Remember When New Miami Heat Guard Patty Mills Ended Big 3's 3-Peat Dreams?
The name Patty Mills still torments Miami Heat fans a decade later.
The Heat signed the veteran point guard on Tuesday afternoon. Mills is best remembered for his time with the San Antonio Spurs (2012-2021), winning a championship over the Heat in 2014.
The Spurs won in five games, ending the Heat’s three-peat hopes and the Big 3 era. Mills, not known as a scorer, was the unsung hero for San Antonio as he played a pivotal role off the bench in Games 4 and 5.
Mills scored 14 points (4 of 6 from three) in a Game 4 win after averaging just 4.6 points in his previous nine games. He topped his breakout performance with an even better one, scoring 17 points (5-8 from three) in a close-out Game 5.
After snatching the title from San Antonio in 2013, beating the star-studded Spurs for the second year in a row was always going to be a challenge for the Heat. Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Kawhi Leonard and Manu Ginóbili are already enough to gameplan for, but Mills turning into an elite sharpshooter could not have been expected.
In his most memorable moment, with the Spurs clinging to a seven-point lead entering the third quarter of Game 5, Mills went off. He scored 14 points in the quarter, going 5-5 from the field and 4-4 from three. The Spurs went on to win 104-87.
Now 35 years old, Mills looks to help rather than haunt the Heat. His role is likely to be limited behind Terry Rozier and Delon Wright on the depth chart. But, as history has shown, he is capable of making a difference when his number is called.
Nick Crandell is a staff contributor at Inside the Heat.
He can be reached at nick.crandell33@gmail.com or follow him on Instagram @nickcrandell
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