of the Finals.

“I needed a game like this, but my teammates needed a game like this from me,” Wade said. “They needed me to be aggressive, needed me to play the way that I'm capable of. Most important, they needed the Big Three to play the way we're capable of.”

Things only get tougher for Wade and the Heat following their Game 4 victory. They’ve been great following losses, but so far in the Finals neither team has been able win consecutive games. Wade, until his breakout performance, hasn’t been able to put together complete game performances. If the Heat have any chance of winning Wade is going to need to be as good as he was in Game 4, maybe better.

It’s a challenge he understands and is looking forward to.

“I think Game 5 should be the best game of the series,” Wade said. “Both teams should come out knowing each other, knowing what each other want to do, and it should be a very good game.”