Although the headlines may have been dominated by Kawhi Leonard, Boris Diaw’s presence in Game Three was equally as important in the San Antonio Spurs’ victory over the Miami Heat.

Before Game Three, the NBA’s official twitter page tweeted a thought provoking stat,

“Game 3 winner of a tied #NBAFinals series goes on to win the series 83% of the time.”

This percentage would be even higher but for the 25 seconds of madness during which the Spurs snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in that pivotal Game Six in last year’s NBA Finals. In short, this was a huge game.

The Heat were coming off a Game Two in which they squeezed past San Antonio in Texas. With 6:43 remaining in the game and the Spurs leading 87-85, Mario Chalmers was called for a flagrant foul on Tony Parker for an elbow to Parker midsection.* The result was two free throws for Parker and the possession for the Spurs.

With a chance to extend their lead to six points, the Spurs missed four consecutive free throws — Parker missed both of his attempts from the flagrant foul, and Duncan missed a pair after being fouled on a shot attempt. Rather than facing a six-point deficit, the Heat remained down just two points and took the lead on their next possession with a three-pointer by LeBron James. The Heat held on and stole a game that the Spurs probably should not have lost.

Gregg Popovich decided to change his starting five for Game Three. Miami prefers to use spread lineups with only one big man, usually the spread-happy Chris Bosh, while San Antonio’s default configuration has included two bigs, the twin towers of Tiago Splitter and Tim Duncan.

This frontcourt tandem was a big reason why the Spurs had a league best winning record and also set a new franchise record for most road wins. Splitter can play, he is a very good low-post defender and rebounder whose post-to-post interplay with Tim Duncan and ability to finish in the basket area keeps opponents honest when San Antonio has the ball.

In traditional match-ups, he is a major asset to this Spurs team. Flash back to the Spurs’ conference semifinals series against the Blazers, who play 7-foot center Robin Lopez alongside All-Star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge for most of the game. Splitter’s ability to defend Aldridge in isolation was one of the deciding factors in the series.

Popovich stuck with his regular lineup for Game One and Two, but Sunday night’s loss forced him into a rethink.*

Bosh came to play in the first two games. His game-clinching three-pointer and assist on Sunday were huge, but his offensive reliability — 18 points in each game — has been even bigger, allowing coach Spoelstra to stick with his original script. Rather than being forced to turn to beefier, more-defensive minded lineups involving Udonis Haslem(which would suit Splitter), Spoelstra has been able to just ride Bosh (and Chris Andersen) in small-ball orientations that have succeeded in keeping pace with San Antonio’s attack.

Rashard Lewis playing better than he has in four years is another reason which will have led to Pop’s adjustment. After hitting double figures just eight times all season, Lewis scored ten points in Game 1 and 14 points in Game 2, knocking down five threes in the two games. Nobody could have predicted the Lewis renaissance and the current version we are seeing of Lewis makes him a tough cover for Tiago Splitter.

Splitter played just 19 minutes in the Spurs’ Game 2 loss at home, with Diaw logging the majority of the other minutes.

Boris Diaw has been a revelation in this year’s playoffs. I love his post game, with all of those spin-moves, pivots, fakes, up-and-unders, bankers, finger-rolls, floaters, and even those rare Dirk-ish fadeaways he is tough guard for the anyone who isn’t 6’10 or taller.

Diaw is a joy to watch, he just always seems to make the correct basketball decisions. He is a little too heavy to be a true anything, a few inches too short to be an elite post-defende, slightly too rotund and slow to be a perimeter player but he handles the ball like a pointguard. His mishmash of talents, which don’t really suit any position, but make him a very effective basketball player mean I have always have a soft spot for the guy known as Bobo by his teammates.

Numbers are not really important when discussing Diaw’s impact. I’ll leave it to the master Coach Pop to explain it himself:

“He’s a very versatile, versatile player. Some players have a feel for the game that is better than others. And he’s one of those. He can pass the basketball. He sees the floor in a spatial relationship sort of way. He knows where people are. He knows where the ball should go. He anticipates. On defense, although he’s carrying around a little bit of luggage, he does his work early and positions himself pretty well. He allows us to play big and play small at the same time, is what it amounts to.”

The great thing about the resurgence of Boris Diaw is the fact that most people felt that he was done as a contributing player in this league before Popovich plucked him from the albatross that was the Charlotte Bobcats. Diaw went from a terrible situation in Charlotte, in which he was a part of an historically bad team who posted the lowest winning percentage in the history of the NBA(.106), to arguably the best franchise in the NBA.

One cannot underestimate what being part of a losing culture like can do to a player. He has admitted himself that he checked out halfway through the season when he realised that most of the guys on the team were not bothered by the fact that they were playing historically bad basketball.

His role has increased each year in San Antonio, culminating in this season in which he is playing his best ball since at least 2005-2006, if not ever. He isn’t getting the minutes he did then and his assists per-minute are down from that season where he won the Most Improved Player Award, but in almost every other per-minute category Le Croissant is producing above or near career highs.

His ability to hit from deep improves the Spurs spacing exponentially from when Duncan and Splitter play together. His elite passing ability, out of the post, on the dribble drive and on the catch also makes the Spurs offense hum. He is a genuine threat to score in the post against most of the matchups he sees versus Miami also.

In Game Two he had what many believe to be the best game a player has played in an NBA finals when only scoring two points. His PER* of 30 that was by far the team’s best. He only contributed two points in that one, but his defense, coupled with his 10 rebounds and six assists, made a huge difference that went largely unseen on the score sheet.

Despite making just three field goals and posting just nine points, five rebounds, three assists, a steal, and a block, the Frenchman was key in creating space on the offensive front and strong as ever on the defensive front. Diaw played 37 minutes on Tuesday, more than anyone not named Kawhi Leonard, and his +20 was the best the Spurs had, Kawhi included.

Sidenote: Leonard had a career night and the mental toughness* he showed to put the disappointment of Game 2 behind him was exemplary of the type of professional he is.

This writer will be watching out for Boris Diaw the rest of the series to see how he affects the Spurs’ quest to tear the Larry O’Brien trophy from the grasp of Lebron and co. I urge you to watch with me.

Author’s Notes

*In a post game interview Parker was questioned about the incident. Parker still seemed agitated and called it a “dirty play”.

*Jeff Van Gundy had an interesting point to make on this. He argued that often a coach will stick with the starting lineup that has got them to where they are even if he has an inkling that another lineup might prove more fruitful. A coach wants to see if plan a works before having to adapt the lineup. Interesting.

*For the casual NBA fan, PER or Player Efficiency Rating is not a term you may be aware of. It is a metric that looks at how teams perform with a certain player on the court, how they perform with a certain player off the court, and calculates the overall impact that player has on team success. It is a useful way to determine a player’s value to his team, because it encompasses everything a player does on the basketball floor, even things the NBA doesn’t keep official statistics on.

*This mental toughness should never have been in doubt. In 2008, Leonard’s father was senselessly gunned down at the car wash he owned in Compton, Calif. The next day Leonard, a junior at Riverside King, played in a game, scoring 17 points.

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