Spurs One Win Away

Jun 13, 11:41 AM

Current Headlines: By Rodney Mckissic, The Buffalo News, N.Y.

Jun. 13--CLEVELAND -- It's almost over now. A work of art in need of one final stroke. The San Antonio Spurs have the bubbly, and the Cleveland Cavaliers, on ice.

The Spurs, on the threshold of their fourth championship in nine seasons, delivered a message right between the eyes of the fading and coldshooting Cavs, who after a 75-72 loss Tuesday at Quicken Loans Arena face a 3-0 deficit in the NBA Finals and have nowhere else to turn.

Game Four will be in Cleveland on Thursday, when the Spurs could complete a 16-4 playoff run that would trump 58 regular-season victories.

"I know it's the first to four games," Cleveland's LeBron James said, "but we dug ourselves a big hole."

Cleveland had a chance to send the game into overtime, but James'

three-pointer before time expired bounced in and out. James pleaded for the official to call a foul -- replays showed Bruce Bowen pushed him in the back slightly -- but to no avail.

"Incidental contact," James said, offering no excuses. "It didn't affect my shot. I had a good look at it, and I missed."

That was the snap shot for Game Three, and perhaps the entire series. San Antonio simply handcuffed Cleveland defensively, holding the Cavs to 3 of 19 from three-point range and 36.7 percent overall. The focus is on James, who has 17 turnovers and is shooting only 35 percent from the floor. He did manage to score 25 points in Game Three, but not without a double- and at times triple-team close behind.

"They're definitely making me work for everything I do," James said.

Said Tony Parker of the Spurs: "We try not to give him anything easy. No layups, that's our rule, no layups, no dunks."

No anything, really. The starting backcourt of Daniel Gibson and Sasha Pavlovic went 5 of 25, 2 of 11 from beyond the arc. Gibson, who started in place of injured point guard Larry Hughes, was especially cold, going 1 of 10 and 0 for 5 from three-point range. Cleveland got only seven points from the bench.

"I think I can honestly say that these three games is the best defense we've played all season," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "This is the best defense we've played in the playoffs, and it's been back-to-back-to-back, without a doubt."

They won without Parker displaying the dominance he showed in Games One and Two, but he was lethal nonetheless with 17 points, the biggest shot coming from three-point range with a minute left to gave the Spurs a 72-67 advantage.

The Spurs weren't even at full- and fear-provoking throttle, trailing by two after the first quarter and eight in the second quarter before slipping ahead by two at halftime. At the start of the fourth, Tim Duncan had only four field goals, Manu Ginobili was scoreless (0 for 7 from the field) and San Antonio led, 55-50.

But Bowen scored 13 points, an unlikely blow to the belly of Cleveland's exterior defense. The Spurs got nine points from Brent Barry, the setshot shooting reserve. And there was Duncan, who contributed 14 points, his 6 of 17 shooting a testament to Cleveland's swarming double teams.

But the Spurs' defense was the story. With San Antonio leading, 72-70, James spun into the heart of a Spurs double team and passed to Anderson Varejao, whose layup was way off.

"Andy made a good move," James said, "he just overshot it."

rmckissic@buffnews.com

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