Chris Bosh speaks with the media at Heat practice on Wednesday. (Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images)

Chances are you've heard about the Miami Heat fans who decided to get an early start on their commute when the San Antonio Spurs held a 94-89 lead with 28 seconds remaining in Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Tuesday night. Chances are you've also heard that rumors of the Heat's demise were greatly exaggerated, as a headband-less LeBron James and a pure-from-the-corner Ray Allen authored enough late-game magic to push the game to overtime, where the Heat held on for a 103-100 win that guaranteed a deciding Game 7 for the 2013 NBA championship on Thursday night.

Heat center Chris Bosh played a major role in the comeback win, playing sensational defense in the late stages, grabbing the offensive rebound that led to Allen's corner 3-pointer and coming up with two huge blocks, including one on a last-ditch try by Spurs sharpshooter Danny Green, to seal the victory. And at the Heat's Wednesday practice, the All-Star center didn't mince his words when asked about those who took an early powder from AmericanAirlines Arena when the chips were down:

"For all those guys who left, don't come back for Game 7." - Chris Bosh

— Ryan Wolstat (@WolstatSun) June 19, 2013

He had plenty more to say, too.

"You never give up," Bosh continued. "People gave up on us, and they can stay where they are and watch the game at home."

Matt Bonner has definitely served his kids kale (Getty Images)

A look around the league and the web that covers it. It's also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren't always listed in order of importance. That's for you, dear reader, to figure out.

C: SB Nation. A hilarious, must-read column comparing the San Antonio Spurs to various dad-types and I’ve already said way, way too much just go read it, pops.
PF: Toronto Star. Toronto Raptors coach Dwane Casey, who will stick with the team for 2013-14, stops by a local middle school to offer some guidance to seventh and eighth graders.
SF: Raptors.com. New Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri discusses his motivations and early moves behind the first month of his latest regime with the team, including hiring a collective bargaining agreement-expert to the staff. Pretty sound move, in light of the moves made by the previous administration.
SG: AZCentral. Bob Young on why the respective administrations of a coach and general manager hired at different times shouldn’t overlap, and why the Phoenix Suns are smart to hire both general manager Ryan McDonough and coach Jeff Hornacek in the same offseason.
PG: Post-ambles. EXCLUSIVE: ESPN’s Rick Reilly has already written his column in reaction to Thursday’s Game 7 between the Spurs and Heat, and we have your link to it.

Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich are just fine, thank you (Getty Images)

The San Antonio Spurs’ system – its routine – has been lauded for years for providing consistent season after season of mindful, winning basketball. The team has been able to mix equal parts adaptability and attention to structure on its way toward four NBA championships, and that system seemed well on its way to a fifth banner in Tuesday’s Game 6 of the NBA Finals before coach Gregg Popovich decided to pull Tim Duncan in the game’s final minute so as to match up with the Miami Heat’s smaller lineup.

A five-point lead quickly evaporated into a tie ballgame, though, as the Heat crashed the offensive boards after two bad three-point misses to reconfigure and toss in two killer treys in the game’s final seconds, as Duncan watched from the sidelines. To hear the Spurs tell it on Wednesday, the lineup was normal, to be expected, and set to return should the same context spring up in Game 7.

Here’s Tim Duncan on the Spurs’ late-game approach in Game 6, via ASAPSports.com:

Not new at all. Something we've done all year. Obviously we were trying to protect the three‑point line. We had a lot of bodies in there to switch and get up on our shooters. Two bad bounces off a rebound, we actually get the stops on the threes and bad bounces right back out for threes.

It is what it is. Obviously, I want to be in there every minute of the game. That's just how we're built. But we've done it all year long. We've been successful with it. And if it comes down to it again, Pop will make the call again.

Pop, earlier in the afternoon, said as much:

It's not that simple. That's not why they got the threes. We were up five when they got their first three. And so reading and switching makes sense just to take away the three.

But on an offensive rebound, it's one of the toughest things in the NBA, to pick up people. And we had one guy who didn't pick up. LeBron shot an air ball, when we were up five. They got the rebound, they got it back to him and he knocked it down.

And then on the last possession we were switching at the three‑point line to take away the three, and Boris Diaw has a little more speed than Tim

He's the sidekick, on the end of the couch. When you kick him, he says ouch. (Joe Murphy/NBAE/Getty)

Hey, it might be a step down from making nearly $6 million a year, but there are worse jobs than being a sidekick, Mike Miller. Ed McMahon did pretty well for himself "You are correct, sir"-ing Johnny Carson for all those years, and plenty of people love Andy Richter at least as much as they do Conan O'Brien. Hell, Tonto even gets top billing in the new "Lone Ranger" movie. It can be a pretty sweet gig if you play your cards right.

Then again, if the only option is being Shaquille O'Neal's sidekick, you might want to hold off on retirement for another year or two. Unless you're eager to dive headfirst into the deep end of a comedy pool chlorinated by underwear gooves and buttface zings, that is. If you are, then go right ahead. I'm sure the water's warm enough that if you put your college roommate's hand in it, he'd pee his pants, resulting in a totally viral clip hosted on the Comedy Shaq Network.

What do you think Miller and Shaq are yukkin' it up over? Best caption wins "Sidekicks," the 1992 film starring Chuck Norris and Jonathan Brandis (not really, but you should totally watch this). Good luck.

In our last adventure: Now you've done it — you've shocked Boris Diaw.

Ray Allen is really ticked off about the latest version of Slamadamonth (Getty Images)

SLAM magazine is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and the institution remains a massive and lasting influence on our basketball lives. That doesn’t mean the publication has been without its missteps over the years, as the mag’s editors were brave enough to reveal in an interview with Miami Heat sharpshooter Ray Allen on Tuesday.

Allen, who is enjoying a day “off” in preparation for the second Game 7 of his NBA Finals career, recently pointed to a 1996 draft feature from SLAM as continuing motivation for the persistence he’s shown since entering the NBA that year, persistence that has paid off enough to make him the NBA’s all-time leader in both regular and postseason three-pointers, and a lifesaver for his Miami Heat on Tuesday night.

From SLAM:

“I’ve had one gripe my whole career about SLAM and I still keep it ‘til this day. It’s probably one of my sole motivators on a daily basis and I don’t know if I ever told anybody this. When that article came out with all of us on the cover [of SLAM 15], it had the (predicted) accolades on the inside. It said most likely to win MVP, most likely to do this. One of them said most likely to fade into obscurity…..and it was me. I was 21 and I knew what obscurity meant, but I had to look it up because I needed to make sure. It pissed me off because I felt I was going to leave my mark on this league.

Erik Spoelstra quizzes force you to use your mind. (Bruce Yeung/NBAE/Getty Images)

Pop quiz, hot shot: Which two words does Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra think are the best two words in team sports?

A) Positionless grinding

B) Elite competition

C) Miami Heat

D) Game 7

E) Passionate grinding

F) Physical skirmish

G) Udonis identity

Let's go to the videotape:

Heading into Game 6, I made the incredibly bold observation that the Miami Heat needed either starter Mario Chalmers or reserve Norris Cole to play quite a bit better than they did in the San Antonio Spurs' big Game 5 win. Chalmers certainly answered the bell in Game 6, scoring 20 points on 11 shots, going 4 for 5 from the 3-point line and teaming with LeBron James, Ray Allen, Chris Andersen and Mike Miller to rip off a big fourth-quarter run that brought the Heat back from the brink.

Cole, though, didn't play at all, earning his first DNP-CD of the playoffs as Erik Spoelstra relied on Chalmers with support from no-point-guard lineups in which James and Dwyane Wade handled the ball. But that doesn't mean Cole didn't make any awesome contributions on Tuesday night — check out his reaction to the Heat's final offensive possession of the fourth quarter, which ended with Allen's massive 3-pointer to tie the game and force overtime:

Unbridled joy + unfettered athleticism = good Vine. (Seriously: Look how high he jumped. That's an excited young man.)

For years, LeBron James has relied on an ever-expanding headband to both capture the buckets of sweat that drip off his head during an NBA game and attempt (and fail) to cover up his receding hairline. James' headband has become both a national punchline and a sought-after souvenir, a giant and unavoidable part of the MVP's profile (literally), an accessory and affectation without which it seems odd to imagine James on the court.

And yet, just like that, it went away during the fourth quarter of Game 6 ... yet LeBron soldiered on.

[Y! Sports Fan Shop: Buy 2013 NBA Finals merchandise]

It happened on an offensive rebound and putback dunk of a Mario Chalmers miss at the nine-minute mark of the fourth quarter to cut the Spurs' lead to 80-77:

The moment itself, via an endlessly repeating Vine:

"I don't even remember the play much," James said after the game. "I was just focused on the job, the task at hand, and just trying to be aggressive, just trying to figure out ways I could help the team get back into the game. And you know, I guess the headband was the least of my worries at that point."

The Heat had already begun their comeback before James lost his headband — it started to stir in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter, when a pair of James free throws stemmed an 18-7 Spurs run and cut what had been a 12-point San Antonio lead to 10 heading into the fourth. From there, a big Chalmers 3 on the opening possession of the fourth, a LeBron layup and an instant-classic one-shoe/one-sock 3-pointer by Mike Miller got the game within two possessions and the Heat within hailing distance. Things did seem to pick up after the revelation of 'Bron's (ample) brow, though.

After the terrycloth unburdening and a San Antonio answer on the other end by Kawhi Leonard (who continues to be great in this series, final-minute free-throw miss aside), James got straight to the rim on consecutive possessions and hit one of two layups to keep Miami within three. Then, he fired a crazy bullet pass out of the high post and over the top of Tony Parker to Chris Andersen for a dunk attempt that created two free throws, which Birdman split to make the score 82-80. After that, he came flying off the weak-side to pick up a huge at-the-rim block on Tim Duncan, which he followed up by driving on Duncan, pump-faking him into the air, and going up, under and off the glass to tie the game. James looked lighter, more at ease ... perhaps sleeker and less wind-resistant.

There were dicey moments to come, for sure. After having his stride broken by an offensive foul, a couple of empty Dwyane Wade-helmed possessions, a pair of Heat timeouts and some (but, alas, not