SCOREBOARD
Thursday, June 14
San Antonio at Cleveland (9 p.m. EDT). The Spurs can wrap up their third title in five years and fourth overall with a victory.
DOING OTHER THINGS
San Antonio’s 75-72 victory over Cleveland on Tuesday night received a 6.4 national rating and an 11 share on ABC, down 20 percent from the 8.0/14 for last year’s Game 3 between Dallas and Miami. The Game 3 drop follows a 30 percent plunge for Game 2 and a 19 percent decline for Game 1.
OFFENSIVE OFFENSE
The Cavaliers have scored just 240 points (80 ppg) through the first three games of the NBA Finals – all losses to San Antonio. Baltimore currently holds the disticintion of being the most inept NBA Finals team, managing only 376 points (94 per game) while getting swept by Milwaukee in 1971. The Bullets shot 38.4 percent in that series, also a finals-low for a four-game series. Cleveland is hovering right at 40 percent.
THREE FINGERS SHY
Robert Horry will earn his seventh championship ring if San Antonio can win one of the final four games of the NBA Finals against Cleveland. It would be the second ring with the Spurs for 15-year veteran Horry, 36, who has two rings from his days with Houston and three with the Los Angeles Lakers.
NEEDING ASSISTANCE
Dick Harter will return to Indiana for the third time, this time as an assistant to new coach Jim O’Brien. The 76-year-old Harter was an assistant under Jack Ramsay from 1986-88 and under Larry Bird from 1997-2000, when he oversaw the team’s defense as it reached the 2000 NBA Finals. … Charlotte coach Sam Vincent completed his staff Wednesday by hiring former NBA center Paul Mokeski as an assistant coach.
SPEAKING
“That’s all psycho babble. When I think of dynasties, two come to my mind real quick – UCLA and Bill Russell. Everything else is just talk.” – San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich on the Spurs being considered a dynasty if they could win a fourth NBA championship in nine years.