Shane Battier News

As someone who works in the media and gets paid to have silly debates about silly subjects, it makes me the ultimate hypocrite to say this.

The legacies of eight, perhaps nine Hall-of-Famers, including a couple of the all-time greats, hang in the balance tonight.

In a lighter moment earlier in the NBA Finals, Shane Battier contemplated a question and answered the way only he can.

Let's get Miami's changes for Games 6 & 7 out of the way early: 1) Get Mike Miller out of the starting lineup.

The road trips end for the Miami Heat on Sunday night when, win or lose in Game 5 of the 2013 Finals against San Antonio , the Heat will fly and unpack as a group for the last time in 2012-13.

Q: I am sitting in the dark, scared of how the Heat are going to come out for Game 5. Do they realize the magnitude of winning this game, or are they just going to mail it in like every other game? -- Albert.

SAN ANTONIO Muthu Alagappan always encounters the same problem whenever he shows up to play pickup basketball.

Chris Bosh got the rebound. LeBron James got the pass. Dwyane Wade then came loping down the lane, taking the ball from LeBron and dunking the last smidgeon of San Antonio hope, all of it, through the basket Thursday night.

Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has created an offensive attack that maximizes the abilities of his best players.

Tiago Splitter #22 of the San Antonio Spurs attempts a shot against Dwyane Wade #3 of the Miami Heat during Game Four of the 2013 NBA Finals on June 13, 2013 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas.

The San Antonio Spurs certainly didn't - not after watching Wade have his way with them from tip to buzzer in Game 4 of the 2013 NBA Finals.

Observations from Thursday night's 109-93 NBA Finals victory over the San Antonio Spurs at the AT&T Center: And no matter the outcome, Dwyane Wade decided he was going to be an active participate, this time throughout the game.

Sure, their 113-77 shortfall against the San Antonio Spurs in Game 3 of the 2013 NBA Finals was the third worst in league championship history and easily the worst for the Heat since their Big Three came together in 2010.

Observations from Tuesday night's 113-77 NBA Finals loss to the San Antonio Spurs at the AT&T Center: If there were any thoughts of closing this out in San Antonio, the hope now has to be closer to escaping with one victory, in this 2-3-2 format.

The whispers began even before the regular season concluded. The shift appeared inevitable.

Basketball nicknames, once a proud tradition have fallen on hard times. D-Wade? T-Mac? Timmy? C-Bosh? Are these even nicknames? Ok, so Birdman and the Red Mamba are GOOD, but overall we've gotten lazy when it comes to bestowing flowery and colorful 'nom de hoops' on our hardwood heroes.

The Miami Heat surely have designs of contending for championships for the next several years, even though LeBron James , Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh can each become free agents in any of the next three offseasons after this one.

He deposited all three 3-pointers he launched Sunday night, including a pair during that monstrous 33-5 Heat run over 12 minutes spanning the third and fourth quarters.

After being selected the first winner of the NBA's Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award on Sunday, Billups was overcome with gratitude and humbled to be mentioned in the same sentence.

Chris 'Birdman' Andersen has emerged as a key contributor for the Miami Heat this postseason, providing energy, defense and rebounding off of the bench.