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THE fans at the sold-out AT&T Center in San Antonio were chanting "Man-u, Man-u" and Manu Ginobili responded with a performance worth cheering about.

Before tip-off against reigning NBA champion Miami, a fan was holding up a "Manu Gino-believe" banner and 48 minutes later, there wasn't a disbeliever in the house.

San Antonio had won Game 5 of the NBA Championship series 114-104 to take a 3-2 lead and Ginobili, restored to the starting lineup by coach Gregg Popovich for the first time since last year's playoffs, was once again holding up his end of the Spurs' "Big 3" with Tony Parker and Tim Duncan.

Ginobili started with a long-range bomb and by game's end had delivered a season-best 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting, with 10 assists.

Bear in mind, across the first four games of the Championship Series, it wasn't the Manu of old like tonight, but the old Manu, with a grand total of 30 points and 12 assists.

But by the last break, the Argentinian magician had already paired 20 points and nine assists.

And Danny Green, the feel-good story of this series, also delivered 24 points, with six threes en route to breaking the NBA Finals series mark for most three-pointers.

He has 25 now, breaking Ray Allen's record of 22 with Boston Celtics in 2008.

It was Allen, with consecutive triples, the first turning into a four-point play, who sparked the Heat's late run, his backdoor cut bringing them within 100-109.

Then Dwyane Wade connected on a free throw but that was as close as Miami would come, Parker and Green delivering the coup de grace.

Earlier, in a span of just 1:41, Green hit three big 3-pointers to push the Spurs' lead to 15, the Heat understandably focusing on limiting Duncan and Parker.

Twice released by the Spurs, the former D-Leaguer has climbed off the canvas to become San Antonio's top perimeter punch.

"The whole season has made him more confident," Popovich said of Green.

"He has been somebody who has gotten a lot of minutes and now he has the green light. He did it for 82 games. Now the question was if he could do it when the real lights came on. And he's proved he can."

Parker, battling a hamstring strain, still delivered a game-high 26 points to lead the Spurs into Game 6 in Miami on Wednesday morning, Australian time.

Trailing from the outset, Miami drew within 74-75 with 3:05 left but San Antonio went on a 10-0 tear as Ginobili hit seven of the Spurs' last 12 points of the quarter.

They included a twisting layup with 2.9 seconds left for the 87-75 buffer which blew further out to 96-76 in the last before the Allen barrage.

Ginobili became the first player this century to start in the NBA Finals after not starting all season.

(The last player to do that was New York Knicks' Marcus Camby in 1999.)

Dwyane Wade and LeBron James both had 25 points for the Heat, who once again failed to win back-to-back games.

Two years ago, Miami also returned home down 2-3 in the Finals but never got to a Game 7 in that series against Dallas Mavericks.

"So we're going to see if we're a better ballclub and if we're better prepared for this moment," Wade said.

James agreed. "We're going to see if we're a better team than we were our first year together."

It's about two games now for Miami, two wins - or a very long summer.

"The most important game is Game 6," James said.

"We can't worry about a Game 7. We have to worry about Game 6 and going back home, being confident about our game, being confident about getting a win, which we are. So it is what it is.

"We got an opportunity to do something special. And we look forward to it."

So far the Heat have bounced back after every loss with a double-digit win in their next game. This time they need to do just that to survive.

The Spurs are 14-2 in clinching games on the road since the 2002-03 postseason.

The rest of the NBA is 61-75.

History is waiting to be written by the Heat.