Highlights from a more-exciting-than-it-needed-to-be Spurs win over the Heat

In case you may have been watching parts (or all) of the AFC Championship game Sunday and missed a fun and frenetic rematch between the Spurs and Heat, here are highlights worth seeing after the Spurs encouraging victory over Miami. After Heat guard Duncan Robinson started the game hot and watched San Antonio come back to beat his team, he shared “I have a ton of respect for this organization and how they do things.”

LaMarcus Aldridge - This confident shot seems to be just the adrenaline that the starters’ offense has needed all season long:

Since opponents are starting to respect his corner three, it will be this kind of savvy move that LaMarcus will have a chance to make to capitalize on scrambling defenders:

DeMar DeRozan - The swingman continues to make a convincing case of his all-star candidacy with his most efficient statistical regular season thus far. Even on the rare plays that broke down, DeRozan adroitly found his teammates:

Since you probably want to see the entirety of his excellent plays from the game, here they are:

Marco Belinelli - Though the oft-maligned shooter lost his touch for a stretch, he still gives us moments of 4-point madness as a reminder of what he is capable of:

This late dagger is the type of dish that Marco needs to start serving HOT (rather than cold) so that the team can benefit during its second-half push:

Patty Mills - The man honored by a bobblehead made all of our heads turn and bounce with his repertoire of sheer hustle and timely shooting, which we have needed in this inconsistent year, including this all-out effort that might as well been the play-of-the-game:

And of course, nearly every single one of his threes like this one in transition were needed to catch the Heat and eventually fend them off:

As a result of Patty’s embracing and modeling of the Spurs team culture in the last eight years, he is now the owner of this national honor:

Lonnie Walker IV - Though we are growing accustomed to seeing him making highlight-reel memories for us, the increased playing time today was encouraging to see:

Trey Lyles - The Spurs bigs continues to add new and sometimes unnoticed wrinkles to their respective games - with Lyles being no different. Here he demonstrates the show-and-go fake and drive towards the basket as opponents respect his shot more:

If he continues to improve his court vision and passing, opportunities may open up for teammates more often:

Derrick White - White quietly yet assertively served notice of the need for his inclusion in closing line-ups due to plays like this that pushed the team up after some difficult possessions:

This drive and kick action late in the shot clock with Walker IV showed what end-of-game execution could look like going forward:

Finally, the big dump:

Pounders - here’s to a day of commemorating and honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the gift of the freedom to watch more Spurs basketball later today against the Phoenix Suns!