San Antonio Spurs ’97-’98 vs. Miami Heat ’12-’13: NBA 2K Simulation

In a NBA 2K simulation, how would the 1997-98 San Antonio Spurs perform against the 2012-13 Miami Heat?

In honor of NBA 2K18’s September 15 release, we’re going to begin a series of game simulations in older versions of NBA 2K. This will be on NBA 2K16, with the San Antonio Spurs featured in all of them. Games will be played with 10-minute quarters.

For this first simulation, it will see the 1997-98 Spurs face the 2012-13 Miami Heat. This means a battle of David Robinson, rookie Tim Duncan, and Sean Elliott vs. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh in a star-studded affair. Let’s get right to it.

The Spurs just didn’t have the offensive firepower and versatility the Heat had. They had four players in double-digits, which didn’t include Chris Bosh, and saw LeBron James and Dwyane Wade go up and down the court.

The 47 of the Spurs’ 80 points came from David Robinson (28) and Tim Duncan (19), along with a combined 20 rebounds. They played in 30 and 31 minutes of the 40 total, respectively.

Behind them was Jaren Jackson. He attempted four shots, all of which were 3-pointers, and hit three of them. Two free throws gave Jackson 11 points.

Vinny Del Negro was matched up against LeBron for a chunk of the game, which wouldn’t be a fair pairing in real life. However, Del Negro turned in a respectable seven points, six assists, five rebounds and a plus-minus of nine.

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Avery Johnson had a horrendous game, as the Heat backcourt shut his offensive game down. He hit just one shot on 12 attempts for two points. 10 assists and five rebounds were added, however.

The Heat had James lead the way with 18 points, seven assists, and four rebounds. So, not surprisingly, he filled up the stat sheet.

2012-13 Wade looked like one of the top shooting guards in the game here. He put up 16 points, but also dished out eight assists to players like Mario Chalmers (16 points), Shane Battier (10 points) and Mike Miller (seven points).

Perhaps the most shocking stat came from James, Wade, Bosh and Chalmers. These four players had a combined -26 plus-minus mark. They were badly hurt on the offensive end by Robinson and Duncan, so that could be the main reason for the low number.

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That will do it for the first Spurs NBA 2K simulation. Next will be the 1994-95 New York Knicks.