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Anything can happen in a game, especially against a jump shooting team.

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In an interview with French site La Voix Du Nord, Nando vented about his lack of playing time with the Spurs.

"It really is not easy especially since the months before the playoffs, I played 10-15 minutes behind Tony. Then I found myself more on the bench than on the court. I played the first round against the Lakers, but usually at the end of the game when the game was already won. Already, it was not easy. And the series against Golden State, I'm in a suit, that's upsetting. I came here to play. I prepared all year to be ready for the playoffs. Finally, I do not play. The worst is that it is one of the assistants that tells me that I'm in a suit as if it was normal, but it will be before anything happened. The morning of the game, I was leaving after the shoot around and he said "Nando, okay? Tonight you're in a suit." You say ****. You do not know what happened. You're in a new series. You wonder why you, and not another. It is not obvious at all. At first you think it is a game or two. Assistants tell you that things can change and, in fact, nothing changes. But that's coaching decisions. As it gets, there is not much to say. There is little practices, you cannot regain your place. I try to keep my morale and I continue to work on my own. I go to the weight room, I do my individual sessions in the gym, cardio. I'm just waiting to be told, you're back in the list. But in my opinion, it does not depend on that of an injury. This will surely last until the end."

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Miami Heat
Surprisingly, the title-favorite Heat are not the team that profiles most similarly to championship squads from the past. While Miami's strong shooting from the field is a hallmark of historical champions, its below-average rebounding ability and over-reliance on free throws are major red flags. The 2013 Heat would represent big outliers among the past four decades' worth of NBA titlists.

Miami can answer with perhaps the biggest trump card of all -- LeBron James, whose closest statistical match is notorious ring-hoarder Michael Jordan. However, despite Miami's title last season and banner 2012-13 campaign, the James-era Heat continue to be a case study in the tug-of-war between raw talent and the mystical brew of intangibles, fit and playing style that often define championship teams.

San Antonio Spurs
That leaves just the Spurs, whose strong shooting differential from the field, willingness to crash the boards on defense, and aversion to fouling makes them (easily) the team with the tendencies most similar to those of past champions.

As the chart above indicates, each of San Antonio's four most similar historical matches went on to win the NBA title, using essentially the same formula the Spurs employ. Combine that time-tested blueprint of Gregg Popovich, the best coach in the NBA, two of the league's best eight players in Tim Duncan and Tony Parker (according to Regularized Plus/Minus), and by far the strongest championship pedigree of any remaining team (a factor that analytics people have traditionally dismissed, but might be more important than we think), and it's no stretch to assert the Spurs, and not the Heat, should really be the championship favorites at this point. At least based on DNA.

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