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Hot-shooting Spurs lead Heat by 21 at halftime of Game 3

Kawhi Leonard led a scorching San Antonio shooting effort with 18 points and the Spurs went 25-of-33 from the floor en route to a 71-50 lead at halftime of Game 3 of the NBA Finals from AmericanAirlines Arena.

Leonard, who had just 18 points over the first two games of this series, shot 6-of-7 from the floor, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range, while Danny Green netted 13 points on 6-of-6 shooting for the Spurs, who shot 75.8 percent from the floor, an NBA record for any half in an NBA Finals game.

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Leonard scored 16 of his first-half points in the opening frame, while Manu Ginobili banked in a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to help the Spurs jump out to a 41-25 lead after 12 minutes.

LeBron James, meanwhile, supplied 10 straight Miami points midway through the frame and finished the stanza with 14, but no other Heat player had more than three points in the quarter.

Norris Cole opened the second with a trey to slice Miami's deficit to 13, but San Antonio answered with the next nine points to take a 50-28 lead just under 2 1/2 minutes into the quarter.

Tony Parker's first points of the game came with 5:52 left in the half and gave the Spurs a 58-34 lead, but Rashard Lewis buried back-to-back triples to cut the spread to 18 with just over five minutes remaining before halftime.

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Lewis and Ray Allen each knocked down a triple around a Tim Duncan turnaround to get Miami within 62-48 with 2:41 on the clock, but Parker poured in back- to-back buckets before Boris Diaw drilled a 3-pointer with 29.6 seconds left to help the Spurs take a commanding 71-50 lead at the break.

James finished the half with 16 points and Lewis added 11 for the Heat, who shot 55.9 percent (19-of-34) from the floor, but committed more turnovers (10) than San Antonio had missed field goals (8).

[SportsNetwork.com]

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