Basketball On The Internet.

THE danger today for the San Antonio Spurs was not the fact Miami Heat gave them a thorough 103-84 pantsing in Game 2 of the NBA Finals but that they now know they can.

As the Heat trudged off AmericanAirlines Arena in the wake of their Game 1 home loss, they looked tired, uncertain and, perhaps, lacking in a bit of self-belief.

San Antonio would not disintegrate as Indiana had done in the Eastern Conference Final and the Spurs had weathered Miami's best shots ... and still won.

But today, the self-belief was restored as Miami went on a withering 33-5 tear with Mario Chalmers - of all people - leading the charge.

The Heat forced 17 turnovers - San Antonio had four in Game 1 - with Manu Ginobili in particular regularly losing his handle on the ball.

And while LeBron James missed 10 of his first 13 shot attempts, he still finished with 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists - some of them breathtakingly exceptional passes.

Chalmers threw some sweet dishes as well and led the offence with 19 points.

"I know my shooters only need a little bit of room to get the shot off," James said.

"For me, I struggled offensively, but the shooters made some good shots."

The Spurs still led by a point deep into the third quarter, which made Miami's win all the more impressive and imposing. And dangerous.

Danny Green scored 17 points for San Antonio on 6-of-6 shooting, including 5-of-5 three-pointers.

Tony Parker had 13 points on 5-of-14 shooting and was never as dangerous as in Game 1.

"You have to give a lot of credit to their defence. They played great defence tonight," Parker said.

Miami has not lost consecutive games in its finals run so far and usually has bounced back from a loss with a double-digit statement.

Today was no exception and clearly shocked the Spurs.

Chalmers sparked the Heat late in the third after San Antonio led 62-61.

He converted two three-point plays, Ray Allen and Mike Miller nailed triples and James made only his third field goal of the game during a 14-3 run that sent Miami to the fourth with a 75-65 buffer - the game's biggest.

They started the fourth with a 9-0 run for 84-65 and the series was heading to San Antonio for the next three games - the Finals' format is a crazed 2-3-2 - tied at 1-1.

Patty Mills finished a lay-up late to become the first Aussie to score in an NBA Championship series since Luc Longley for Chicago Bulls in 1998.