Heat, Spurs nip-and-tuck at halftime

Miami, FL – The San Antonio Spurs have already committed more turnovers Sunday than they did in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

They've made up for it by connecting on seven 3-pointers, but still trail the Miami Heat at halftime, 50-45, in a must-have Game 2 for the hosts.

The Heat are trying to avoid an 0-2 series hole after the Spurs came into American Airlines Arena and stole the opener, and they are doing an adequate job despite little production for the league MVP.

LeBron James, who is coming off his 10th career playoff triple-double, has been limited to four points on 2-of-7 shooting, but has gotten some much- needed help from his supporting cast.

Dwyane Wade and Mario Chalmers each have 10 points, while Chris Bosh and Chris Andersen have combined for 13, most of which have come inside as the Heat have 26 points in the paint to the Spurs' 14.

Danny Green surprisingly leads San Antonio with 12 points on 4-of-4 shooting from behind the arc. Tony Parker, the Game 1 hero with 10 fourth-quarter points and a memorable clinching bank shot, has 10 with four assists but has also accounted for three of the Spurs' eight turnovers.

The entire first half has been no more than a five-point game.

The Spurs committed as many giveaways (four) in the first 5:34 as they did in Game 1 when they tied a Finals record for fewest turnovers.

They still led early thanks to Green going 3-for-3 from behind the arc, the third yielding a 9-4 lead less than four minutes in, but the rest of the team shot just 5-for-18 (28 percent) for the opening quarter.

Seven straight Miami points, capped by a Bosh tip-in, gave Miami a short-lived 18-15 lead, and it was knotted 22-22 after 12 hard-fought minutes.

The second quarter played out much the same way, as the Heat countered a 10-0 Spurs run by scoring on eight straight possessions to turn a 34-29 deficit into a 45-42 lead on Wade's short jumper with under three minutes to go before halftime.

A Chalmers 3-pointer and Wade layup in the closing stages gave the Heat the five-point lead at the break.

Veteran referee Joey Crawford was working his first Finals since he infamously ejected Tim Duncan from a regular season game in 2007 for laughing on the bench. The incident resulted in the NBA to suspending Crawford for the rest of the regular season and all of the postseason that year for "failing to meet the standards of professionalism" of NBA referees.