Game 3 a stinker, but Spurs don't mind at all

Meanwhile for Cleveland the game was nearly a total disaster and the next-to-last possession was indicative of how it has gone for them in these Finals. San Antonio led 72-70 with about 26 seconds remaining when coach Mike Brown began yelling for a timeout.

The problem was it was so loud in the arena none of the Cavaliers heard him.

So for that big moment -- maybe the biggest in franchise history -- it was not LeBron James who took the shot but the puffy-haired Anderson Varejao.

Anderson Varejao. That is who took the critical shot. Anderson Varejao.

Anderson freakin' Varejao. He missed.

It might as well have been Anderson Cooper.

"I hollered all the way up until Andy shot the ball," Brown said.

He should have detonated a Claymore mine to get his attention.

The way things went early in Game 3, it did not seem like this particular contest would signal the end for Cleveland. The arena was boisterous and energetic; more like Ohio State-Michigan than an NBA game.

The Cavaliers made this contest closer than the previous two because of several simple adjustments. First, Tony Parker's drives to the basket killed Cleveland in its first two games. This time, each time Parker went to the hole, he was surrounded by a number of Cavaliers. They finally decided to try and stop him.

"They stayed with me on the pick-and-roll," Parker said. "They made sure I gave up the ball."

Second, Cleveland forced San Antonio to play its butt-ugly, slow-down style of basketball. It may be unattractive but it's effective.

Most important, the Cavaliers attacked Tim Duncan forcing Duncan to vigorously defend. Duncan is an all-time elite defensive giant but he does sometimes make cheap fouls. He picked up his third with over five minutes left in the first half.

Despite so much going Cleveland's way and the Spurs playing one of their worst offensive games of the playoffs they were still leading 40-38 at the half.

And at halftime the jet-engine loud arena was deathly quiet.

While Cleveland played solid defense -- the only consistent offense for the Spurs was Bruce Bowen who made four 3-pointers -- the Spurs shut down James.

San Antonio's rule of no James layups and no dunks was working perfectly. A big reason why is Bowen.

"I'm just thrilled by Bruce Bowen," Popovich said. "You know he's guarding somebody that's going to be a Hall of Fame player when it's all said and done. And he's playing for (43 minutes) and he scored 13 points and got nine rebounds. What a yeoman effort on his part. I just thought he was fantastic from beginning to end and I think he really set the tone for our team."

The Spurs won and will easily capture this series but not even the ever-present face of Eva Longoria can pretty this mess up.

The Spurs say so what.

"It may be ugly," Parker explained, "but we'll take it."