SAN ANTONIO – Gary Neal and Danny Green listened to their coach and kept on shooting.
Shaking off a humiliating blowout for the biggest game in San Antonio since 2007 — blame that on the gridlock that made Tim Duncan and Tony Parker late to the AT&T Center — the Spurs kept giving LeBron James fits in the NBA Finals and ran away to a 2-1 series lead over the Miami Heat with a 113-77 victory Tuesday night.
"Feel confident, let 'em fly, get your name in the paper," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich barked during a timeout in the second quarter, when Game 3 was still in doubt.
Green scored 27 points and Neal had 24. They combined for 13 of the Spurs' 16 3-pointers, a playoff franchise record in a win that was a milestone for San Antonio's stars.
It was playoff win No. 100 for the Spurs' trio of Duncan, Parker and Manu Ginobili.
Neal paced San Antonio with the bench offense it lacked in Game 2.
He couldn't have rediscovered his stroke at a better time: Since the NBA Finals went to a 2-3-2 format, the winner of Game 3 is 12-1 when the series began as a split.
Game 4 is Thursday night in San Antonio.
Neal was 9 of 17 from the field and 6 of 10 from behind the arc. Green, whose shooting has been the offensive story for the Spurs so far in the Finals, was 9 of 15 from the floor and hit 7 of 9 3-pointers.
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